The room filled with the sound of our panting. Neither of us met the other’s eyes as the reality of what we’d done settled over us.
My head spun. What had I been thinking? This crossed a line. The boundaries I’d set weren’t just about keeping my focus on protecting her—they were about protecting myself too. Protecting the tattered remains of my heart.
But Sammy had already gotten past my defenses in ways I hadn’t even recognized until this moment. She was someone I needed.
And that was fucking terrifying.
I reached for a tissue from the bedside table, cleaningmyself up while trying to organize my thoughts. This couldn’t happen again.
But I wanted it to.
I wanted to reach across the bed and pull her against me and taste every inch of her skin. To be inside her and to feel her come apart around me instead of just watching from a distance.
The desire was so strong it hurt like a vise squeezing my chest.
Whatever this was, I couldn’t deny it anymore. I wanted her. Not just physically, but completely. And that realization shook me to my core.
Because wanting someone meant opening yourself up to loss. To pain. To all the things I’d vowed I’d never feel again after Becca.
I glanced at Sammy, her eyes still closed, her breathing evening out. She looked peaceful and satisfied. Beautiful.
This changed everything. Or maybe it acknowledged what had already changed long ago.
Either way, I was fucked.
Because the one rule I’d made to keep us both safe was the one I desperately wanted to break.
CHAPTER SEVEN
VAL
Samara Luna, Princess of Inferna. My heartbeat. My soul. The first and only woman I’d ever loved.
I thought she had loved me too.
But she’d left me without a word, without a trace.
I’d known it was because of Lilith. It was hard not to when the king and queen were slaughtered and the prince imprisoned. But part of me had always believed Samara was dead. It was the only explanation that didn’t tear me apart from the inside. The idea that she’d been alive all this time and never reached out to me was too painful to contemplate.
I stared at the ceiling of the guest room, my mind replaying the unexpected reunion with her. Her eyes were still the same ones that had haunted my dreams for centuries, and her once dark brown locks were the most captivating shade of purple I’d ever seen. Colors like that didn’t just appear out of nowhere.
When she had first disappeared, I’d searched for her for months, sending my men to look far and wide.
And now I’d found her.
When I’d looked around Amari’s thick thighs in thelibrary and my eyes caught sight of her, I thought my heart would stop in my chest. She was back, and she hadn’t even tried to contact me. How long had she been at the castle?
I turned my head to the side and stared at the empty spot beside me. Amari never stayed in bed for long after I fell asleep, no matter how many times I’d told him he could protect me just as effectively with his body wrapped around mine.
He knew something was wrong but hadn’t pressed me about it. Amari knew nothing about Samara and our past. How could he? I’d never spoken of her, never told him about the few precious months we’d shared before she vanished and Inferna went to shit.
He didn’t know she was the reason I’d given up women entirely. She’d shattered my heart into so many pieces that I’d never been able to fully reassemble it, even with his help. The hairline fractures remained, invisible perhaps, but I felt them every day.
No matter how hard you try, no matter who picks up the pieces, it’s never quite the same.
Sliding out of bed, I padded to the door. As expected, Amari stood sentinel outside, his legs spread shoulder-width apart, arms crossed over his chest. His stone body was motionless as he waited for some unknown threat to come after me. I placed my palm in the center of his back and trailed my fingers down his spine.
His head turned slightly, his eyes finding mine before facing forward again. I pressed my lips to the hard stone of his arm, then quietly shut the door and returned to bed.
