Page 149 of Haunted Crowns
His voice dropped, low and solemn. “Say it.”
Her jaw tightened. Her eyes burned. The silence stretched thin, trembling with everything she’d buried and everything she could no longer contain.
Maybe if he knew—really knew—he wouldn’t throw himself into battle like a man with nothing to lose.
Maybe she could save him.
Just once.
“You want the truth?” Her voice shook, then sharpened with something feral. “Fine. Have your damn truth.” She rose without thinking, dragging him down and crushing her mouth to his like she was setting herself on fire.
Their lips met—not in confession, but in consumption. He caught her with a groan that split his chest open. One arm locked around her waist, the other tangled in her hair as if releasing her might break some holy vow.
She kissed him like she was drowning. And gods, he let her, because he already was.
Her back slammed against a tree. She gasped but didn’t stop. She bit his lip, savage. Clawed at his shoulders like there was no tomorrow. This was no kiss. It was a storm. A war. A reckoning.
His mouth found her throat, her jaw, then her mouth once more. They didn’t breathe. They devoured. The bond pulsed between them like a second heartbeat, wild, holy. Defiant.
She moaned his name against his lips. He whispered hers like prayer.
His hand slid lower, gripping her ass with a force just shy of worship, like holding her against his hardness was the only thing keeping him sane.
And somewhere beneath the fire, the bond, and the breaking, he smiled, chuffed and just a little smug. Because he had what he wanted and still kept his promise to Stephan. He hadn’t kissed her.Shehad kissed him.
And moon above, it tasted like victory.
But then she gasped, and just like that, the weight of it hit her. The fire she had lit with her mouth turned to ash in her throat. Desire collapsed into dread. She had kissed him like surrender, but freedom, she realized, was far more terrifying than captivity.
She pulled away as if he had burned her alive. She stumbled back, hand over her mouth, heart hammering in her throat. She touched her lips, still swollen, still trembling. Her eyes were wide and wrecked.
What have I done?
And then the tears came, raw, wild. Cataclysmic. She turned, hiding her face in her hands. Her sobs hit like thunderclaps.
He stood frozen, lips bruised, breath shattered, still tasting the truth of her. The space she had left still burned.
Behind her, Kareon did not move or speak. He stood silent, watching and waiting, because now he saw it. The love tearing her in half. The truth she could no longer deny.
Kareon exhaled softly, steady as the tide. Then he did what he had always done. He held her together.
His fingers brushed her cheek, warm and grounding. A silent reassurance. “Breathe, Eris.”
Her eyes snapped to his, wide and raw, edged with fear.
His voice was steady and unshakable. “There is no shame in truth.”
She swallowed as if the words had cut. Her lips parted, but no sound came.
He did not push. He waited.
“You love him.” His voice held no doubt.
She exhaled, shaking. “Yes.”
He nodded. “And you love me.”
She froze. She had spent too long pretending. There were no lies left.
