Chapter 29
twenty-nine
She stumbles, and I snag her by the waist to hold her to me. I’m not letting go.
“What? How? Who… Who are you?” The hurt in her eyes slices straight through me. She doesn’t pull away, frozen where I need her most.
“Valen Elliot Von Dovish.”
I’m not expecting it. But I don’t mind. She rears back a palm, then slaps me hard against the cheek, my face flying to the side when she does.
“How could you let me believe there were two of you? Not tell me who you were! Why did you do that?”
Her anger strikes deeper than the sting of her slap. Guilt tightens my chest—because beneath my bravado, part of me knows I deserve it.
“You played with my heart, Valen or Elliot... Did you even care how much you were hurting me?”
“Every second,” I rush out, aching inside and desperate for her to believe my intentions. “But I had to know if you wanted me—really wanted me—and not just what I represented.”
The tears behind her eyes threaten to spill over the rims. I hold her face with my hands, stroking her cheeks with my thumbs. With a deep inhale, I confess what only a few people understand. I let her see the real me.
“I had to know if you were still focused on doing what you’ve been taught. If you were going to obey…or if you’d choose me instead of them. And I didn’t yet trust you enough to share my true face. Not until you came here tonight. Now I know.”
Her body trembles slightly, delicate and fierce all at once. I can see the battle waging within her, fear versus desire, trust versus betrayal. “Know what?”
“That I matter more than everything you’ve been forced to believe. More than the rules we’re about to burn to the ground. You accept me for who I am in the shadows and not just the light.”
She softens enough in my hold that I try to find the words to explain everything I’ve been dealing with by myself.
“When I first saw you our freshman year, sitting in that auditorium, that was real and true, but would you choose me over everything else? Valen is who I was raised to be for the society—a ruthless heir. My wealth and power became an attraction for lots of women and those who wanted to abuse it. I’m to become a board member, just like my father. ”
It’s hard for even me to understand. “Elliot is who I am without all the rules and assignments—I’m real. I’m just a geek who loves playing video games, but who has to put up with being some vigilante for an unknown god in order to stay alive.”
Her lips part to argue, but I continue. “You were the first person who made me wonder if those two halves could coexist. But to put my faith in anyone, even you…” I trail off, the word bitter on my tongue. “Trust was impossible until I knew your heart was truly mine, no matter which face you saw.”
Narrowing her green eyes, she huffs out her question. “What if I had chosen Elliot tonight?”
Pausing, I take a deep inhale and tell her my plan. “Honestly, I knew you wouldn’t. There was no way.”
“Arrogant—”
“No, really. If you had, however, then I’d have to leave you alone.
Because…you wouldn’t be the woman I need.
But I know you, Olivia. I’ve known you and watched you.
When you were ready to break, I wanted to be there to witness you put yourself back together.
And I knew it would be me you’d choose every time. ”
Her chin quivers as her voice shakes with uncertainty. “So it was all a big test for me?”
“Yes. A test of loyalty.”
She takes a step back and crosses her arms, but her gaze never leaves my face. My real face. I feel naked.
Every time I hid behind that mask, I felt the weight of it crushing me. It killed who I was slowly. By maintaining the separate identities, I risked losing the one thing I wanted the most: her.
“I’ve watched everyone around me betray each other for power and money and status. To make sure they were in line with the Seventh Society’s teachings. I learned early that trust is a weakness. I had to be sure, absolutely sure, that you wouldn’t become another regret.”
“You say that like this is a normal thing to do. But you toyed with my emotions, Ell— Van… I don’t even fucking know what to call you!”
With a smirk, I step closer. “Master works.”
“Fuck you.”
My hand grips the nape of her neck, pulling her back into me, and she crashes against my chest with a gasp. “I plan to.”
“Valen… Von Dovish. Why?”
“No one sees me, Monarch. Only those closest ever have. I prefer it that way. Few people enter my circle, but now you’re one of them.
I followed as you wandered toward Elliot, the safe path, the life you thought would give you normalcy.
But then your heart spoke, and I saw the shift.
I hurried over here to meet you, because it was finally time you met the real me. ”
Getting here on my motorcycle before she could was a fun feat. But I was smiling the entire way, knowing she had chosen well.
She pauses, her eyes glancing at my lips, which makes me want to capture hers. “Vanq’s voice… You sound like Elliot.”
“Because I am him. I just deepened it when I had the mask on, hid it as best I could. But I wanted to tell you. I did… I also didn’t know if I could. Not until you took care of Blackwell.”
Still bewildered, she thinks for a minute as she shakes her head. “You were watching at the president’s house for his luncheon!”
“Yeah.”
“You said you were a scholarship kid!”
“No, no. I never said that. It was implied by that douche, and you went with it. So, really, was it that big of a lie?”
She narrows her eyes. “You said you weren’t rich! You have more money than us all!”
“Technically, I wasn’t rich…” Her jaw lowers to rebut me, but I brush my thumb over her bottom lip and tell her how I feel. “I wasn’t…until I had you. Now, I’m the wealthiest man alive.”
“You did lie when you said you weren’t in Greek Life!” She points her finger in my face.
“I really don’t do much with Delta. Not unless forced.”
Her face pinkens, eyes flashing with stubbornness. “I want to be mad at you.”
“Every time I hid was agony. You don’t know how many times I nearly gave in, nearly revealed myself, because seeing you hurt was torture, Olivia.”
She looks away with a harsh whisper. “You made me feel like I was losing my mind. You made me doubt myself, everything I thought I knew…”
Increasing guilt spears through me, sharper than any blade. “I’m so fucking sorry, but you had to choose freely, knowing the risks.”
Her eyes find mine again, uncertain but softening. For one quiet heartbeat, we stare, worlds crashing and reforming between us. Then I move, decisively bridging every gap we created. Sealing us together once. Forever.
“I accept your anger. Hate me. Fuck me. Take it all out on my body until you forgive me.
“What—”
But I don’t let her finish, lifting her easily into my arms as she protests halfheartedly.
“Put me down!”
Ignoring her kicks, I stride into the ruined chapel next to us. “Welcome home, my queen,” I announce, carrying her toward a future I’ve only dared to imagine.
Moonlight streams like a jealous eye through the cracked stained glass, or what’s left of it. Shadows glimmer on the floor, chasing the white streams. I’d placed enough candles around an ancient, padded prayer bench to light it up like center stage.
The private chapel had long since been abandoned, its altar devoured by ivy, its pews splintered and dust choked.
A fitting place for christening our new house.
Carefully, I set her feet down on the bottom part, then snap my fingers and point toward the elbow rest. “Bend over.”
She tosses her hair back and glances at me, yellow flames shimmering in her eyes. “On this?”
I grab her arms swiftly and gather them behind her back as her short dress rides up, revealing a lacy little thong. I guess she dressed perfectly for the night. For me…
When I position her over the top, she squeals. “Valen!”
“Pray to your goddess, Monarch. Ask for strength to survive what I’m about to do to you.”
Kneeling behind her, I hook a finger beneath her panties and drag them aside. She taught me exactly how to please her—so I take my time, my mouth reminding her of every secret we’ve shared. Same lips. Same tongue. But now, every part of me belongs to her.
“Fuck…yes,” she breathes out, pressing her pussy back onto my face, coating my chin with her wetness. Every swivel of her hips fills my cock with more longing. It hardens in my jeans until I can’t take it anymore.
I rise, shoving her dress up and gripping her bent arms like handles.
With a snap, I whip off my belt and hold it folded in half in one hand, then free my throbbing cock.
As I slap the leather strap against her exposed ass, I align with her trembling heat…
Then shove in deep, burying myself fully inside her.
She gasps sharply, and my vision blurs with how impossibly tight and perfect she feels.
“I’m done holding back,” I growl and drive into her hard enough to make her cry out. She’s finally here, hot and wet and real beneath my hands. Fully mine.
Every thrust fulfills a silent promise I made to myself—that if I waited long enough, she’d be my reward.
I caress her ass, then slap the belt across it until it reddens the flesh in stripes. Moaning, she jolts forward.
“Do you know how long I’ve waited to fuck you like this? How many nights I spent imagining it was your body wrapped around me instead of my fist?”
“Valen…” she hums, the sound like a sensual hymn. I swat her ass with the strap again, testing her limits, and she releases a wail.
“Try master. Let me hear you say it as I ruin you in this place that was meant to save you.”
She grows quiet, choking on her breath, but I pivot deeper, harder, stealing every sound. Every time I plunge closer to her womb, she releases a tiny sob from between tight lips. Her pussy flutters around my length, which makes me want to explode. But this time, I’m determined to last a long while.
I’m not a virgin anymore.
“Say it.”
Finally, she screams for me. “Yes! Master!”
My head drops back as she squeals, clenching down around my cock. “Fuck, yes, baby. That’s it.”
Dropping the belt and releasing her arms, I squeeze her rounded ass, soothing it with massaging palms as she whimpers.
I fold over her back, locking her waist in a tight embrace as I pound into her with measured thrusts. Every stroke is worship. A reverent surrender to the body I’ve dreamed of for years.
The frustration, the hunger, the fucking ache—I lay it into every snap of my hips, pounding her like I’ve always needed to. Working my desire for her into every thrust.
Her gasps shatter into a high-pitched whine as she comes again, tightening like a vise around my length and trembling beneath me.
I follow, releasing everything inside her, pressing needy kisses along her neck as I fall apart.
“I love you,” I breathe against her throat, heat flushing my face. “Since the second I saw you—stage light in your chocolate hair, fire behind your forest eyes—I haven’t wanted anything else. You had me before I even knew your name.”
A gasp parts her lips for a second, and my pulse races, waiting for her reaction. “Y-You love me?” She seems more stunned than appalled, still letting me hold her. And in her eyes, I swear I see the faintest flicker of relief, maybe even acceptance.
As I catch a breath, I silently plead with her to forgive me. “I do. Fully and completely. I’ve waited. Watched. Burned. All for this moment. And now that I’ve got you in my hands? I’m never letting go.”
Her body relaxes in my arms while I memorize what her heart feels like under my palm.
After a few moments of silence, I gather her long, dark hair and lay it over one shoulder, then help her straighten up.
She watches me in contemplation, every move I make, even as I stuff myself back into my trousers.
“I…don’t know what to say.” Throat tightening as she swallows, she appears shy. “I feel like I have to learn who you are all over again.”
I ditch my gloves, tossing them aside, then lace our fingers together. Skin to skin. She lets me. Maybe there’s a hint of grace in her expression as she glances at my face.
“Understandable,” I say, lifting our joined hands. “But these fit. We fit.”
In a voice like a dream, she says, “I remember.” Our gazes match for a long moment, causing my heart to beat harder as we catch our breaths. Her warm hand presses on my cheek, and she steals my air. “Next time, I want to look at your face, Valen. Your real face.”
If I could form a sentence to reply, I would. But I’m spellbound by her. Intoxicated. She’s captivated me. And she doesn’t even know how much.