Chapter 48
Forty-Eight
ALLETTE
There is only one salvageable dress still hanging in the armoire, made of serviceable gray cotton with buttons that climb all the way to my neck. I change quickly and then go to Senan’s room to wait for him to leave his fiancée and return to me. The longer it takes, the more my heart breaks.
Don’t settle for shadows, Allette.
Everyone deserves to be loved in the light.
Braith was right. For too long, I have lived in shadows, settling for less than I should. I want all or nothing and must be willing to walk away if the prince cannot give me what I deserve.
The balcony doors open, and Senan steps through.
Our gazes collide, and from the broken look on his face, it’s clear he knows what I’m about to say before I utter a word.
I stand from his bed and force my wrenching hands to my sides. “Senan, I am sorry. But I cannot do this. I cannot be your mistress.” That terrible word painted above my bed rings through my mind. I cannot be your whore .
“My mistress?” His long strides eat up the gap between us. “Allette, you are my wife.”
“Not in the eyes of the world. Not according to the law.” In a handful of days, a princess will be waiting for him at the end of an aisle…unless I can convince him to choose me. “For too long, I have settled for pieces of you. That ends tonight. It’s all or nothing.”
The toes of his boots brush my silk slippers. His rough, scarred hands cup my jaw, lifting my face until our gazes lock. “Wherever you go, I will follow. You are all I have ever wanted, Allette. Until the sun implodes and the stars stop shining.”
I cannot believe my ears. “You’re choosing me…”
“I will always choose you.”
Part of me believed this castle, its riches, and the power of his crown would sway him, but he doesn’t even hesitate or balk at the thought of giving all of this up for a penniless, wingless daughter of a lowly lord.
Our lips collide like a desperate supernova. A sky full of glittering, burning stars. Our tongues sweep together, tangling and dancing, sealing our fates.
“I need you.” More than my next breath, more than the next beat of my pounding heart. “Prove I’m the only one.”
“On my life, Allette, there will never be another,” he vows, unbuttoning and tugging down the front of my dress, freeing my breasts, his tongue tasting, tracing, toying with the hardened peaks, dragging a broken whimper from my throat.
My back arches, giving him what he desires. His low growl vibrates against my skin, and his hands constrict on my backside as he lifts me, wrapping my legs around his waist. His hips rock upward, dragging his rigid length against my most sensitive spot.
“More,” I beg the night, grinding myself against him as he thrusts, giving me what I crave.
His forehead drops between my breasts, his breaths sawing in and out. “Allette?—”
“I need you inside me. Please, Senan.” I need him like magic needs the sun. To replenish me, restore me, bring me back to the woman I used to be.
He drops me so quickly that my legs nearly give out. I lift my skirts to my waist as he yanks at his belt, our hot, frenzied kisses catching skin as we fight to free ourselves for one another.
He draws my undergarments to the side at the same time I clasp a hand around his rigid length. Our broken moans become one sound, his fingers sinking deep as I stroke. He kisses me again, thrusting into my hand as he curls his fingers inside me, teasing and drawing out this delicious torture. Filling me before pulling out to graze along my seam. Confident and slow, as if we have all the time in the world to explore one another instead of a few stolen moments.
We’re thieves in the night, taking whatever we can, consequences be damned.
“Hurry,” I moan even as I writhe under his touch.
“No.”
“Senan—”
He drops to his knees and pulls my undergarments farther to the side so he can find me with his tongue. We need to hurry, we really do. But… stars . I’m not going to rush this. If anyone catches us, I’ll gladly spend the rest of my days paying for this so long as Senan keeps flicking his tongue like that. A whimper falls from my lips. He buries his head deeper between my thighs, and I’m helpless to stop him from dragging on the threads that bind me together until I’m teetering on the edge of release.
With a muttered curse, he stands and lifts me once more. My spine slams against the rigid wall; my legs lock around his lower back.
He positions his length at my entrance and rocks his hips once more, nudging against my slick folds. Then he clasps my chin in his tattooed fingers, lifts my head until our gazes meet, and thrusts into me.
Starlight bursts behind my eyes, and I can do nothing but hold on for dear life as he gives and takes and gives and gives. Never again do I want to live without this feeling.
Being loved by him.
Destroyed by him.
Cherished by him.
My hand slides down his neck to the top of his spine, tracing his vertebrae until I reach the small ridge between his shoulder blades and press firmly. Senan shudders as his wings emerge, somehow managing to keep his rhythm. I caress his beautiful, inky feathers, tugging at the base of his wings, relishing the way he jerks inside me.
“There’s my wicked girl,” he murmurs, nipping my ear.
The love we made all those years ago is nothing compared to this. Beautiful. Brutal. Broken. Each pounding thrust breaks me apart. Each “I love you” whispered against my lips pulls me back together.
The feel of him. The taste of him. The utter devastation of our joining leaves me whimpering and pleading against his neck.
We’ve loved. We’ve lost. We’ve found each other once more.
This prince is meant for another—kingdom, woman, destiny. While I was always meant to be left behind. Those were our fates ,and yet here we are, gripping each other, defying the very stars that insisted on ripping us apart.
Senan pins my wrists above my head beneath the hand spelling out “LOVE.” His other hand falls between us, making me well and truly lost as he flicks his thumb against the bundle of nerves above where we’re joined. Teasing. Taunting. Driving me out of my mind with pleasure.
When I fall apart in his arms, he captures my cries with his mouth. Only a moment later, I watch him break, his tears raining down on our sweat-slickened skin. We cling to each other, our harsh breaths falling in time as madness subsides.
“Oh, shit,” someone gasps.
My hammering heart stops. Senan’s wings curve around us, shielding me from view.
“I…um…I’m sorry,” a man stutters. “I didn’t mean to intrude but?—”
“Spit it out, Rhainn,” Senan snarls, his eyes darkening to a dangerous hue.
How long has Senan’s bloody brother been standing there? How did we not hear him? Even as the question crosses my mind, the answer is so bloody obvious: We didn’t hear because we’ve been rutting and tearing into each other like feral animals.
“Your…um…fiancée is waiting for you,” the younger prince says. “In the dining room.”
He isn’t yours.
He isn’t yours.
He isn’t yours.
Senan curses again. “Tell her I am indisposed.”
“I’m afraid she was quite insistent.”
Senan sets my feet on the marble and drags my skirts back into place. “Leave us, Rhainn.”
“Right. Yes. Sorry.”
“Not a word of this, do you hear me, Rhainn?”
Rhainn says nothing as he stalks out the door.
“Rhainn!”
The door slams in his wake.
“ Dammit… ” Senan yanks his breeches from around his ankles, cursing while he fumbles with the leather strap on his belt.
“You’re leaving…” What am I saying? Of course he is leaving.
He is done with you and going to her .
He clasps my jaw in his scarred hands. “Don’t do that.”
I blink back burning tears. “Don’t do what?”
“You think I can’t see you pulling away from me? Swear to me that you will be here when I get back.”
“Senan—”
“Swear it!”
“I swear.”
“We leave together, do you hear me?”
I nod, trying my best to hold onto his promises as I watch him turn and walk away.