Page 18 of Skyn
“Is this how you dress all your brides?” I ask, attempting to mask my gasping response.
His mouth twitches—barely a smile. It’s more like the ghost of one. “I have no other brides.”
His voice is matter of fact, but, gentle reader,I. Am. Not. Breathing.
He moves in front of me again, and his fingers linger at my waist as he adjusts the dress’s intricate belt. His eyes briefly flick up to meet mine.
“It’s not my intention to make you uncomfortable,” he says quietly.
“I’m not uncomfortable,” I say too fast. I’m swallowing too much. All I hear is the clicking in my ears. I can feel the strength of his arms, the barely contained power that makes me both a little scared and a little hot.
Oh, look at that.
“Tell me about the person you love,” I ask, trying to ground myself in something real, something human. “I mean, the clean-cut relationship.”
“Ah, Lily.” He steps back until he’s sitting on the edge of the bed, looking me over in the silk dress with approval. “I’ve known Lily since I was in short pants. She is simply the most elegant woman to grace this earth, not to mention an extremely logical choice,” he says, easing himself onto the bed like a lazy cat. The way the metal moves with him, following the natural lines of his body, so silent, so fluid like it’s breathing with him, brings up images unbidden of him claiming me, corded back muscles rippling?—
Nope.
No.
I blink away the thoughts.
This is a gift, Fawl. His dedication to Lily is freedom.
“Why aren’t you with her?” I press.
“The plan. I couldn’t follow it.” He shrugs. “It complicated things between us. All of us above-grounders are supposed to be on the same side,” he explains. “And you? Why would a Diamond volunteer to be anyone’s”—he looks for the right word—“pet?”
I tell him with as little emotion as possible about my ten years with Josh and the spectacular failure of an ending.
What’s the play here, girl?How exactly do I make myself useful to a creature whose needs are mostly met by a well-oiled maintenance schedule? I search for it.
“This wife thing could actually help you get Lily back—make her jealous,” I say.
His silence is…LOUD
His eyes flicker again, the gears turning behind them. “And what do you get out of this?”
The question is strange to me. How to say,I need someone to feel the pain of losing me, or I need to find out if you’re trying to kill us all?I look down at him, his cool platinum shoulders and his yards of smooth brown skin.
“I want something a little less lofty,” I say, my voice quieter now. “I want revenge.”
Chapter10
Something Delicate
Iwake up disoriented, wondering if this is going to be my new routine—waking up each day to relive the fresh hell of Josh’s betrayal. Dru’s shining shoulders and chest. My mother’s indifferent silence. My stepmother’s gleeful cackle.
The softness of the bed beneath me is the first reminder of my wild ride to the surface. For a moment, I just lie there, not entirely sure who or where I am. I can’t remember falling asleep, can’t remember when Ben left.
Ben and I talked. And talked. And talked.
I know that he hates the taste of engineered citrus but drinks it anyway because it’snutritionally optimal. I know that he dreams in numbers but wakes up craving things he can’t quantify.
I know that no one has ever asked him what it feels like to win a race.
And I know that I should feel exhausted, but instead I feel a little stitched together. A tiny bit healed.
