Lucenna glowered. “As you said, helied. And he has yet to tell her the truth as to why he hurt her in the first place.”
His brow furrowed as he searched her eyes. “It’s a terrifying thing to bear your heart to others and reveal every truth and lie … because what if they can’t forgive you for it? What if the truth is so unbearable, speaking it aloud will destroy everything you’ve come to love?”
Lucenna’s chest hurt in a messy, confusing way as she considered that. Her gaze dropped to his gentle hold on her hand. She had witnessed too many betrayals in her lifetime. From Ava snubbing Lucien, her father siphoning her mother, the empire segregating sorceresses, and the injustices of life itself.
Perhaps the greatest betrayal was the way her heart reacted to the touch of a man who wasn’t Everest.
Trusting others was another form of vulnerability.
But loving them tore off all armor.
She could never leave herself open to feel the inevitable pain of a knife in her back.
“Sometimes,” Lucenna whispered. “The greatest testament to love is letting go.”
After a breath, Klyde’s hold slipped away. Lucenna strode quickly for the glass doors leading to the courtyard. She needed air. She needed space. She needed to not feel this way about a man she had no business wanting.
Lucenna’s heels clacked on the paved ground as she ran alongside a glittering fountain toward the sunset. Light rain fell, trickling on the leaves. The view of the garden blurred with her stupid tears.
Why did she have to be this pathetic?
She arrived at a gondola made of stone. It sat beneath the cover of wisteria trees, enclosed in a curtain of purple petals.
“Lucenna!” Klyde called. His footsteps rushed up behind her. “What are you doing?”
She spun around and blurted, “Tell me something true.”
“What?” His brow furrowed. He looked perplexed, worried, and so handsome in the rain.
“Tell me something true,” Lucenna repeated, her voice breaking. “I have already lived a life of lies. For once, I need something real.”
That wasn’t what she had wanted to ask, at least not in those words, but a look crossed Klyde’s face that told her he understood her anyway. Her heart pounded wildly as he stepped closer to her. The last rays of the sun shone like gold through the gondola, illuminating the edges of his face.
“I am possessed by you,” Klyde admitted quietly, and her heart stopped. “From the very first moment I laid eyes on you, I was done for. You have occupied my mind every day since. When night falls, I wish on every star I see to have the girl who shines like the moon.” He drew her closer, and his hand slid up her arm, making her shiver. Her pulse jumped at the way his eyes focused on her, yearning and unwavering. “When sleep takes me, I dream of losing myself in every inch of her and kissing her sweet lips that refuse me.” His nose trailed across her cheek, and his mouth hovered above hers, so close she could feel them. “But I gave my word,” he whispered. “That I wouldn’t until she asked it of me.”
All her hesitations evaporated, all her worries and uncertainties. Perhaps because she could feel it was the undeniable truth, or the way she simply felt safe with this man. So everything that held Lucenna back, she let go.
“Klyde…” she whispered.
“Aye?”
Her lips trembled. “Kiss me.”
His hands curled around her waist, palms warm as they moved up her back, drawing her close. Leaning down, he brought his face close to hers. She closed her eyes as their lips came together, an exhilarated rush through her like a current of lightning. His hand slid to her face as his mouth moved over hers in a way that stole the last of her breath. Lucenna closed her fingers around his wrists and rose onto her toes, wanting more—and he responded in kind.
His hands slid to the small of her back as his lips crushed against hers with a demolishing kiss. Her mouth parted, moving with his, and he swallowed her gasp as she felt his tongue move smoothly over hers. Caressing. Tasting. Electricity shot straight through her to his grasp on her hips. Her pulse raced, molten heat expanding through her center. She had been kissed before, but this was something else.
It was deep. Insatiable.
Lucenna didn’t realize he was pushing her backward until her back met the wet column of the gondola covered with leaves. She yelped, and Klyde’sboot slipped down a wet step, leaving her lips cold as his disappeared. He caught himself on the rail, and she stifled a laugh.
He looked so charming standing there in the rain, face flushed and amused. But she wasn’t finished kissing him yet.
Lucenna was already reaching for him the same time he was. He lifted her off the steps as she wrapped her arms around his neck and yanked his mouth back onto hers. He hooked her legs up around his waist and carried her off deeper into the garden, out of sight and out of the rain, kissing her as they went.
They arrived in a secluded corner surrounded by flowering bushes and trees. Her feet landed on soft grass as he pinned her to the wall. His hands wove into her hair, holding her head as he explored the shape of her lips. A rough sound rumbled in his throat as she ran her hands up his chest. His heart raced beneath her palms, and she was glad not to be the only one barely holding on.
Lucenna tipped her head farther back as his mouth moved on to her throat. The stroke of his tongue and gentle nip of his teeth dazed her senses. His mouth returned to hers, taking what he wanted, and every part of her was ready to surrender to him and the fire he’d ignited.
