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‘Then we shall be terrified together. Aren’t we lucky? I’m so happy, I could cry,’ said Claudia. ‘I don’t know what to do with myself. I might sing… or jump off the balcony…’

‘Please don’t.’

‘Or ride a horse naked through the streets… or… or…’

She looked around the room, her eyes wild and searching, until her gaze settled on Gia once more.

‘Or this.’

Claudia kissed her with all of her might – an angry, fearsome, passionate kiss full of unspoken things.

She wanted to consume her, for them to become one, their bodies winding and fusing together like threads.

‘Good idea,’ said Gia. ‘I like that one.’

Claudia did it again.

‘I’m delirious. I may be hallucinating, or feverish,’ said Claudia.

‘Oh no. Struck by Cupid, in her prime,’ said Gia, rolling them over so that they were lying on their sides.

Claudia stroked her face in awe.

‘You are the first person who has ever loved me,’ she said.

‘Well, same,’ said Gia. ‘In that way, I mean.’

‘I doubt it. You must have all manner of secret admirers who would kill to have your sword to their throat.’

‘Is that a request?’

‘Maybe,’ said Claudia, raising one finger to Gia’s lips.

‘Look at you,’ said Gia, longingly. ‘Every man who ever laid eyes on you would fall in love with you.’

‘And I don’t want any of them.’

‘Good, because you’re mine.’

‘And you are mine,’ Claudia said, tracing Gia’s brows, her hairline, her nose and chin with one hand. ‘I belong to you as much as you belong to me. You are mine, and I am yours.’

She was giddy. Gia loved her. She was not unlovable. She was loved by the person she loved in return. It truly was a miracle.

‘What about the rumours, and the prince?’ asked Gia.

Claudia interrupted her by kissing her throat, lips trailing down to her chest.

‘What about—’

‘Shhh,’ said Claudia.

The adrenaline that already energized her blood now moved through her in powerful, shuddering waves.

‘I am the empress. I take orders from no one…’

Claudia slid off the bed, sinking down to kneel at Gia’s feet and parting her legs, seized by that delicious ferality again.

Shameful or not, it was hers to own, to accept, to become.