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Before I can vehemently decline that role in this absurd plan of his, he leans in close and whispers, “Unless you want to forgo all of this fanfare and marry me?” He pulls back, holds my gaze. When I don’t respond, he winks. “Figured as much. Welcome to the mart, little witch.”

Chapter 16

RIVEN

I can’t sleep.

Try as I might, Gwyn and that kiss consume my thoughts. Her perfect mouth. The taste of her. The way she felt beneath me, pinned against my desk. The soft moans I ache to hear again.

My cock stiffens.

How has it been only hours since I nearly came undone while keeping my clothes on?

Convince me.

Those two words were a challenge I was far too eager to meet. I knew the moment her breath hitched at my closeness that she was thoroughly convinced, and yet, she pretended she wasn’t.

Beneath her taunting and teasing, there’s a part of her that wants me.

No. That’s not true, is it?

There’s a part of her that wanted me.

Before I told her about my curse.

For a moment—however brief—I forgot about it, forgot that something as simple as a kiss could burn through the fabric of my soul and create pain unlike any other.

For a moment, there was no curse.

It was only Gwyn and me.

My mouth on hers, her body beneath mine.

The restraint I’ve kept tethered for centuries snapped, and I let go for once.

Because the kiss wasn’t real.

It was a challenge.

It didn’t go any deeper than that.

Until it… did.

Until I felt something spark within me. A single word etched into my bones—mine.

Absurd, I know.

Gwyn is not mine any more than she is her coven’s.

Yet it wasn’t the realization that she wasn’t mine that made me tear away from her. No, it was only when she cried out in pain that the reality of what I’d done, what I risked, brought forth a mortification unlike any other.

Not because I gave in to temptation, but because I have never been so fucking selfish.

Until that kiss.

I could’ve hurt her.

Again.