Chapter 8 #2
Before I can second-guess myself, I cross the room to her, the distance between us disappearing in a heartbeat.
The air feels charged, electric, as I stop in front of her, close enough to see the subtle freckles across her nose, the way her lips curve slightly as if she’s trying not to smile.
My hand finds hers, and I take it gently, my fingers brushing against hers.
“Alette,” I say, my voice low. “I… I need to tell you something.”
Her gaze meets mine, curiosity threaded with something deeper and harder to name. “What is it?”
I take a deep breath, the weight of my feelings pressing against my chest. “I love you. I think I’ve loved you for a while now, but I didn’t realize it until just now. Seeing you like this, standing here… I know it. I know I want you to be my queen when all of this is over.”
Her eyes widen, and she takes a small step back, her hand slipping out of mine.
“Ashton, you don’t mean that,” she says quickly, her voice tinged with disbelief.
“This place has gotten to your head. It’s…
it’s the labyrinth. It makes everything feel more intense, more real than it is.
Even I was thinking,...I don’t know, crazy thoughts. ”
I shake my head, stepping closer to her again, desperate to bridge the gap she’s created.
“No,” I say firmly. “This isn’t the labyrinth.
It’s me. It’s us. I don’t want to speak for them, I’ll let them explain for themselves, but I’m sure of how I feel, Alette.
I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. ”
Her expression shifts, uncertainty flickering across her features like a candle flame caught in a draft. “You can’t know that. Not here, not now.”
“I can. And I do.”
Her gaze searches mine, and it feels like the rest of the world has fallen away.
The chaos outside the castle fades into the background, leaving just the two of us suspended in this fragile bubble of honesty and raw emotion.
Slowly, almost hesitantly, she steps closer, her hand finding its way back to mine.
“Ashton, the way I feel about you, Cassius, Sylvian, and Oberon is hard to explain. It’s a thousand things I don’t know how to say…” she begins, but whatever she was going to say disappears the second I close the distance between us.
My mouth finds hers, and this time there’s nothing hesitant about it.
She gasps softly against my lips, and I take advantage of it immediately, deepening the kiss, tilting my head as I pull her closer and my tongue sweeps into her willing mouth.
My hand slides to the back of her neck, holding her there as my other arm wraps tight around her waist, anchoring her to me like I’m afraid she might disappear if I let go.
She melts into me faster than I expect.
Or maybe I just didn’t give her time not to.
Her fingers tangle in my hair, tugging just enough to make something sharp and electric shoot straight through me. A low groan slips out of me before I can stop it, and I drag her closer, pressing her fully against me, needing more.
The kiss turns hungry.
Her lips part beneath mine, and I follow instinctually, chasing the heat, the taste of her, the way she responds like she’s just as far gone as I am. Every breath she takes is mine, every small sound she makes pulling me deeper into something I’m not even trying to resist anymore.
Gods. I can’t get close enough.
My hands move without permission, sliding from her waist, up her sides, feeling the curve of her through the fabric, the warmth of her body under my palms. Then, I slide my hands along the curves of her ass and jerk her closer, over my throbbing erection, wrapping her legs around me and sitting back on the bed, so she’s straddling me.
She arches into the touch, and that, that, nearly undoes me.
I drag in a sharp breath against her lips, breaking the kiss for half a second just to look at her. Her eyes are wide, her lips flushed, her breathing uneven. Beautiful. Mine.
The thought barrels through me, hard and fast, and I crush my mouth back to hers before I can even think about it.
She responds instantly, like she’s been waiting for it, her arms tightening around my neck, her body pressing closer, and I swear I can feel it everywhere.
Heat, pressure, the way she fits just perfectly, like we were made for each other.
Gods, I can imagine what it’d be like to be inside her tight, little body.
To use my cock to own her. To claim her.
My hands tighten on her, fingers flexing as I fight the urge to lose whatever control I have left. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to keep going, to take more, to see how far she’ll let me push this.
I drag my mouth from her lips, breath rough, trailing kisses along her jaw, down the line of her throat. She tilts her head back with a soft, helpless sound, and that nearly breaks me completely.
“Alette…” I breathe against her skin, my voice rougher than I’ve ever heard it.
I don’t even know what I’m going to say. I just know I don’t want to stop.
She shifts in my lap… and that’s it. Every thought in my head disappears in a rush of heat and instinct. If I don’t do something, change something, I’m going to have to take this woman right now.
I suck in a sharp breath, my grip tightening as my forehead drops briefly against her shoulder, fighting for control that’s slipping fast. Gods, I want… the thought is dangerous. Too dangerous. And I don’t care.
I start to move again, ready to pull her back into another kiss, ready to lose myself completely in her… and the fucking door opens. The sound cuts through everything like a blade, followed by an angry voice.
“What the hell are you doing?” Oberon snaps, his voice low but sharp enough to cut. “Is this the conversation you needed to have?”
We break apart instantly, both of us turning toward them, breathless, disoriented. I shift Alette to my side and stand, instinctively putting myself between her and them, my pulse still racing from her touch. No one speaks, but I glance up at them, ready, knowing I deserve whatever’s coming.
Sylvian steps forward a half-step, eyes flicking between us, something tight in his expression. “What is this?” he demands, quieter, but no less pointed.
Cassius doesn’t raise his voice, but his gaze is locked on me, unblinking. “Right after our chat?”
That lands harder than shouting would have.
“Yeah,” I say, voice rough. “It’s exactly what it looks like.”
The words hang there, heavy and undeniable.
I drag a hand through my hair, forcing myself to meet their eyes. “I’m… sorry.”
That gets a reaction. A real one.
Oberon lets out a harsh, disbelieving breath. “Sorry?”
“I didn’t plan it,” I go on, quieter now. “I just—” I shake my head once. “I wanted to talk to her. I needed to tell her how I felt.”
“How we feel?” Sylvian corrects angrily.
“This should’ve been a conversation between all of us,” Cassius adds, his anger a little less obvious, but definitely there.
Alette steps forward beside me, her cheeks flushed, her expression conflicted. “It’s not just his fault,” she says quickly. “I… I shouldn’t have let it happen. I’m sorry.”
“No.”
All three of them speak at once.
It stops her cold.
Sylvian steps in first, voice firm. “This isn’t on you.”
Alette hesitates. “But I—”
“He knew better,” Oberon cuts in.
“That was entirely my doing,” I say immediately, accepting the blame I rightfully deserves.
Their attention snaps back to me. I don’t look away. We were bonding. Coming together. The only way to salvage our hard-earned peace is to be honest.
“I knew exactly what I was doing,” I add. “And I did it anyway. And you all know why.”
Sylvian exhales slowly, something resigned in the sound. “Yes,” he says. “We do.”
Cassius nods once, thoughtful. “It could’ve been any of us that walked across that hall, but it really shouldn’t have been anyone, without some kind of gentlemen’s agreement.”
Oberon drags a hand through his hair again, tension still there, but shifting. “It doesn’t mean I have to like walking in on it.”
“Fair,” I say.
Alette looks between us, clearly overwhelmed. “You’re not… angry?”
Sylvian’s gaze softens slightly. “Not with you.”
Cassius adds, “That was never in question.”
Oberon’s eyes flick back to me, something intense still simmering. “Him?” he mutters. “Different story.”
I huff out a breath. “Also fair.”
Silence crashes down after that. Thick. Suffocating. No one moves. No one looks away. Because we all feel it now. What this is. What it means. And the fact that we can’t pretend it isn’t there anymore.
I lift my chin slightly, meeting each of their gazes in turn. “I don’t regret it,” I say simply. “And I’m not going to pretend I don’t feel what I feel.”
No one argues.
Alette shifts beside me, her fingers tightening slightly in the fabric of her nightgown. “I… I didn’t mean for any of this to—”
“You didn’t cause it,” Sylvian says immediately.
Cassius sighs. “But this does bring to the forefront the obvious. We need to talk. About this. About us.”
Alette stills. All of us do.
“Now?” she asks, quieter.
Cassius holds her gaze. “Yes.”
Silence stretches.
Then, she nods.
And just like that, there’s no going back.