That one word was all it took.
I stripped off my shirt, climbed over her, careful not to move her too much. Her hand roamed my back, tracing scars, stopping here and there. She pulled me down, lips claiming mine again, deeper this time, hunger eating at the sweetness.
Guiding her, I settled against the headboard and eased her onto my lap. She straddled me, legs braced against my sides as if she belonged there. The feel of her pressed against me through the thin barrier of clothes nearly killed me.
Her fingers fumbled with my belt since she was trying not to use her arm, and the sound of it coming undone was enough to make me groan. I helped her, stripping away what remained until nothing stood between us anymore. She shifted, grinding down against me, her breath catching when the head of my cock slid against her wetness.
“Take what you want, Petal,” I breathed against her lips.
Take everything from me.
She guided me inside her inch by inch until I was buried in her. My entire body stilled, the sensation overwhelming. Fuck. I’d fucked before—too many times—but with her, it felt like making love.
She moved with slow rolls of her hips that stole every breath I tried to take. Her nails dug into my shoulders, scoring my skin as she leaned in and kissed me, her hair falling between us in red silk, skimming my jaw and chest.
Every gasp she gave, every spasm of her thighs, I worshipped it.
Remember this. Carve it. Don’t ever forget the way she looked when she was mine.
Her pace quickened, riding me harder, chasing her release. The sound of her moans, the way her body clamped around me—it felt so fucking good. When she broke, when her head tipped back, and she cried out my name, I put my arms around her, holding her so she couldn’t drift too far from me.
“Mine,” I growled into her ear, the word raw.
I love you. I fucking love you.
She was still shaking when I followed her over the edge, losing myself deep inside her, claiming her completely—claiming her the way I was always meant to.
I will never let her go, not now, not ever.
In that moment, with her trembling in my arms, her breath warm against my throat, her body wrapped around mine—
I was home.
Chapter 62
ADELINA
Viktor’s laughter filled the room—thick, choking, a sound that burrowed into bone. His shadow stretched across the walls, swallowing every corner. I had my dagger, but when I swung, the blade grew heavy, my grip slipping like it didn’t recognize me anymore. Each strike missed. Each breath shrank in my lungs.
He was untouchable.
And then Cezar appeared. Blood already running down his throat, dark stains soaking into his shirt. His eyes—God, those eyes—looked at me like I was worth every drop he shed. He lifted a hand toward me, reaching, trying, but Viktor wouldn’t allow him to move. A predator. A king who never fell.
I screamed. I lunged. The world blurred. The dagger fell from my hand. Viktor fired, the gunshot splitting the air louder than a storm. Thunder roared, but it was Cezar’s chest that burst open, spraying red like shattered sky. His body jerked once, then went still. My knees slammed into the ground, as if the earth demanded I knelt in my own failure.
I caught him. His weight collapsed into my arms. His blood soaked my hands, painted my clothes, dripped between my shaking fingers. A crimson rose bloomed in my palms, only towither into ash. Not him. Anyone but him. My vengeance had killed him. My vengeance had made me powerless.
Viktor leaned close, his whisper slithering down my spine.“Your love is the grave you dig. And when he dies because of it, it’ll be you lowering him into the ground.”
I woke with a sound I didn’t recognize, my lungs desperate for air. My fingers clawed into Cezar’s skin before I tore them away. His body was there, his voice soft, but I couldn’t say it. Couldn’t tell him he had already died in my arms, even if only in a dream. If I said it out loud, it would become truth.
“It’s nothing,” I lied.
He was trying to calm the panic, and when he told me he loved me, I shoved him away.
Because in the dark of my mind, love was the bullet that stole him from me. Love was the grave Viktor promised I’d dig. Love was the curse I couldn’t outrun.
The lie burned my throat raw. My ears rang with the phantom echo of a gunshot. The room smelled of hot metal and smoke. My hands looked clean, yet they trembled like they were still drenched in blood.
