The rain outside had stopped at some unknown hour. Within the room, all that remained was the steady, deep breathing of the man who had fallen soundly asleep following their prolonged lovemaking. Lucien lay perfectly still within Dominic Vance's embrace, his eyes wide open as he stared into the boundless darkness ahead. His entire body ached, the pain radiating from his lower back down to his thighs, from his neck spreading across his shoulders; every muscle fiber and sinew felt as though it had been violently torn apart and then clumsily stitched back together. The agony caused by the world's rejection still throbbed dully, akin to thousands of needles piercing his internal organs, but at the very least, it had subsided slightly for the moment, as if the falling rain had washed away a fraction of the torment this body was forced to endure.
Or perhaps, it was simply that he had grown accustomed to it.
