Page 52

“Don’t lie to me again, Aurelia. I’ve had six years to think about that night, and nothing about it makes sense unless you knew who I was from the beginning.”

She looks away. “I recognized you. From photos. My family keeps files on their enemies, and I’d seen your face before.”

“So you knew I was dangerous.”

“Yes.”

“And you slept with me anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She meets my eyes, and for the first time, I see something real. Something raw. “Because I wanted to. It was the most rebellious thing I could do.”

The honesty in her voice cuts through all the bullshit.

She used me. Not maliciously, but she used me. And I can’t even be angry about it because I would have done the same thing in her position.

“And after?” I ask. “After your family took you, did you ever think about contacting me?”

“I couldn’t. Victor wouldn’t let me. He kept me locked away, and by the time I had any freedom, it had been too long. I didn’t even know if you were still looking.”

“I never stopped looking.”

Her expression falters for a brief moment, her eyes dropping as if she has remembered something she would rather not. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly.

“Sorry, doesn’t give me back six years.”

“I know.”

I step closer, and she presses back against the wall like she’s trying to disappear into it.

“Tell me something true,” I say. “One thing that isn’t a lie or a deflection or a crafted story. Just the truth.”

She’s quiet for a long moment.

Then she says, “I thought about you. For the better half of six years, I thought about you.”

I have to look away to steady myself.

“Did you?” I ask, moving even closer.

“Yes.”

“What did you think about?”

“That night. The way you touched me. The way you fucked me.”

“Show me.”

“Cassian—”

I don’t let her finish. I close the distance between us and kiss her.

She makes a sound in the back of her throat, half protest, half surrender, and then her hands are in my hair and she’s kissing me back with the same desperate intensity I remember. It’s not gentle. Not sweet. It’s angry and consuming, years of frustration poured into one kiss.

I back her harder against the wall, my hand sliding up her thigh, pushing the silk of her dress out of the way. She gasps into my mouth, and I swallow the sound.