Iris's POV

I woke to the heavy quiet of a body that had finally stopped burning.

Afternoon light cut through the half-closed curtains in thin, dusty stripes and for a long moment I didn’t move. Every shift of the sheets sent dull sparks through the bites on my neck, my shoulders, the soft insides of my thighs. Between my legs I was sore in a deep, used way that made my breath catch. When I pressed my thighs together I felt the tenderness and the faint, sticky evidence that he had kept me full for a long time. The sharp, desperate heat under my skin was gone and I felt...