VIP (very important passage)

You are all forbidden from criticizing this. This is my first attempt at a romance scene and it is BOUND to be awkward. But I do like to think it is sweet. I like this passage. But then again I just wrote (rewrote, really) it and so maybe tommorrow I won't like it quite so much. But anyway!
BTW for those of you who are asking yourselves how on earth he can be staring at the sky when he is in a ROOM for crying out loud, he is in the Morrighan Compound "throne room" and there is a small glass dome in the ceiling. If you've read my book and paid attention you know what I'm talking about.
This scene is written after Sebastian Corvinus, Dome Heir, escapes to the Morrighans... Phoenix was never a delicate soul, let it be said.

“What was I supposed to do? I should have killed him? For something he hasn’t done?”
“Yes!”
Enraged, he took her by the shoulders and shook her. “That’s not what I am! It’s not what I believe in! You were willing to kill him for something he’s innocent of!”
Phoenix twisted wildly and got out of his grasp. “He wasn’t innocent!” she nearly screamed, sobs starting to lace her voice, her small frame shaking with fury, “He did this! It was all for him! My brother, me, Hawke! Even Hawke, Ethan! He killed my mother! He killed my brother!” The last word was a howl of pain. She hugged herself tightly, as if to keep herself from falling apart at the assault of her emotions.
“Stop it!” Ethan bit off, “He did not kill them! That was his father, yours. It is not Seb’s fault.”
She drew herself up, stared at him eye to eye. “You’re just protecting him because of he’s your little darling’s best friend,” she accused, her voice trembling slightly. She was appalled at herself, she’d never lost control this way. But she couldn’t seem to stop. “Just because you sleep with her doesn’t mean you’re her bodyguard!”
“I told you I don’t sleep with her! Why won’t you listen?”
“Because of the way you look at her, because of the way you act around her like she’s a china doll waiting to break!” The last word was full of fury and pain.
“Goramm it, she is not my lover! She’s seventeen, Phoenix. I’m not an animal!”
Her eyes widened in disbelief and rage. “You bastard!” He dared. He dared to imply it, to say it.

A sob chokes in her throat as she remembers. Animal. She remembers Gray sneering at her brother. She remembers the hunt. Raven tiring beside her. Telling her to run. Gray and his dogs triumphantly closing in for the kill. She sees herself in that dark room. Hell. Hell, as she watches Gray taunt her brother before her. As she watches him lash out with his knife, cutting Raven, making him bleed. Animal. I’ll bleed you like an animal. Her pleas. Gray’s hands on her. Raven lunging. Gray’s knife slashing into her brother’s throat. The disbelief and the heartbreaking pain. His eyes, his beautiful tawny eyes, losing their light. Her brother, her beloved twin brother, the other half of her, falling into death. Her scream. Gray’s triumphant smile. “Animal,” he’d murmured. “Die like what you are.” And as her brother chokes on his own blood, her torturer takes out his gun and shoots a bullet into Raven’s head. Her face contorts in a horrible rictus of pain.

Twisting around Ethan, she tumbled him to the floor, fell onto him, lashed out with feet and hands, hurting him in anyway she could.
His eyes had darkened to deepest black when he had heard her insult, and now he rolled on top of her, pinning her arms over her head. He snarled into her face.
“Never. Call. Me. That.” His control was threadbare, his hands shaking so hard in his fury he was afraid he would bruise her.
“Then never say I’m an animal! Don’t even imply it!” Phoenix screamed, tears streaming down her white cheeks. She wanted to be angry, wanted the words to sound accusing and furious, but all she felt was desperate pain and sadness. For once her blue eyes were not of ice, flames burned in her dark pupils. Then she turned her head away and started to sob harder, her body convulsing beneath his.
“Did I?” he demanded furiously, wanting to shake her, his hands tightening even more around her wrists, “have I ever called you an animal? Even once? Have I ever done, “ he snarled, “said anything that demeaned or insulted you in any way?”
And though she knew he was right, she could not help but see her brother lying on the cold stone floor, her savior bursting through the door only seconds too late, too late to save him. And his tawny eyes that haunt her, that have haunted her for so long, closing in death. She went still in Ethan’s grasp.
“His eyes were like amber, with the sun shining through,” she murmured, tears streaming unchecked down her cheeks. The anger in her eyes was gone, leaving only naked, raw pain. Her voice was clear and worn, but for once, alive. “I don’t remember his scent, I don’t remember the sound of his voice, or the rhythm of his heartbeat. But I remember his eyes, when they lost the sun.” She turned her head to the side, closed her own eyes, obscuring the brilliant sky-blue irises. “Raven,” she whispered, “Raven. He was my brother. And he died for the Dome Heir. He was killed in front of me for Sebastian Corvinus.” Her voice broke. “Kill him!”
“Once you asked me. Once I obeyed. Never again! Gray is dead. He is dead. I avenged my grandfather and your brother and that is enough!” His grip had loosened, his voice had lost its fury. But the words he said were no less angry and pained. His tone softened even more. “Phoenix. How can you want to kill your own brother? You know what is real, what is true. If you kill Corvinus, then you are what you so despise. An animal. Incappable of human reflexion, of emotion-“
He was interrupted by the hand that cracked across his cheek. His face turned aside by the force of her blow, he swore, slowly and steadily. Letting go of her arms, he reached up with one hand and touched his cheek. His fingers came away red with blood. Unconsciously, the young woman had unsheathed the short sharp claws that were her mutant heritage, and had scored his face, four thin parallel lines from his ear to his jaw.
Ethan growled something in the back of his throat. He rolled off of her and got up, frustrated, enraged at the way she destroyed his self-control, angry at himself for the feelings she made him feel. He turned to Phoenix, saw she had rolled into a ball on the floor, the force of her sobs shaking her body. It hurt to see her cry. It tore at something he hadn’t known was there.
“Stop it,” Ethan ordered tersely, turning his back to her shaking form, grinding his teeth to resist the demand of comforting her, even as he tried to remember his anger, the blood dripping down from his face.
“Leave me alone. Just… just go. Go away and leave me alone!” she cried, her voice muffled. Her words opened a raw wound inside his heart.
“I can’t!” he told her forcefully, looking harassed, “Don’t you see? Don’t you understand? There’s something in me that can’t let you go! There’s something in me that hurts every time I see you cry.” He sighed, as tension escaped his tall frame. He fell to his knees beside her. “Don’t cry,” he whispered.
He gathered her into his arms, bringing her close, as she watched him dazedly. A sweet pain rose in him as he saw her open her mouth, probably to tell him to let go. He decided he wouldn’t give her the chance. Ducking his head, he brushed his lips against hers, a touch that could have been the wind. His hand left her side, to brush back her short, raven-black hair from her wet cheeks, he nuzzled her neck as small sobs continued to shake her. He cupped her face in his hands and pressed his forehead to hers.
“I can’t,” he breathed. Then he kissed her again, hard. She melted into his arms, sinking her fingers into his hair, as he held her close, his kiss both harsh and sweet. Then he picked her up, walked across the room, and sat down again, leaning against the wall, cradling her gently, his eyes closed as she cried softly in his arms, clinging to him.
She wanted to let go. And yet, she couldn’t. Phoenix opened her eyes. Stared up at the face of the man that held her. His eyes were closed, and the blood on his face was already drying. Her hands, burrowed in his long dark hair, unclenched. She reached down, touched his cheek. He opened his dark, dark eyes. Nothing was sure anymore, nothing felt real. She was drowning in darkness, the only thing that anchored her to reality the warm form she was held against.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. She pushed herself against him, and his arms tightened around her reflexively. But she made no move to leave his embrace, only kissed his marred cheek gently, her eyes sorrowful.
“Feels better,” he told her softly, just to see her small smile. She closed her eyes again, clasped her arms around his chest, and lay her head on his shoulder. He held her, as time seemed to stop and fly at the same time, as the world grew still around them as if they were alone on earth. He held her, until her breathing deepened, until she relaxed in his arms. He held her as she slept, soundlessly, dreamlessly, as he stared up at the night sky.

There you have it. Feel free to tell me it sucked. I'm not sure about this one.