[WARNING! Unedited! Don't buy!]
The night did not end gently.
It could never have ended gently.
Selene learned this when Alistair finally drew her beyond the threshold where pain and pleasure ceased to exist as separate sensations. By then, her body no longer trembled from fear alone. It shook with anticipation, with an awareness she had not possessed before—an understanding that whatever awaited her at the end of this trial would change her irrevocably.
He had waited for it.
She realized that now.
Alistair had always been patient, but this patience was something else entirely—ritualistic, reverent. He did not rush toward climax or cruelty. He built toward it, layering sensation upon sensation until Selene felt as though her body had become an instrument tuned exclusively for him.
