Starlight's Heir - ✔️

Chapter 44 - Lifeline

Disclaimer: This chapter contains a scene of sexuality.

Viewer discretion is advised.

I came awake to strong arms cocooning my body and soft breathing against my hair. Snuggling against the warmth, I sighed, content, until my brain kicked in and anguish tore through me. Violent sobs wracked my body as my memories surged and grief ripped me apart.

My mother was gone. Dead. And I had done nothing to save her. I had spent all day with Chelsea, ensuring I'd still have a friend to turn to, and lost my mother in return. I should have been there.

"Evelyn?" The gentle voice in my ear pulled me back from the edge of the chasm I teetered on.

Opening my eyes, I rolled over, heart racing, to face emerald eyes searing in their compassion. Flinging my arms around Zev, I clung to him, crying all the harder in his presence.

Cradled against his chest, I poured out my grief. Each beat of my heart more painful than the last, tears flowed, soaking his black t-shirt but he didn't mind.

Mixed emotions tumbled through me, each one bringing on a new onslaught of tears. Hatred and venom coursed through me, anger that my mother had been taken from me. Sorrow and misery crushed me. I had gotten to spend only a couple short months with her, and now I'd never get the chance to know her better.

I was outraged my life had been such a sick, cruel joke that beat me down at every turn. After everything I had been through, I thought I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but had run headlong into the train barreling down the tracks.

I was tired and sick to death of the pain that ruled my life.

My screams muffled against his shoulder as my nails dug into his back. And still, he held me without complaint until the tears ebbed and my cries were spent.

Pulling away from Zev, I wiped my eyes and stared down at my hands, refusing to look at him. But as his weight eased from the bed, my eyes tore over to him, terrified he'd abandon me to drown in this sea of suffering.

"Where are you going?"

"I didn't want you to be alone when you woke up, but I know I'm the last person you want to see right now. I didn't want you to hurt any more than you already are." The soft moonlight reflected in his green eyes filled with sorrow.

He thought I was still mad -- that I hated him -- and still, here he was. His kindness touched me, lightening the weight in my chest. How could I hate him? It was obvious as the day I met him he cared about me. Cared maybe more than I deserved after how I'd treated him, and I couldn't push him away now. Not when he was all that was holding me together.

"Don't go, Zev. I need you here." Crawling across the bed, I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling myself against him and closing my eyes.

He wrapped his arms around me and laid his cheek atop my head. "I'm sorry I haven't been here. I should've been, but I couldn't take seeing the hurt and anger on your face and knowing I caused it."

Tilting my head up, I kissed his cheek with quivering lips. "I'm not mad, Zev. I thought I was, and I wanted to be, but I can't hate you. You weren't trying to hurt me and I forgave my -- I forgave my mother." The last part came out in a choked sob and I took a deep breath to steady my voice. "I forgave you a while ago too, just too late to tell you."

"Evelyn..." He caressed my cheek, sending a shiver down my back. His eyes searched my face as he brought his lips to mine, capturing them in a gentle kiss.