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

by Jess Wisecup

“I love your soft.” Another kiss. “You don’t have any idea how much I’ve fucking needed your soft.”

“Please touch me.” I nearly moaned the words. “That’s a good girl.”

This love was a light, a love that came back to me and brought me back to the land of the living. It was a love that made me want more—from him, from us, from life.

“You taste like you belong to me.”

“I asked you a question, ocean eyes.”

“The sounds you make, divine hell. Those sounds are mine.”

“Look at how pretty you are with me inside you.”

“You’re mine, Rain.” I smiled on his mouth as he panted. “I am. Until my last breath, I am yours.” “And even then, we’ll find each other. I’ll always find you.”

This love had been there all along, waiting for me to choose it. This love felt like daylight, golden and warm. The first rays of sun after a long, hard night. This love felt like courage. Like the first timid steps on an uncertain path. But I was changed and made anew, still soaking in the afterglow of the light we had become. And I knew there was no going back.

“Emmeline, painfully beautiful as always.” I squeezed his hand, and he let go, both of us hurting over the ghost of my sister but not having the words or courage to speak of it.

“The sun itself could not shine as brightly as you.” He crossed the distance in one stride before cupping the back of my neck and softly brushing his lips against mine. He pulled away much too quickly and offered his arm. “Come, you must make me whole.”

It felt like the world was in balance, and the stars had aligned, with the sole purpose of bringing me to his side. I wondered if the gods looked down, the twin flame bond between us shining brightly for their attention, and I knew, whatever unknown future lay beyond for the two of us, I’d never been surer of it than with him by my side.

“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.”

“Before I knew you, I searched for you, and I’ve never stopped. I found your eyes in the leaves. I found your smile in my child’s laughter. I found your patience in my heart and your courage in my own. Just a spark, a tiny flame all those years ago, which I protected and fed. A tiny spark I could never snuff, and now you’ve stoked it into a roaring fire. A warmth that protects and endures and sustains. A spark of hope and an ember on the wind of promises made and kept.”

“My bride, my wife, my Emmeline.” And then his lips were on mine again, and everything else drifted away.

“You were made for me, Em. You fit me so perfectly.”

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

“I hear your heart.” Rain panted as he pulled me up, my back against his chest. One hand stayed on my hip, while the other reached around to my breast, rolling my nipple in his fingertips. “I feel your divinity. It’s in harmony with mine.”

“The gods did not bring us here today to lose! The gods brought us to defend light and honor! Today you fight for peace! Hanwen will guide us, and Aonara has blessed us. Fight for justice! Fight for your king!”

Within a moment, I was on her, my hands on her neck, pouring everything inside me into her. My healing, my divinity, my soul. I’d die before I let her leave me. Live. Live live live.