Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Adrian would know the truth one day.
But that day was not today.
“If you ever had a chance at a normal life, would you take it? Would you leave all of this behind?”
“I’m too deep in this to leave it all behind, Adrian.” I paused, scoffing a little. “I married The Reaper, after all.”
He nodded. “Yes, you married The Reaper,” he murmured roughly.
The words lingered between us.
Adrian stared at me for a long second, his gaze boring into mine, holding me captive. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t.
“I wished I had pretty words to tell you, Princess,” my husband said quietly. “There are a thousand things I could say to you. Promises that I could make, but they would all be lies dressed into something beautiful. But I’m not a keeper of beautiful things, especially not words.”
Adrian swallowed before a bitter smile curled his lips. “You’re right, I am a poison in your life. But the problem is, there is no cure for that poison.”
My heart stuttered in my chest.
“Our marriage is tainted, there’s no point pretending otherwise,” he continued. “All I know with absolute certainty is that we’re bound together, and fate has tried many times to tear us apart, but we somehow always find our way back to each other.”
I hated his words.
I hated the truth buried in them.
“We have to fulfill the duties expected of us, Serafina. It is the only way we survive this war.”
I searched his face. “And what happens after the war?”
His lips twitched again, this time the arrogance almost unmistakable. “You can go back to trying to kill me, Princess. I quite enjoy your attempts.”
I almost rolled my eyes, almost. “You won’t enjoy it very much when you’re dead.”
His smirk deepened. “Death by your hands will be a sweet pleasure, wife.”
Heat pooled low in my stomach before spreading through the rest of me. A flush crept to my cheeks, and his eyes flickered to it.
Of course he noticed.
Damn him. Damn his reckless flirting.
The satisfaction in his expression told me he caught every bit of my reaction to his words.
Adrian Salvatore, and his devastating smirk, was dangerous for my heart.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SERAFINA
The belt clicked softly as Adrian secured it around his wrists for the third night in a row.
I watched from my side of the bed, the comforter pulled to my chin, as he tested the restraint with a practiced tug, like he had done the previous nights.
My gaze flickered to where the leather had left faint red marks on his skin, but he didn’t seem to mind. It was so strange, watching him bind himself at my request, watching him relinquish the control he always maintained with stubborn arrogance.
“You don’t have to do that anymore,” I whispered, though we both knew it wasn’t true. The ritual had become our nightly ceremony; his promise to me made tangible.
His pale eyes met mine. “Do you trust me to sleep beside you?”
I pressed my lips together. I didn’t answer.
I didn’t trust Adrian. But not in the way he thought. I strangely believed his words when he said he wouldn’t touch me unless I asked him to. Maybe that was stupid of me. Maybe I was being silly.
I didn’t trust him with my heart. With my truth. With my future.
He burned me once.
And I bore the scars—physically and in every corner of my memories.
I could never trust Adrian Salvatore.
Not in all the ways that it actually mattered.
When I didn’t respond, he spoke for me, his voice a little rough. “Then I still have to do this.” His lips twisted with almost a bittersweet smile.
It made my heart ache. How strange.
This feeling… it was unwelcomed. Unnecessary. Purely a weakness that I didn’t need.
I turned away, listening to the rustle of sheets as he settled beside me. The space between us remained a narrow canyon of unspoken words.
His breathing eventually steadied into sleep while mine remained stubbornly alert. Every time I inhaled, I was reminded of his presence. Every exhale begged for another breath because somehow… in some unacceptable way… his scent had become almost… addictive.
Damn it all, my fate was sealed.
My downfall was absolute.
It was shamelessly ironic and almost comical. Though nothing about that realization was truly… humorous. It felt more like a death sentence.
Sleep refused to come.
The ceiling stretched above me like a blank canvas. I counted the cracks I had memorized over the past three nights—nine in total, branching like veins across the white surface. I followed their paths with my eyes, tracing them from one wall to the other, and found no answers in their patterns.
There were no answers in anything anymore.
I painted the ceiling with my fears and all the uncertainties that were part of my life now. The peace treaty between Matteo and me was simply ashes now.
I had been lied to.
I had chosen wrong.