Page 70 of His Eternal Claim

I ignore every word. Even when my chest tightens. Even when her hatred cuts deeper than any bullet ever could.

My grip on her thighs tightens, locking her trembling body against mine.

She feels too light. Too fragile.

Like something alive and terrified, trapped in my hands.

I turn my head toward my right-hand man near the shattered altar. “Burn it,” I say. “Burn every inch of this place to the ground. Leave nothing but ash.”

“Understood.”

I stride down the center aisle like ruin made flesh, carrying her through smoke and blood while my men form a wall of steel around us.

The cathedral doors are kicked open.

Cold, grey afternoon air rushes inside, slicing through incense and gunpowder.

The black sedan waits at the bottom of the stone steps, engine growling as a soldier tears the rear door open.

I shove her into the leather seat and climb in after her before she can scramble out the opposite side. The door slams shut.

The tires screech and we tear away from the burning church. Inside the car, no one speaks as Selene curls herself against the far door, breath hitching into hysterical sobs.

Her blue skirt is ruined, soaked through with her Father’s blood.

Her eyes meet mine. Wide.

Broken.

Terrified.

And filled with so much venom it should burn me alive. I look away.

I have to.

I can’t let her see the fracture opening inside my chest.

My hand shoots to my tie.

I yank it loose, hard enough to tear the knot apart.

“Fuck,” I mutter, breath uneven. My knuckles go white as I brace a hand against the seat and stare through the windshield. “Fuck.”

My phone buzzes against my thigh. I yank it out.

The screen lights up. Judas.

I swipe and slam the phone to my ear.

“Talk to me,” I hiss.

“How was the surprise?” Judas asks smoothly, without remorse.

A dark laugh catches in my throat as smoke from the cathedral fades in the rearview mirror.

“If your sniper had fired a little earlier,” I say, voice low and lethal, “this would’ve gone a whole lot fucking better.”

Judas goes silent for half a second. Then he laughs under his breath. “That bad?”