Page 576 of The Luna Duet


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Pulling away a little, he quirked his eyebrow, waiting to see if I would ask for a translation. But...five years was a long time. Five years and so many lonely nights. I’d taken an online language course—when I wasn’t obsessing over how to build Lunamare—and although my accent needed work and sometimes I got my verbs wrong, I was technically fluent in my husband’s tongue.

Running my fingers through his hair, I murmured, “Bunun seni bir canavar yapip yapmamasi umrumda degil çünkü ben de öyleyim. Kizimizi tüm kalbimle seviyorum. Ama seni tüm ruhumla seviyorum.” (I don’t care if that makes you a monster because I’m one too. I love our daughter with all my heart. But I love you with all my soul).

He froze.

“You learned.” Love lit up his dark stare until a ring of molten affection glowed.

“I learned for me. And for Ayla. I needed her to love you as much as I do. To know she came from the best man in the world and a country full of magic.”

“Fucking hell.” His voice caught thickly. “What did I do to deserve you, Neri?”

“You survived,” I whispered. “You survived when you were sixteen, and you survived now, despite my mistakes.”

He cupped my cheek with a trembling hand where we lay facing each other in bed. “Promise me, canim. Promise me we’ll never spend another night apart. Not a single day without each other.”

The deadly seriousness of his face and the familiar sternness of his delectable mouth made my blood thicken. Laying my hand on his chest, my fingertips buzzed with the thudding of his heart. “I promise. Forever and always.”

The moment stretched until it cut me with poignancy. Too sharp. Too vivid. Far too vicious with unsaid things. My gaze dropped to his unzipped trousers. He’d removed his belt and pulled his boxer-briefs back up, but the fact he still wore them finally wore me down. “Why won’t you get completely undressed? W-Why did you only take me in missionary when...we have a habit of using the walls, the floor, and everything in between?”

He smiled as if remembering our fast and furious antics, but then his face fell, and he sighed heavily. “You asked me before if I was hungry.”

I frowned at him changing the subject, but before I could reply, he added, “I’m not hungry, hayatim, but I am craving a shower.” He lowered his jaw and didn’t look into my eyes. “Would you...do you want to bathe with me?”

My heart clenched at the sudden wariness in him. The coiling uncertainty working through his body. Why was he uncertain? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was suddenly shy.

Urgency filled me to take away whatever worries he had, and I slipped from my bed. Slinking into my white robe hanging on the back of my door, I held out my hand. “Let’s shower.”

Without a word, he shifted to the side of the bed, swung his legs to the ground, then paused. His chest strained as he sucked in a breath, highlighting all those awful silver scars.

My hands balled as pure hate wracked through me.

If Cem was still alive, he wouldn’t be for too much longer.

I’d hire every mercenary available to eradicate him. I’d summon all the monsters in my soul and tear him apart. I’d happily go to jail for making him pay.

I didn’t care Cem was the reason my parents and I had never been prosecuted for harbouring an illegal immigrant. I didn’t care that he’d protected us in his own twisted way.

He’d hurt my soulmate.

And that was punishable by death.

“All it takes is a good reason and a bad day,” Wayne Gratt’s quote from that show with Stanley Tucci echoed in my mind.

He was wrong.

Today was a great day.

Yet I was fully prepared to make a murderous decision to kill my father-in-law.

Aslan’s knuckles whitened as he gripped the mattress. He glowered at the floor, whispering, “I know it’s stupid. I know you love me far deeper than physical appearance, yet...” He shook his head with a scoff. “I can’t help feeling as if I should...apologise.”

“Apologise?” My eyebrows shot up. “For what?”

He shrugged sadly. “For who I am now.” His lips twisted into a snarl. “But...that’s wrong because I know it won’t matter, and if I’m honest, I’ve already come to terms with it myself. It took me a long time, I admit. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to fully accept but...a few weeks ago, I learned that I’m still me. Even if pieces are missing.”

Ice trickled down my spine. “Aslan...you’re scaring me.”

His head ripped up. With a soft grunt, he zipped up his slacks, pushed off the bed, then strode toward me a little stiffly. “That isn’t my intention, askim. Forgive me. I was merely thinking out loud.” He smiled and bent to kiss me. “Honestly, I’m okay. I’m surprisingly okay. Fucking great, actually.”

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