Adara laughed against his lips, her arms still wrapped around his neck, legs still hooked around his waist, holding him close. “This is a bad idea,” she murmured between kisses.
Dominic’s hand gripped her thigh, sliding higher, igniting a fire in her core. His other hand skimmed her hip, tracing a line across her waistband before sliding up her ribs. Everything inside her felt wound tight, begging for release as his lips trailed up her neck, his teeth grazing her skin.
“When has anything we’ve ever done been a good idea?” he panted against her throat. His lips worked their way up her neck, across her jaw, until they were hovering over hers again. Hishands had stilled along her thigh and ribs, desperately awaiting her commands.
There was a pause, tension filling the air as her head fought with her heart. She shouldn’t be doing this—but she couldn’t find it in herself to resist that ravaging devotion in his eyes.
“You’re right.” Adara smiled. “Fuck it.”
Dominic grinned, and it was so magnificently beautiful that Adara couldn’t help but laugh as his lips met hers with renewed fervor and he lifted her once more. His hips ground into hers, drawing a pleading moan from her, muffled against his lips.
No longer would she deny the immense burning desire she felt for him. No longer would she deprive herself of his touch. Could this be what she truly wanted? Perhaps Dominic was the reason the gods had put her through so much pain. Was it all to lead her to him?
She didn’t care what the answer was. Her destiny was not written in the stars as Moira, Goddess of Fate, demanded. She’d write her own fate, and it was terrifying yet beautiful that she couldn’t help but want Dominic to be part of that.
When he placed her feet on the ground, the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed. Dominic supported her weight as he lay her down, hovering over her with forearms braced beside her head. His fingers tangled in her brown hair streaked with red that spread out around her like a bloodied halo.
Dominic stared down at her, glancing back and forth between her eyes and her lips. “Gods, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured. He shuddered as she reached beneath his shirt, fingers roaming over the muscles of his back, gently tracing the divots and ridges of his scars.
She gazed up at his glittering green eyes, taking in the sharp angles of his jawline and cheekbones and his soft lips that tempted her to taste them again. She idly ran a hand throughhis silky, chestnut hair. Adara could only think the same as she drank in his appearance before drawing him closer.
His warm breath grazed her lips. He didn’t move, waiting to see what she’d do. A multitude of emotions fought behind his eyes. Perhaps he was angry that she’d managed to worm her way under his skin, searching for a heart that would never be found. There was a flash of fear. He was probably wondering if this was a trick to get his key. But desire for her and only her ultimately won as his eyes ran up and down her body, coming to a halt as his gaze fixed on hers.
The edges of Adara’s lips turned up. “If this is what it feels like to be hated by you, then kiss me until your heart is full of despise.”
That was all it took for him to come fully undone, kissing her passionately as his hands roamed her body, making her desperate for more of him.
If this was what it was like to be hated, Adara didn’t think she’d ever long for love again. She’d gladly drown herself in his sea of detest.
“Tell me you want me as badly as I want you,” he murmured against her lips.
“Yes,” she breathed. “I want you more than anything.”
Chapter 55
Asoft,warmbreezeagainstDominic’s neck sent a shudder down his spine. Her breath was as gentle a caress as the soft fur blanket draped over them. Kissing her was reckless. He should be worried about the consequences of his confession, but all he focused on was where Adara’s skin met his, their chests rising and falling in synchronized breaths as she lay on him, their legs a tangle of limbs in the sheets.
Adara shuddered as his fingers drifted over the sensitive scars that marred her back, feeling how horribly her skin had been shredded. He moved his line of gentle patterns he’d beentracing from the scars to the fiery wings tattooed on her back, wondering if the wounds still hurt.
He felt different now, strange. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders. She’d snapped at him, believing that she’d truly thrown herself to her doom at his hands by proposing this war of hearts. That he’d hated her and was using her for her key all this time. There was nothing he wanted more than to prove how wrong she was.
Regret should have settled in by now. He should have realized that this could all be a ploy to give Adara his key, to bring him to his demise. But there was something new between them. A spark, and they both began to fan the flames to burn brighter. They were strangers with memories that grew into something more. Finding each other again in the midst of chaos. He hadn’t yet decided how he felt about those memories that he had recovered after Adara told her story. A story that he fit in, a missing puzzle piece that she did not yet know existed.
Dominic wasn’t lying when he told her that if he was going to let anything be the death of him, it would be her. He’d already come to the somber conclusion that no matter how this war ended, it would be the death of him in some way.
If Adara won, she’d use him to get her revenge. Then she’d probably murder him in cold blood—especially if she ever found out who he truly was to her. Dominic detested himself for omitting the truth, but if Adara found out, she’d never forgive him, never fall for him. All that care and admiration she gazed at him with would wither away in a single heartbeat. She would abhor him all over again, and he wouldn’t be able to stand it.
If Dominic won, he’d have no choice but to kill her, unless he wanted to die by Andreilia’s curse. The thought of the afterlife sent a cold shiver down his spine.
He knew that being the cause of Adara’s death would be the final straw. If he killed her, he would not be able to deal with thepain he’d feel after. He already ripped out his heart and wiped his memories, yet the imprint her soul had left on his was still felt throughout all those years he couldn’t remember.
Her hand slid across his bare chest, lingering on the jagged scar where he carved out his heart. Dominic’s hand fell atop hers, gently tugging the pads of her fingers away from the scar. Something inside him shattered every time she reached for what he could not give.
“Sorry to disappoint,” he muttered. “You won’t find what you’re looking for.”
Adara’s eyes met his, weighed with sadness. For him? For his lack of heart, his lack of humanity? Or was it merely a reminder to her that she could never fall for him, for that hope dwindled in her eyes, like she suddenly remembered all that he was.
“You made others fall in love with you, trying to forget, to feel nothing at all for the girl you loved, whose affections were not reciprocated.” Adara’s soft, angelic voice cut through his jumbled thoughts.
