Pearl’s POV
The warm water wrapped around me like a cocoon, and Demyan’s presence, so close, so protective, made me want to forget everything outside this chamber.
But I couldn’t.
A sudden pang hit me not in my body, but in my chest. Demyan was speaking but I was not listening as I suddenly thought about Cecil.
She must be worried sick. I hadn’t returned all night. And I knew her. She’d wait… no matter how late it got.
I slowly shifted in the water, wincing the moment I tried to move. My legs were weak, too sore from the night we spent tangled together. A flush rose on my cheeks, half from the heat, half from the vivid memories of Demyan’s hands, his lips, the way he had made me feel things I never thought possible.
But that same memory reminded me: the world still existed beyond the
