Chapter 59: The Morning After the Storm
The first rays of dawn spilled through the cracked windowpanes of the house, soft golden light threading between the curtains and casting a warm, honeyed glow over the tangle of limbs and rumpled sheets. The wind outside whispered through bare trees, brittle with frost, but inside, the world felt quiet. Safe. And for the first time in what felt like forever, Aria didn't want to run.
She barely moved beneath the sheets. Her body refused to break the stillness, as though even her bones understood the magic of morning peace. One arm curled beneath her head. The other lay limply across her stomach, fingers splayed, resting over skin that still remembered too much.
Her lips parted slightly, a soft exhale slipping out — quiet, languid. The sound of someone who had nothing to hide. No need to pretend.
Satisfaction hummed low in her chest, not sharp or frantic like before, but deep. Slow. Full.
It wasn't just her body that felt sated — though the ache between her thighs pulsed in sweet memory. No, it was something more primal. Something raw and buried that had clawed inside her for weeks now, demanding, crying, starving.
Selene had silenced it.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, lashes brushing the pillow. She turned to her side with deliberate ease, wincing slightly at the soreness in her hips. Her thighs still trembled when she shifted. A slow smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
God, Selene hadn't held back. Not even a little.
She dragged her fingers across her abdomen, where the echo of Selene's cold touch still lingered like frostbite wrapped in fire, and gasped quietly. Her skin flinched at her own touch, sensitized, tender. A reminder. Proof.
The memory hit like a flash flood.
Selene's mouth — patient at first, calculating. Cold and measured, like she was tasting a vintage she wanted to savor. And then — oh god — brutal. Devastating. That tongue, ice and fire all at once, dragging sounds from her throat she didn't know she could make. She remembered sobbing into the sheets, begging with a voice hoarse and shaking. She remembered her legs twitching, her muscles locking and spasming while Selene held her down with impossible strength and made her break.
And break again.
And again.
By the third orgasm, Aria had been delirious. By the fourth, she forgot where she ended and Selene began.
And afterward?
Nothing haunted her.
No dreams. No phantom lips brushing over her neck. No hunger clawing at her insides. Just stillness.
She'd never known peace could come like that. That it could be earned in sweat and moans and tears.
She rolled to the other side of the bed and blinked in surprise at the empty space. The sheets were still slightly warm, but Selene was gone.
Her stomach tightened for a heartbeat before the scent stopped her panic — cool, crisp, and faintly metallic, like snow and steel. It clung to the pillow and to her skin. Her thighs were still slick, her lips swollen. There was no way Selene had left. Not truly.
Aria sighed, pulling the blankets around her and burying her face in the lingering scent.
No one had ever touched her like that.
Dominic had never touched her like that. Their relationship had been safe, simple — awkward hand - holding and kisses on the cheek, the kind that felt more like habits than hunger. He'd never looked at her like he needed her. Never made her feel like she could come apart and be held through it.
And there had never been anyone else.
Selene had been her first.
Not just the first to touch her — but the first to see her. To claim her. She hadn't just peeled away her clothes, she'd torn through everything Aria thought she knew about herself. About pleasure. About surrender.
And Aria had let her.
No shame. No regrets. Just the vivid, pulsing memory of Selene's mouth — cool, ravenous, reverent. Like she was tasting something sacred. Something she'd waited for. And Aria had given it, not because she was ready…
…but because it was Selene.
And it had been her first time.
A fact that used to carry shame, like a weight she had to hide. But now? Now it felt like power.
Selene hadn't just taken it — she had earned it.
She sat up slowly, letting the sheet fall to her hips. The air was cold, sharp, and biting. But she didn't shiver. Not anymore. The chill reminded her of Selene's mouth. Of her breath against Aria's thighs. Of fingers that felt like ice and left trails of heat.
Her eyes scanned the room, sleepy and amused, until she spotted the black shirt draped carelessly over the foot of the bed. Oversized. Worn. Definitely Selene's. Aria grabbed it and tugged it over her head, the hem falling past her thighs. She inhaled deeply.
God, even her clothes smelled like sin.
Padding across the creaky wood floor, she peeked through the cracked door into the kitchen.
Selene stood at the stove, her back to her, her silver hair mussed from sleep. She was barefoot, casual, dangerous even like this. Steam curled lazily from the pot on the burner. Her presence was a steady hum, quiet but overwhelming.
Aria's breath caught. It always did when she looked at her too long.
She tiptoed forward and slipped her arms around Selene's waist, pressing her cheek against the curve of her spine.
Selene didn't flinch. "You're up."
"Mmm," Aria hummed, nuzzling into her shirt. "You left the bed cold."
Selene's hand reached back, absently brushing Aria's arm. "You were sleeping like you'd been hit by a truck."
"I was hit," Aria mumbled. "Repeatedly. In very specific places."
Selene's shoulders shook with a silent laugh. "Poor thing."
"You're not sorry," Aria accused.
"Not even slightly."
Aria smiled into her back. "You should be. I couldn't feel my legs."
Selene turned, tilting her head, forest - green eyes unreadable. She lifted a hand to brush a thumb across Aria's bottom lip.
"You're quiet this morning," she said.
"I'm…" Aria hesitated. "Full."
That word made Selene pause. "Full?"
Aria nodded. "You… quieted it."
Selene's brow arched. "The hunger?"
She nodded again, slower this time. "It's like… you turned it off. You drowned it in me."
Selene's fingers cupped her cheeks, cold but careful. "I told you I could. You just didn't believe me."
"I do now," Aria whispered, gaze flicking up to hers. "God, I do."
Selene leaned down, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to her lips. No heat. No urgency. Just a cool affirmation. When they broke apart, Aria rested her forehead against Selene's chest.
"I didn't think it was possible to feel like this," she murmured. "Not after all the dreams. Not after what I thought I needed."
Selene stroked her hair slowly. "Sometimes you need to be shown."
"You didn't just show me," Aria said. "You… ruined me."
A corner of Selene's mouth curved. "Only a little."
Aria peeked up at her with a mischievous smile. "You're not even going to pretend to be modest?"
"About what I did to you?" Selene asked, tone bone - dry. "No."
Aria flushed, lips twitching. "You're ridiculous."
"You're obsessed."
Aria scoffed. "I am not."
Selene leaned down, voice low and lethal. "You were the one begging last night. And moaning. And — what was it? Screaming my name like a prayer?"
Aria slapped her lightly in the chest. "Shut up."
"You started it."
"I'm ending it. Starting now."
Selene gave her a long, lazy look that said she knew better. Aria groaned, burying her face in her shoulder. "God, your tongue should be illegal."
"Should it?"
"I saw stars."
"Only stars?"
"Galaxies, alright? Universes. You happy?"
Selene smiled, slow and wicked. "Very."
They ate breakfast together, shoulder to shoulder on the tiny bench by the counter. The mismatched mugs steamed between their palms, and frost curled faint patterns on the edges of the window. Aria leaned into Selene's side, quiet but not withdrawn. Sated. Her hunger had gone silent.
But her craving hadn't.
Her fingers brushed against Selene's under the table. Selene glanced down, then back up.
"Again?" she asked, a trace of amusement in her voice.
Aria shrugged innocently. "I'm still recovering."
Selene lifted her brow. "You want recovery… or relapse?"
Aria grinned. "Depends. Do relapses come with tongue?"
"You're insatiable."
Aria leaned in, brushing her lips against the corner of Selene's jaw. "I'm learning from the best."
Selene laughed softly under her breath. "You're going to get me in trouble."
"Promise?"
Selene's arm wrapped around her waist, tugging her in close until their bodies pressed together, hip to hip. The silence that followed wasn't awkward or empty — it was thick with something unsaid. Something that didn't need words.
Aria let herself lean, just a little heavier into Selene, and whispered without thinking, "I want to wake up like this every day."
Selene didn't reply right away.
But she didn't pull away either.
And that — more than anything — felt like a promise.