Page 74 of Haunted Crowns
"You carrying me like a helpless princess."
He scoffed. "I am carrying you because you look like you are about to collapse."
She tilted her head, her lips brushing his jaw. "Keep telling yourself that," she whispered.
His grip tightened slightly. "What exactly are you suggesting?"
Her fingers toyed with his collar. "Just that you have been dying to do this for years."
His jaw tensed, but his eyes did not leave hers. “Dying?” he murmured. “No. But I have imagined it.” He paused, then offered a crooked smile. “You were much bossier in those versions.”
She wasn’t pretending she wasn’t broken. She just refused to let that be the only thing she was. Not here, not with him.She smiled against his skin. Of course she knew what this did to him—the warmth of her body, the breath at his neck, the way she leaned in just enough to make him forget how to breathe. She had been testing his restraint for years, savoring how close she could get before he broke.
Still, he let her. His arms tightened around her. For one breathless moment, she was everything. The blood, the vow, the war—everything vanished.
Then they reached her door.
Stephan set her down carefully, his hands lingering along her arms before he let go.
Eris leaned against the wall, arms crossed, smirk intact. "So, if I am the distressed princess, who does that make you?"
Stephan’s lips quirked as something playful lit his eyes. He turned, grabbed the dented helmet atop the medieval armor near her door, and shoved it over his head before she could react.
"I am your knight in shining armor!" he declared, his voice muffled and absurdly deep.
Eris burst out laughing.
"By the gods," she gasped, clutching her stomach. "It still doesn’t fit!"
Stephan yanked the wobbling helmet off. "You remember?"
"Oh, I remember." She wiped at her eye, still laughing. "You could barely see past that thing."
He shook his head with a smirk. "It wasn’t that bad."
"It was that bad," she teased. "You would run around calling me Princess Eris and insisting you had to save me."
His smirk deepened. "Well, someone had to."
Their laughter softened into something quieter as nostalgia settled in the stillness between them. Their eyes met. Warmth lingered, but an ache stirred beneath it.
Stephan swallowed hard and leaned into the doorframe, forearm braced above her. His presence filled the narrow space between them.
Eris exhaled, breath shaky, her gaze flicking to his lips before she closed the space between them, resting her forehead against his.
His breath hitched, his body went still as the tension between them pulled unbearably tighter. "I don't want to go," he said, voice rough with restraint.
"Then don't," she whispered. "Stay with me tonight."
Stephan’s breath faltered, his grip tightening on the doorframe as his pulse thundered. Her words pounded through him, unraveling his control faster than he could contain. She had no idea what she was asking, or perhaps she did. The thought of holding her, losing himself in her warmth until morning, sent heat surging through him, deep and consuming. He swallowed hard, masking it with a smirk.
"Eris," he murmured. "If I stay, you won't get any rest."
The warning was clear, a promise more than a threat.
Her emerald eyes held his, fearless. "Would that be so bad?"
A raw current shot through him, tearing away the control he had fought to hold. This was not teasing. She asked, open and sincere, for him to love her tonight, and everything he had clung to shattered. Just for tonight, he let Kareon slip from his mind—the threat, the doubt, all of it. He shouldn’t want this. But he did.
