Between Wrath and Mercy (The Divine Between, #1)

by Jess Wisecup

“Lady Emmeline, stand up. You’ve never once knelt before me—why start now?”

“Did you kill the men who did this to you?” His voice was low and quiet, not quite soft, but less harsh than before. “Yes.” I swallowed. I had no choice. “You did them a kindness they did not deserve.”

“I’ve always known there were things worth fighting for, Rainier.” My voice dripped with that honeyed poison. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I didn’t want to fight for someone who wouldn’t fight for me?”

“We are going to find her. And then I’m going to kill your husband.” The voice belonged to the Bloody Prince, but his soft expression belonged to Rainier. It belonged to Rain. My Rain.

“Of course not, Em. I expect you to wage war.”

“I’ve got you, Em. I’ve got you.”

“You have always had more sway with me than you should have, Emmeline.”

“No, that’s the thing Em. I—I didn’t hear you screaming. I know this sounds crazy, and I know it’s impossible, but I’ve re-lived it for years—awake and in my dreams. I could hear your heartbeat. I followed it to find you.” “That’s impossible,” I whispered. “I know it is. But I found you, didn’t I?” I nodded. He did. And now, I’d found him.

“Well, Highclere, the next time you want me to be quiet and kiss you, just tell me. I’ll even bite your neck if you want.”

“You just came back to me, and we’ve barely had a chance to talk. You can’t die yet.”

You’re still brave, still strong, still caring. You’re resilient. Even if she’s only the slightest bit like her mother, she’s doing alright, Em.”

“It has been, is, and will always be you. And fuck, if that hasn’t complicated my life enough already.”

You both burn for each other.”

“Is the sibling rivalry that strong that you intend to connive against him?” He barked a short laugh as he paced past me. “My humanity is that strong that I connive against him.

“Friendship?” He laughed, dark and bitter. “Your skin tastes like spring, and your sighs are a gods damn song. I’m not your fucking friend.”

“There is no moving on from this, Em. No closure, not for me. Believe me, if there was a way, I’d have found it.”

And you’re more stupid than you look if you think that man wants anything less than everything from you.”

“You’ve always had me, Em. But you already knew that.”

“A good man will know when he’s made a mistake and do everything he can to make it right. He won’t need a beautiful woman to tell him.”

“Oh, don’t give me that look. Do you think I only did it for you? I knew what would happen when I made my choice. I chose myself by choosing you. And I’m going to keep doing it. I’m going to keep choosing you.”

“I love you, Emmeline. I have loved you from the start, and I will love you until we are both just a whisper on the wind. It’s your eyes I see when I close mine, your heart I want to hold, and I’d set this whole damn world on fire if you wanted to watch it burn.”

“Marry me, you beautiful, venomous fool.”

My heart is yours to break, borrow, and bruise. The only way this ends is death. There is no one else for either of us. You know it, I know it, our friends know it.

She was the only one in the room who knew what a mother would do to protect their child.

“The sun itself could not shine as brightly as you.”

“You have held my heart in your hands since the moment I met you, Emmeline. Every beat and every skip you have possessed. Every thought and every dream, every secret and every fear has belonged to you. You ignited a flame in me which has burned and sputtered and raged. Ours is a fire that will never go out. Ours is a fire that will swallow us whole, and I’d rather burn with you than live in the dark.”

“It’s more than love, my wife. I crave you, I need you, I cannot live without you; I burn for you.”

“No, no, no, no. What did I tell you about kneeling for me? You kneel for no one.”