I’d die for her.
She lets out a happy moan and faces me, a curl of silky dark hair draping over her soft tits.
My groin throbs as heat surges, my heart hammering harder in my rib cage.
My phone buzzes from the timer I set.
Twenty-eight minutes.
Then thirty. Thirty-five. Forty.
I ignore the reminders and trace her cheek instead, my lips hitching up slightly when she smiles in her sleep.
Beautiful dreams, I hope. Perhaps one of the past of us goofing off in the backyard. I had no money to my name, but we were happy. Back then, I wondered what the poor Kian could give to the rich Anderson princess.
Now, I wonder what the brutal king of the underworld—his hands darkened with blood—could give to the goddess who deserves to live earth-side, with sunlight warming her skin and flowers blooming around her.
She deserves someone who can love her with his all. Someone without enemies waiting to kill him. Someone who puts her on a pedestal and worships her.
Kids. A cat or two. A beautiful farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. A man who works a boring nine-to-five or spends his time running large corporations.
The simple life. Thesafelife.
My phone buzzes again, and this time, I feel a pain I haven’t felt in a long time—a visceral stab to my newly beating heart.
I stare at my wife, the only woman I’ve ever kissed in my lifetime, and slowly press my lips to hers, tasting her sweetness again.
She moans and snuggles into my hold, but I force myself to withdraw.
Quietly, I grab my phone and get out of bed.
The screen flashes. Another incoming message.
The date catches my eye first. January fifteenth, one and a half months until Lana turns thirty-five, when this all comes to a head.
Then I see the message.
Unknown number
If you want to be one step ahead of Sable, don’t wear your heart on your sleeve.
—Always watching, your friend.
A cold line carves down my spine.
My mind flashes to the masked man at the Benefaction, the mysterious phantom who’s been one step ahead, but hasn’t made a move to take down my rook on the chessboard.
Who is he, and what does he want?
The questions hammer through my skull as I stride to the door, but her breathy whisper stops me.
“Elias?” she murmurs and rolls over, baring one smooth shoulder. “Stay. Don’t leave me.”
I pause at the threshold, another sharp pain piercing my chest again.
“Never, princess. I will never leave you.”
Not today, at least.
