I woke up the next morning lazily. By the time I opened my eyes enough light had poured into the room to illuminate the entire roof of Val's bed.
Val's bed.
When I remembered where I was my heart jumped against my permission, and I tried to find the least awkward way to escape without waking her up. I inched my fingers towards the edge of the mattress on my side, too nervous to look over to where she was laying.
When my movement went undetected, I built up the courage to creep my legs slightly over to the edge. Before I could wiggle any further away, Val's lustful morning voice interrupted me.
"There can't be a walk of shame when we haven't done anything shameful yet."
Yet- I swallowed the embarrassing scream I wanted to let out. I had turned to face her when her hands covered my eyes from behind. I was about to ask what she was doing when she blew some air on my ear and I yelped loudly instead.
Embarrassed and growing an unfamiliar warmness in my stomach from her touch, I pulled her hands away and confronted her directly.
"That is not fair."
The brown in her eyes looked like honey in the light peeking through her blinds. Temporarily mesmerised I found myself staring- and Val stared back at me the way a predator would stare at a lone rabbit. Her tongue flicked out over her bottom lip and I watched, feeling my cheeks heat up.
"Fair?"
Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper and she leaned forward across the wall of pillows. So close I could feel the warmth of her breath on my cheek.
"I don't remember agreeing to play fair."
Her eyes never left mine, even as my own dropped down to her lips hesitantly. I wanted to know what she tasted like.
To my surprise she pulled back and smiled at me warmly. I tried to bite back my disappointment, only to be internally wrecked by the reality that disappointment was how I felt. I blew the air from my cheeks out, frustrated.
Everest had spent the better half of our two months here frustrated but lately she had started to teeter on desperate.
We should mate her now, Everest stated. My whole face went beet red just at the implication of it. Horrified and impossibly flustered, I threw the covers away and jumped out of the bed like it had caught fire. Turning on my heel, I started the process of full sprinting for the bathroom.
A part of me ached at the idea of leaving her room where her scent helped me sleep without the risk of horrific nightmares. A bitter taste flooded my otherwise pleasant indulgence as I remembered that she had still quite literally murdered my father.
In my silent hesitation, Val had moved near to me without me noticing. She searched my newfound bitter expression and frowned.
"What's wrong?"
My jaw was tight. I couldn't meet her eyes knowing that I could only see her as a killer at that moment. Worse, I had started to truly wrestle with the idea of how many countless others the Valeriano siblings had murdered in their pursuit. It occurred to me suddenly and overwhelmingly that Val was actually a dangerous person.
"Liana?"
She sounded worried and her voice was sugar sweet and delicate. She reached out to touch my shoulder and I debated moving away from her reach. Instead, despite my sudden fear of her, I found myself leaning into her warmth.
She gently tried to meet my eyes and I allowed it. She searched my expression for something, meeting the cold and angry look with confusion. I knew if I stayed any longer I could destroy her. I wanted to destroy her. She set fire to my home. She burned all of our fields and destroyed the lives of countless children.
I forced myself to pull away from her touch slowly. I averted my eyes from her and hissed when she tried to catch my hand. I felt like my mind was cracking in half from trying to decide how I felt.
"Liana, what's wrong? What can I do?"
Even as a murderer I couldn't deny how beautiful she was. Even as a killer I couldn't shake the feeling that hurting her this way was wrong. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to run. I wanted to taste her. All of it became overbearing for me and I pushed her hand away and took a step back to breath.
"I need-"
I took a step towards the door feeling dizzy. Val looked terrified. Her sharp brows were drawn in horror. She had taken a step back from me too, pushing her nails into her fist. She looked like she was scared she would hurt me- like she had hurt me.
"I need to go."
My head throbbed. I couldn't tell which way was up and everything hurt. I felt my body falling and her catching me in her arms. She tried saying something to me but I couldn't hear it. She held my face and yelled something. I became less aware as the door opened behind her.
My last thought before I passed out was how good it felt to be in her arms.