Page 70 of Red Masquerade

And he only held me to him.

A moment later, he turned me in his arms, gently pulling my hands away from my face. Through my blurry vision, through the tears, I saw his eyes once more land on the bruises, his brow furrowing, but whatever anger he felt at that, he put away.

“Helena.” His voice was soft, enchanting. His thumb stroked my cheek, wiping away a stray tear. “What happened?”

I shook my head, my lip quivering. “It does not matter.”

He looked furious; not at me, but at the words. “And yet it does.”

“No—” I gasped. “I am to marry—”

“Marry who?” he said, ire flashing in those eyes. “Deny them, whoever they are. Refuse.”

“How can you say that so confidently?” I hugged myself.

“Because I know who you are.” He looked at me so intensely, his copper eyes boring into mine, as if he could see the thoughts fluttering around in my head. “If you think that I have not learned anything about you in the time we had together, you are mistaken. I may have been gone for all these years, but I see you, Iknowyou.”

“The time we’ve had together—” I almost laughed, but it stalled in my throat as a sound of pain. “You do not understand.”

He grabbed me once more, but his touch was forever gentler, forever more caring than that of Lucas. Adam only touched me to bring me to him, to make me feel what he felt. Never to control me, to hurt me, to leave bruises.

“But Idounderstand.” He looked so pained at having this conversation, like my insistence that we could not be, that whatever this was was star-crossed, caused him even greater anguish than what I felt. He’d already gone six years without me. Falling to his knees before me, his hands wrapped around my waist, fingers digging into my hips, only to keep me anchored. His forehead met my stomach through my shift.

“I understand that you feel powerless. I understand that you are hurting.” His voice broke, so much emotion swelling within him. “And I only want to take it away from you.”

I bit my lip, wiping the last of my tears away.

How I wanted this. How I had dreamed of this for years. Knowing it would never come. And yet.

My fingers instinctively wound through his dark hair.

Would I ever get to touch him again after this night?

I knew it was foolish to think so. But a foolish part of me hoped.

Hoped that Adam’s affection for me was not temporary. We’d reconnected, but it never meant we were forever, even if we had promised so in bated breaths under the moon. I hoped he would find me again, and perhaps be my beacon of light in an otherwise dark life. And I knew it would be a dark life, being Wright’s wife, because it was one I did not want.

“You are driving my thoughts wild,” Adam confessed, his fingers gripping the silk of my shift. He pulled me tightly to him, as if we could meld into one. And I let him.

“It will pass,” I said sadly. When I left, an ocean separating us, he would forget me in no time. He had plenty of people to entertain him, even if he did say he’d waited all this time, searching forme.

He looked up at me like I had just cursed him. “That is where you are wrong,” he said with so much conviction, I believed him. “I could never forget you. Not even for a moment. I cannot forget you when I attempt sleep. I shut my eyes, and I see you. You are always there, Helena.Always.”

Maybe in another life we could have been. In another life, wehadbeen.

“Let us go away together,” he said.

I felt more tears gather in my eyes. How I wanted to. Now more than ever did I want to go with him. But no matter whereI went, I was Helena Quintrell, the sister of Lucas, soon-to-be-betrothed to Wright Highsmith. Running away would not change it, would it?

They’d find me. This city was not as big as it seemed.

Adam stood once more and cupped my face. His eyes searched me, looking for the answer. But I had none.

He kissed me, his soft lips meeting mine in the moonlight that trailed through the windowpanes. He tasted of that whiskey and iron and something sweet, and just like the first time we kissed, I became wholly wrapped up in him. My arms twined around his neck as his lips moved against mine.

I savored every moment. I did not know if it would be the last.

The sharp point of one of his teeth scraped across my bottom lip, but I relished in the feeling. The pinpoint of pain that overrode my senses. He tangled his hand at the back of my head and anchored me to him, angling my face even further backward. He pulled away for a brief moment to catch his breath.