Something in her shook free. And something in me found its footing at last.
Chapter 48
***
Emma
My pulse thundered through me, fear and anticipation colliding like dying stars.
Pain.
He’d explained it once, back when all of this began—about what some submissives sought. How impact could overwhelm the mind just enough to let everything else go. I’d thought he was half-mad at the time. I’d dismissed it, labeled it as something I’d never understand. A line I’d never cross.
And yet now…
Hearing him say it again, hearing the care and certainty in his tone, it didn’t sound insane at all.
It sounded true.
He paused, mouth quirking in a guilty half-grin.
I rolled my eyes, bracing myself. I knew that look. TheI’m about to drop a bomblook.
“I’d like to show you something,” he said at last.
“What is it?” I groaned, my hands beginning to shake.
He gave me an uncertain look. “Promise not to be mad?”
“Absolutely not,” I deadpanned.
He nodded, resigned. “That’s fair.”
“Now show me,” I demanded, unwilling to tolerate one more second of suspense.
Mischief played across his features. “You’ll see.”
A shiver climbed my arms as he tugged me gently down the hallway, stopping halfway to the guest rooms in front of the bookcase I’d walked past a hundred times. He hesitated—one last flash of uncertainty—then reached for a spine halfway down.
He pulled the book slightly toward him.
A gentleclickechoed behind the wall. The entire shelf eased forward on invisible hinges.
My mouth fell open. “What in the James Bond—”
“A secret bookshelf,” he admitted, dead serious.
I fixed him with a look. “Leading to where?”
Instead of answering, he pulled the door toward him.
The air shifted—cooler, darker—as the room beyond opened like a lung inhaling. A low draft brushed across my legs, raising goosebumps up the backs of my thighs.
For a heartbeat, there was only darkness.
Then a thin line of red glowed from somewhere deep inside, outlining the threshold in a warm pulse.
“Damien,” I said, voice tight. “What is going on?”
