“Don’t lie to me again, Aurelia. I’ve had six years to think about that night, and nothing about it makes sense unless you knew who I was from the beginning.”
She looks away. “I recognized you. From photos. My family keeps files on their enemies, and I’d seen your face before.”
“So you knew I was dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“And you slept with me anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She meets my eyes, and for the first time, I see something real. Something raw. “Because I wanted to. It was the most rebellious thing I could do.”
The honesty in her voice cuts through all the bullshit.
She used me. Not maliciously, but she used me. And I can’t even be angry about it because I would have done the same thing in her position.
“And after?” I ask. “After your family took you, did you ever think about contacting me?”
“I couldn’t. Victor wouldn’t let me. He kept me locked away, and by the time I had any freedom, it had been too long. I didn’t even know if you were still looking.”
“I never stopped looking.”
Her expression falters for a brief moment, her eyes dropping as if she has remembered something she would rather not. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly.
“Sorry, doesn’t give me back six years.”
“I know.”
I step closer, and she presses back against the wall like she’s trying to disappear into it.
“Tell me something true,” I say. “One thing that isn’t a lie or a deflection or a crafted story. Just the truth.”
She’s quiet for a long moment.
Then she says, “I thought about you. For the better half of six years, I thought about you.”
I have to look away to steady myself.
“Did you?” I ask, moving even closer.
“Yes.”
“What did you think about?”
“That night. The way you touched me. The way you fucked me.”
“Show me.”
“Cassian—”
I don’t let her finish. I close the distance between us and kiss her.
She makes a sound in the back of her throat, half protest, half surrender, and then her hands are in my hair and she’s kissing me back with the same desperate intensity I remember. It’s not gentle. Not sweet. It’s angry and consuming, years of frustration poured into one kiss.
I back her harder against the wall, my hand sliding up her thigh, pushing the silk of her dress out of the way. She gasps into my mouth, and I swallow the sound.
