FOURTY THREE

❧ Darian ☙

I wake up with a tingling in my arm, which lets me know that the limb is stiff and blood flow is low. Looking down at the sleeping form curled up next to me, I find Fiorella.

For an instant I remember those first days as newlyweds, when I enjoyed her scent on my pillow and her soft skin close to me.

Her soft lips are half-open and her angelic features are softened by the morning light. At this moment, she is not afraid, she is not tense or trying to fight me. She is an angel, and what mockery is it that I am the devil...?

A darkness covers me as a dull ache spreads through my chest with a glare. My heart thuds against my ribs, amplifying the pain, and I can't remember a time when it has beat so loudly before.

So soft, fragile and trusting. This is how she appears, like a lamb asleep in the pasture while the big bad wolf stalks the edge of the forest. If only he were a better man, a man who wasn't so intent on revenge. Maybe things could be different? I have to squash the t