[mature] here we are in the heart of the darkness; Briseis

[Briseis]

little do you know how I'm breaking while you fall asleep,
little do you know I'm still haunted by the memories,
little do you know I'm trying to pick myself up piece by piece

Perhaps she should be afraid of him. The feel of his heated and hungry touch against her should have evoked fear, or at least some sort of apprehension. But her immense trust in him overrides any and all other emotions, allowing him to erase anything negative that would have normally caused her to hesitate. She has never been trusting, having always been cautious of other’s motives, but for reasons beyond her comprehension, she has never feared him. Even when she had first met him, even when he had stayed melted into the shadows, something had drawn her to him.

For the first time since it happened, everything that had occurred that night in the forest with Tunnel is eradicated from her mind. There is nothing but the shadows that envelope them, nothing but the feel of Ether’s lips on her skin, and nothing but the sound of her heart beating wildly in her chest. His low response into her skin is the affirmation she needed, the reassurance that she was seeking. “Mine,” she whispers in response, and there is something possessive that is laced in the breathy softness of her voice, something that briefly flickers in the quiet of her brown eyes. They belonged only to each other; they could feel it without ever saying it aloud, but somehow hearing and saying the words cemented it.

She doesn’t resist when she is pulled underneath of him, but the strength with which he enters startles a gasp from her throat. If it had been anyone else, it would have been easy to mistake the passion for aggression. If he didn’t already have every ounce of her trust and loyalty, she perhaps would not have handled the vast difference in him as well as she did. But it’s him — not Tunnel, not anyone else. Just Ether. Her faith in him was unshakable, even when the predatory side of him so fiercely showed.

Her body fits against his as though it had been made for it, and she yields completely to his movements, her body trembling involuntarily beneath him, her breath quickening. “Ether,” she doesn’t notice when his name leaves her tongue, the way it is taut and aching when she says it, already so lost and spinning in the world he took her to. She wanted him, every part of him, and she doesn’t try to hide it.

BRISEIS

underneath it all I'm held captive by the hole inside,
I've been holding back for the fear that you might change your mind