"I heard your footsteps long before I saw you, and it began to grow clear. As you came into view, I finally realized the reason for my irrational and restrained anger at the tavern. It was because I have come to adore you," he said.
"At first, it was difficult to understand my actions because I never thought it was possible for me to fall into something this… fragile."
He took her hand in his. "Once I accepted that you had somehow woven yourself into me," He slipped his fingers between hers. "as you weave sweet tales for the ears of children," their fingers interlocked—firmly. "—it became rather easy to understand my actions."
His lips—softer than his touch—grazed the back of her hand in a gentle kiss, and her eyes lost focus for a moment before steadying again.
"I realized, ah, I must care deeply for her, that is why I allow her to pull me from my slumber at the crack of dawn and drag me around the manor like her own familiar." The image flashed through her mind—he would always complain, yet he would always follow her.
"It is for the very same reason I allowed her into a space I had built for myself alone. A space I had guarded for years. I cannot help but search for her whenever I enter a room full of people."
And when she found him watching her in crowded places, it left a soft tingle within her.
"She cherishes the people of Wisteria, so I naturally strive to be nicer to them, for I wish to see her pleased at all times."
Damaris, frozen and caught off-guard, was trying to grasp her head around the situation she was in.
She had not imagined this when she wandered into the forest that night.
Yet…
"I long for her, that is the reason I wander into the woods each night, telling myself I go merely for a walk, when in truth I only hope to catch a glimpse of the madwoman I met in the woods on my first night in Wisteria."
She was receiving a confession.
One she—
she actually longed to hear.
"I care for you—that is why I have the selfish, obsessive desire to have you for myself. I harbor a dark desire to keep you in a fancy cage, hidden in the deepest part of a place known only to me. I must be very mad to want to strip you from the eyes of the world, when I know very well that you shine most beautifully when you are surrounded by the world."
Indeed, he was mad.
She had thought he was just proud and arrogant.
He was far madder than she could have imagined.
He had to be mad to confess his feelings without shame or restraint.
He was Zuri—the arrogant mutt who once acted as though all of Wisteria was mud beneath his boot.
Yet that same man was declaring that he adored her far more than she had dared hope for.
"You asked who I am to request anything of you. So I ask a question in turn. Damaris… if I were to become someone closer to your heart, would that grant me the slightest right to make such a selfish request?"
She was speechless.
Just a moment ago, there had been distance between them. Now, the lake swallowed more than half her form, her chest pressed against his, her hand locked in one of his own while the other arm wrapped around her waist, daring her to break free from him if she willed.
Yet her will was lost.
He had stolen it from her with his words.
His grey eyes held hers, steadfast and unyielding, seizing all forms of reason from her.
The water was cold, yet in that moment, a warmth bloomed within her. From her rising chest to her feet that stood atop his.
"I—I thought you were immune to my charms." The words left as a whisper that tickled the deepest parts of his ears.
He had said so himself.
"I thought you were not smitten with me," she added.
He leaned closer, eradicating the space she had placed between them.
"So did I." Those words came out as though they were the only truth the world could offer. "I was wrong."
Damaris gazed at him in the beauty of the nearly full moon, and she saw that the look upon his face was far different from the one he had worn on that fateful night they had met.
He really was telling the truth. It was no jest, no teasing—only the truth.
Well then…
"If you are so smitten with me, and feel so strongly toward me, and you truly wish to become someone closer to my heart, why have you yet to kiss me?" Her words flowed out his ears twitched.
"How can you hold the woman you claim to adore in your arms and not ki—"
Her words…
—vanished.
Buried as his lips met hers, and her lashes fell.
He pressed, and her lips parted. She felt his arms draw her closer still, as he enclosed her mouth in the warmth of his own.
Her world stilled, she felt her entire being had turned to molten silver.
His kiss deepened, venturing into the corners of her mouth. She protested, afraid that any further and she would come undone.
Ignoring her protest, his hand rose to the nape of her neck, holding her in place as he tasted the sweet nectar within her mouth.
The more he tasted, the more he seemed to crave, and so his kiss lingered. His need and desire for her growing more intense by the second.
Her hands clutched at his arms, her nails dug into his skin as she fought to maintain a sound mind, while also trying to ignore something unfamiliar that stirred against her lower stoma—
Damaris' eyes flew open!
With all the strength she could summon, she pushed him away and turned at once to flee, her brain realizing what it was that stirred against her.
She had forgotten… he was unclothed.
By the gods she had to run!
*
*
*
P. S
JUMP INTO THE COMMENTS SECTION TO SEE AN IMAGE OF THIS SCENE.