Muireann.
Meanwhile.
We’re in the car, packed on my driveway.
Tarian leans closer and kisses me.
I kiss him back, and the memory of minutes ago, of us, tangled and breathless in the shower, floats right back in, thick and consuming.
He breaks the kiss, pulling back just enough to watch my eyes.
“I will be seeing you soon,” he whispers between us.
And somehow, that whisper, it’s beautiful.
Soft.
Promising.
Dangerous.
The anticipation of being with him again almost melts something inside my chest.
Something I’ve spent years freezing solid.
But as usual, I pull up that mask.
I straighten.
“Regretfully, you wouldn’t,” I say, my voice controlled and precise.
Disappointment flashes in his gaze.
I ignore it.
“I have a trip I’ll be going on later tonight.
Milan.
For business.”
Silence settles between us, heavy and stretching.
“How long for?” Tarian asks, weakly.
That soft voice, it makes something ache deep inside me.
I crush it.
My expression turns bored and detached.
“I’m not your wife, Tarian.
Don’t question my movements.”
I reach for the car door, but strong arms yank me back.
He crashes his lips against mine, desperate and fevered.
There’s pain in every second of that kiss.
And I kiss him back.
Oh help me, I kiss him back.
Our deep, broken moans tear through the stillness of the car.
My phone rings in my purse, but we ignore it.
Nothing exists but this, this collision, this need.
He breaks the kiss, breathlessly.
“I wish you were,” he whispers, his forehead pressed to mine.
I shake my head against him.
“You don’t know what you’re saying, Tarian,” I mutter.
He presses a finger to my lips.
“Shh…”
He hushes me.
Then he kisses my forehead, softer this time.
“You’re tired… go sleep.
Prepare for your trip.”
He reaches for the door, opens it, nudging me gently out.
A hesitant smile plays on his lips.
And I smile too.
For a second, just one dangerous second, I see it.
I see myself stepping into what he’s offering.
I see myself softening.
Letting my heart feel again.
And just as quickly, I recover.
The mask slides back into place.
Seamlessly.
“Goodbye, Tarian.”
I slip out of the car and walk away from him like he didn’t just shift something heavy and buried inside my chest.
I don’t look back.
I never look back.
Because looking back would have never gotten me this far. Find the original chapter at g.com.
A few minutes later, I step into my room and toss my purse onto the bed.
I slip out of my clothes, my skin still humming with everything I refuse to name.
I grab an ivory silk robe from the back of red divan and slide it on, fluidly and effortlessly.
I turn toward the bed to grab my phone and a strong hand clamps around my neck and slams me hard against the wall.
A gasp rips out of me.
My fingers claw uselessly at the grip, my lungs screaming.
And then I see him.
Zafron.
His furious eyes blaze, glowing white and merciless.
“How dare you make a fool of me in public, Muireann?!” He roars.
My breath stutters.
“Za… Za… fr…”
“Shut up, Muireann!” He thunders, tightening his grip.
“I had to watch you with that human… had to watch you make a spectacle of yourself at his parents’ party.” He sneers, his breath smelling of coffee and rain.
“You belong to me.
And no one else.
No one!”
My vision blurs, my eyes rolling back as the air slips from me.
No.
I don’t let it.
I summon everything.
Every drop of power in me answers.
Water pulls from the atmosphere, slashing over him and hurling him off me.
His grip breaks instantly, and I collapse to the ground, coughing, gasping, dragging air back into my lungs like I’m stealing it.
He staggers, but I don’t give him time.
He lunges again.
I raise my hand.
Water explodes from the pipes behind the bathroom door, crashing the wall and into him.
Slamming him hard against the opposite wall.
I rise slowly, my hands still lifted in absolute control.
The water coils, obeying me.
He lifts his own hands and just like that, he rips the water from his body, forcing it into a swirling, violent orbit around us.
We’re both soaked.
Both panting.
Both staring at each other like war is seconds away from breaking loose.
A frantic knock pounds against my door.
“Ma’am!
Ma’am!” My housekeeper calls, voice muffled.
I ignore it.
My focus never leaves Zafron.
“We can spar like this all day, Muireann,” Zaffron says, his voice steady now.
“But it wouldn’t change the fact that you still belong to me.”
I scowl.
“I gave you those powers…”
“I don’t belong to you,” I say calmly, cutting him off.
Even as a storm rages inside me.
“Not yet.” The water whips faster around us.
“We aren’t married yet.
And I can do whatever the f*ck I want…”
“That’s where you’re wrong, baby.” He smirks, cruelly, beautifully, dangerously.
His wet hair clings to his face, making him look like something carved from sin and ruin.
“The moment you agreed to marry me… I owned everything about you.” My stomach drops.
“Our betrothal agreement was signed by blood.
Our blood.
Binding under the laws of the seven seas.”
His voice darkens.
“The seas I rule.”
His words cut deeply, sharply and mercilessly.
And the memory rises whether I want it to or not.
“Please… Your Majesty… I am desperate…” My voice had broken that night.
My head bowed low before him.
“I need revenge… for the crime done against my family… my clan…”
Silence swallowed the room whole.
Fear clawed through me. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
I thought he would refuse.
Instead, he reached for me.
Lifted my chin.
Forced me to meet his gaze.
“I will give you revenge, Muireann,” he said quietly.
Darkly.
His eyes held something soft.
Something almost kind.
I didn’t trust it.
“But you will give me something in return.”
Confusion twisted through me.
“I… I have nothing to give you, Your Majesty…”
I had nothing.
I was nothing.
Orphaned.
Hollow.
Burned out from grief.
He smiled.
Slow and knowing.
“But you do.” My brows furrowed.
“Your heart,” he said.
“I want your eternal love.
Bound to me in marriage.”
Shock stole my breath.
But my options, my options were ashes.
The Daorheches still lived.
My family did not.
I didn’t hesitate.
I didn’t need to.
“I agree,” I said quietly.
“I will marry you.
I will bind my heart to you.
Eternally.”
Something lit in his eyes then.
Something I chose not to understand.
He signaled.
A scroll was brought.
Without a word, he drew a gilded blade.
Pricked my finger.
Then his.
Pressed our blood to the parchment.
And it was sealed.
Final.
His smile had been satisfied.
Now, now I stand before him, soaked and shaking, and regret coils tight around my ribs like a vice.
“I can never forget that, Zafron,” I admit darkly.
His grin widens.
“Good.” His voice drops, cold, lethal.
“Because the next time you do… I will remind you exactly where you stand.”
A pause follows.
“By taking the life of your lover.”
His words hit like a blade straight through my chest.
Before I can react, he dissolves.
His body collapses into water, merging with the storm around us before crashing to the floor in a violent splash.
Silence heavy and suffocating lands.
I sag to the ground, surrounded by water, my breath uneven, my heart slamming violently against my ribs.
The knocking on the door continues.
“Ma’am!
Are you alright?!”
But I don’t answer.
Because the only sound I hear is the echo of his threat.
Hanging over me.
Like a f*cking guillotine.