Page 16 of Ruin & Desire
Outside, the air crackles with the promise of a storm, heavy and electric. Thunder rumbles overhead, rattling the glass and sending flickers of lightning across the floor.“Will it ever stop raining?”I think to myself.
The fire in the hearth roars, castingits lightonto the Beast’s silhouette. He stands before the flames, hornsglinting,his massive frame tense with barely suppressed fury. His claws flex at his sides, and when his eyes find me, they burn brighter than the fire itself. There is no surprise in his gaze. No anger. Only something sharper—something that cuts straight through the distance between us. The room feels impossiblysmall,the heat and the storm outside pressing us closer together, as if thecastleintends for us to collide.
“Youchallengeevery command,”hegrowls. Hisvoiceislike stone cracking, echoing through the chamber and vibrating in my bones.“You seek truths meant to stay buriedandwalk where the castle hungers most. Do you crave ruin so badly?”His words are a challenge, but something in his tone betrays a deeper fear, a desperation that makes my breath catch. The thorns on the walls shudder, responding to hisagitation,their crimson drops glimmering in the firelight. I sense the castle watching us, waiting for the next fracture.
My heart hammers in my chest, but I force myself to meet his gaze.“I crave answers,”I say, my voice trembling but resolute,eachsyllable a challengehurled into the storm. I feel the weight of every secret the walls havewitnessed, every pain that binds us together. The chamber’s silence grows thick, broken only by the storm outside and the restless hiss of roses at the window.
His body shakes, muscles rippling beneath his coat, barelycontainingthe curse raging inside him.“And if the answeris me?”heasks, the words raw and torn, heavy with fear and longing. The fire leaps higher, as if thecastleitself leans intolistenandwait for the unraveling.His claws dig into the stone, sparks flying as he struggles to hold himself back. Every line of his face is carved with exhaustion and regret, and yet beneath it, a hunger burns.
He moves toward me, each step deliberateandslow, the air thickening with every inch he closes. His shadow grows, horns arching above.“You think you are strong enough to withstand me?”heasks, hisraspyvoice nearly undone by the struggle within. The heat of the fire mingles with the storm outside, and every instinct in me screams to run, but Iremainrooted, drawn in by the intensity of his gaze.
I lift my chin, refusing to shrink away, though fear and anticipation war inside me.“Try me,”I whisper, thewords barely audible but enough to snap something inside him. My pulse hammers, my body tight with expectation and dread. The bond between us thrums, growing hotter, the mark on my wrist searing in time with his anguish.
He surges forward, losing the last vestige of restraint. His claw cups my throat—not to crush, but to claim—a gentle yet possessive grip that sends heat racing through the brand on my wrist until I gasp. His face lowers, hornsbracketing meagainst the wall, eyes blazing with anguish and hunger. His mouth hovers atormentingbreath away from mine,andthe air humsbetween us, charged with danger and desire. I can smell the roses on his skin, the faint tang of blood and magic, and the storm that rages inside him. His touch is both fire and ice, a contradiction that leaves me trembling.
“You are fire,”he growls,hislips brushing mine, voice fractured with longing and pain.“And fire destroys.”
My pulse hammers, my body caught between terror and hope.“Then burn with me,”I whisper, the plea slipping from mylips before I can stop it. The words hang between us, dangerous and thrilling, a dare neither of us can take back. I feel the bond tighten,andthe castle itself responds. Torches flare, shadows deepen,andthe thorns hiss with delight.
His answer is a groan, torn from somewhere deep in his chest, equalpartsagonyand hunger. He crashes into me, his mouth fierce, demanding, his kiss not gentle but desperate.It’sa collision of claws and heat, shadow and flame,possessionand surrender,and I want more.His hand tightens just enough at my throat to remind me that he could destroy me, yet hedoesn’t. The bond between us pulses like wildfire, racing through every veinandsearing the mark with unbearable intensity. The heat of his body presses against mine, his clawstrembling as he fights theBeast within, and I cling to him, needing him more than I want to admit.
I should resist. I should hate him for the pain, for the curse, for everything herepresents. But my hands betray me, clutching at his coatanddragging him closer.Ineed him with a hunger Ican’tname.Thecastleshuddersaround us, as ifit’sexultingin the chaos, delighting in the storm we have unleashed.The fire flickers, and thunder crashes outside as if echoing the violence and longing within.
He finally tears himself away. Hisbreathisragged, eyes wild and haunted, claws leaving burning imprintsatmy throat.“This,”hesays. “This is what will damn us both.”His voice cracks, echoing the storm outside and the stormhe must be battlinginside his heart. The weight of his words presses on me, and I see the truth in his eyes;he fears not just forhimselfbut for what he might do to me, for what the curse still demands.
Before I can answer, he vanishes intotheshadows, swallowed by the darkness, leaving me gasping against the wall,mylips swollenand myheart thrashing with everything we haveunleashed. Thecastletrembles, stones vibrating with delight, the roses in the corridor hissing their approval. The bond between us pulses, inescapableandhot as wildfire.
I sink to the floor, trembling, feeling both the loss and the ache of what has passed between us.Lightning illuminatesthe rose-stained shadows, and I know…Iam lost, not just to him but to the castle, the curse, and the storm ragingin bothofour hearts.
Chapter thirteen
After the Flame
Lucien
Ishould have stopped. I know this with every fiber of my being, yet the taste of her lips still smolders against mine, igniting a battle that tears me apart from the inside out. I should have torn myself away before her burning defiance seeped through my skin, before her courageous fire reached the hollow spaces within me and set something dark and long forgotten ablaze. I should have remembered the monster I am. I should have remembered the curse that coils in my veins, warping every touch, every longing, and every hope. But the moment she whispered, “Then burn with me,” I was already lost, irretrievably so. Her words were a spark, reckless and wild, and I surrendered before I even realized I could.
I kissed her. My hunger was raw, desperate,anddriven by a hope soreckless,I could barely recognize it within myself.It wasa hopethatfelt undeserved, almost blasphemous. With just one stolen breath, I am shatteredandundone, exposed to themerciless magic that governs thiscastleand my own twisted heart.
Thecastleresponds, roaring with my shame. The stones themselves seem to recoil, groaning beneath the burden of my weakness, echoing my failure throughout every corridor and hidden chamber. Portraits that once hung in silent witness now leer from their frames,theirfaces distortedinto sneers and twistedgrins, mocking the man I used to be and the monster I have become. Outside, the roses shriek, their thorny vines lashing violently against the windowpanes, battering the glass as if, in their fury, they could break through and pull us both into their chaos. In the darkness, they hiss:You falter. Youbetray. You hunger when you ought only to destroy.
Rage erupts within me. I unleash it upon theroom,my claws slashing at the nearest table, wood splitting and splintering in a shower of fragments.I tear through velvet drapes and marble surfaces, bellowing in an attempt to rid myself of the memory of her mouth, her warmth, her unwavering gaze.But it clings to me, stubborn and insistent. I can still feel the impression of her lips,her defiance,andher surrender, the way she did not recoil when I bared my fangs but instead reached for whatever humanity might remain beneath horn and fur and monstrous form.
My claws gouge at my chest, frantic to claw out the ache, the longing. The curse reacts, its thorns writhing beneath my flesh, tightening their grip around my heart, sinking roots deeper until each breath is agony. They coil without mercy, feeding on the longing Ican’tbanish, punishing me for wanting the one thing I should never have. Every shuddering breath isatorment. Each heartbeat is a reminder of how dangerously close I came to breaking the very soul I would die to protect.
Yet, the ache for her remains.
Unable to stay still, I stagger to the window, my jawsclenchedand mylungs burning with every ragged inhalation.“You are falling for her?” Erik’s voiceechoesin the darkness.As he steps forward, I turn to face him.
“You sound disappointed?” I ask.
“On the contrary, sir. I had hoped for this.”
“You did?”
“Honestly, I believe she is the only onewhocan bring you back.”
I grumble, turning back toward the window.“What if I don’t want to come back, as you say?”The glass fogs beneath my breath,myhorns scraping the wooden beams overhead as I brace myself against the trembling frame.Erik does not answer.
