Then, Earth Swallowed Ocean

by Shiloh Sloane

The more he looks at her, the more he recognizes that he’s never seen beauty like hers before. That he read Jess’s romance books to relearn language and everything they’ve described lives in the features of her face.

How cruel is the Devil, that he’d send evil after her and she’d fall in love with him?

“Then hide well,” he growls. “Because when I find you, you’ll have no other god but me.”

“You’re the only sacred thing I’ve ever seen.”

“But my little fawn, you’re prettier than the ocean. More beautiful than the blue mountains back home and more than a cloudless night with a full moon and the galaxy behind it. Never met a person who could put those sights to shame until I met you.”

“You’re my communion.”

I love you, the beast says. Infinitely. From your skin To the pockets of your lungs, I will flood you, And you will never be the same.

“The only sacred thing,” he breathes. “Is us and the dirt of this.”

“Heaven is here. In the space between the two of us.”

“What would make you want to stay?” he snaps. “Because I’ll give it to you, Sadie. If you want to live in the city, I’ll shove cotton in my ears and breathe through my mouth. If you want the ocean, I’ll cut a river through the state and bring it to the farm! But if you want to die-” His voice breaks and he shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. He braces himself against the dresser. “If you want to die, let me kill you,” he groans. “Knowing it will destroy all of me that matters. Knowing that for any world I try to give you, you are the borders and the heart of mine. You are everything…”

“You are my gravity,” he says, his voice a near-growl. “You are my sky, my fucking ocean, my moon, my air. You’re my religion. You’re what I reach for, don’t…” He punches the wood of the dresser and it collapses inward. “Don’t leave me,” he breathes. “Don’t take yourself away from me.”