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September 29 - September 30, 2025
When his jaw ticks, our gazes melt into each other and that same feeling, like I’m being touched from under my skin, resurfaces. Though I’d never say it out loud, I can’t help but notice it only happens in his presence.
If my primary goal wasn’t to rip out his heart and feed it to those dogs, I might admit his power was rather beautiful.
It’s addictive. The way she hates me. The way she burns with that fire that glows so white hot, I ache whenever she looks at me. Like she’s always just on the edge of erupting and blowing my entire life to pieces. Not that I’ve ever been attracted to reserved or docile women, but she isn’t just wild, she’s practically feral, and I can’t stop fucking thinking about her.
“I said I’d meet him and I would agree if it felt…right,” she said carefully, searching for whatever words would free her from this snare. “I am not competing in some barbaric ritual like a common whore.”
Flashback..
“I’m the Woodlands King, Wolf,” he said, his voice rumbling and rich. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Serce.” Their gazes met, and Serce felt a tug so profound it seemed to come from the deepest wells of the earth. It was an irrevocable shift. A moment of reckoning. An unstoppable tide.
I hate that I find him interesting to look at, and I really hate that sensation that twitches under my skin whenever he’s near.
“How’s your room?” Mael asks, and his mouth twitches just as Amya kicks him under the table. “Ouch! What the fuck, Amya?” “She’s annoyed you’re bringing attention to the fact that my ‘room’ is a glorified prison,” I say pleasantly, taking another sip of my wine.
Fury coils so tightly in my limbs, I feel like I might snap. “There is nothing you can do to me. Bring my friends here, or all of my secrets die with me,” I say, fusing as much coldness into my voice as I can. “Until then, I’ll be in my room.” I wrench my arm from his grip and spin around. A moment later, I stop and look at him. “And my fucking name is Lor. At least pretend you respect me enough to remember it.”
“You’re welcome.” He opens his mouth and pauses as though he’s hesitating about what he wants to say next. “I should have tried harder from the beginning.” I blink, surprised to hear the admission and a rare show of empathy from this dark, cold Fae.
There isn’t just one potential weapon in this house anymore. There are three. Three Fae with the magic of Heart in their veins. I just hope one of them is powerful enough for it to matter.
My magic becomes wild and untethered every time she walks into the room. I can barely contain it. It wants to reach out and touch her. Caress her. Do things to her I’m desperately trying to ignore as I lie awake in bed at night, unable to sleep with the fever that flushes under my skin.
It takes me a moment to orient myself. To understand it was a dream. That I dreamed about the Aurora Prince coming to my room and dry humping me with his thigh. That I wanted it. And that I absolutely wanted more. Worst of all, that it left me breathless and wet and aching for it to be real. I smack my forehead with my hand and run it down my face with a groan. “Fuck,” I whisper into the dark.
Oh my...the build up
“I want to bring him down,” Nadir says. I sense those words cost him something. “And I think you might be the key to doing so.” That admission steals my breath.
He nods, his expression as solemn as my offering. “I can understand that. I give you my word that I’m not here to use you. That I want to join with you. Partner with you. That whatever you’re capable of, I’m not here to take it. I want the same thing you want. That’s why I’m telling you I hate him with every fiber and breath of my already damned soul. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to stop him. I can never admit that to anyone outside of this room, but I’m hoping that by telling you this, I might earn a small measure of your trust.”
“You got the knocking part,” he said with a wicked smile, his wings twitching. “But you might consider waiting for the part where you have permission to enter. Your Majesty.”
From the corner of her eye, Serce saw Wolf approaching. His large hands were loose at his sides, and as he came to stand behind her, she understood something about him. Something that made him so different from men like Atlas. He’d come to back her up but not take over, proving he would be there for her no matter the cost.
“You have my secret and I have yours,” Nadir says. “I hope that means that we can trust one another for as long as it takes to find the Crown and restore your magic. You want him gone as much as I do. Maybe more.” I nod as he continues. “So come with me to the Keep and search for it.”
Why is she the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen? And it’s not just a physical attraction. Though yes, I want to touch her so badly my hands ache, but I’ve never met anyone who was so fucking sure of herself.
She behaves exactly like a queen. A slightly wild one with a short fuse, but a queen nonetheless. Gods, when she scolds me like that, I want to kiss her. Partly to shut her up, but mostly to feel those lips against mine and bask in that savage anger as I tear off her clothes and fuck her so hard she sees stars.
I hiss out the last word with venom and watch the rage flare in her eyes again. Fuck, why is making her angry so hot? I don’t care if she hates me when I fuck her, though I wonder if all this baiting is any way to convince her she needs it, too. Maybe she’s into the idea of a good hate fuck, though. That thought has my cock stirring again.
“Try to look like you’re having fun,” he whispers. “Maybe like you were just thoroughly fucked in that room and enjoyed it.” I purse my mouth into an irritated frown. “This is my ‘I was just fucked in that room by an asshole' face.” To my surprise, Nadir barks out a laugh before directing me down the corridor, his arm still around me.
There’s another pause and then the lightest stroke of fingers along my jawbone. “I don’t know what that bastard did to you, but I’m going to help you get your crown, Heart Queen, and I’m going to make him pay. For all of it.” With that chilling declaration echoing in my head, I drift off to sleep.
*groan*
From the moment she’d met Wolf, she’d understood this was more than just love. The way her magic and her body responded to his presence was reverent. Something powerful and sacred. It had been a few weeks after their first encounter that they’d confirmed what they already knew in their hearts. They were mates—a hallowed bond so rare between High Fae as to be practically a legend. Serce had never heard of it happening in her lifetime, nor had Wolf. They both cherished this fact and this secret, holding it close to be savored only by them until the time was right to reveal it.
“You will be the most powerful, Serce,” he said, his words low and dangerous. “And I will stand beside you—my queen, my heart, my mate—and help you take it all.”
We’re both caught in a trance, our breaths the only sounds in the room. But I’ve never felt more at peace than I do right now. I’ve never felt so comfortable in my own body. There’s a disconcerting sense that I’ve found something I’ve lost. Like I’ve come home.
He pulls his head up and meets my eyes, those swirling colors visible in the closet's dimness. There is so much written in the way they move I can’t believe I’ve never realized how tied to his emotions those lights are. There’s conflict in them. And a desire so visceral, my core melts into liquid heat.
“I felt you, too,” I say. “I wasn’t the only one affected in there.” “You weren’t.” His voice drops to a rasp and his lips brush against my ear. “I feel it every time you’re in the room. You make me so fucking hard I can’t think straight. I’ve jerked off in the shower every day, thinking about you. Thinking about how much you hate me.”
“Say yes,” he says. “One night. One long, endless night where I promise you more pleasure than you ever thought possible.”
His head drops next to my ear with a gentle brush of lips. “Understand I’ll be ready at any moment you’re ready to say yes.”
Our eyes meet and everything, everything stirs within me.
“I’m drawn to you,” he says next. “I don’t want you for your power—I have enough of my own, but you must feel what I do. When our magic touches?
Somehow, he pulls me closer. “Look around you. You’re amongst the Fae and no one would care. If you asked me, I’d spread you out in the middle of the room and feast on you for everyone to see. The only reason I’m glad you won’t is because I want you all to myself.”
“Be a good girl,” he purrs in my ear and my heart kicks in my chest. “Spread your legs.” His hand drops lower, landing on my exposed thigh. “You are so fucking sexy in this dress. I just about passed out when you walked into the room.” “Who are you?” I ask, looking up at him, completely overwhelmed. “I am your worst nightmare, Inmate. But right now, I’m going to make you come so hard, you’re not going to care.”
think I’ll have him killed.” Nadir takes a casual sip of his drink, and I choke on mine. “Why?” “I don’t like the way he was looking at you. He was watching your ass as you walked away.” I blow out a breath, puffing a lock of hair out of my eyes. “Is this what you’re going to be like now?” “This is how I always was. I’m just not hiding it anymore.”
This dark prince will never have my heart.
“Let’s see,” Amya calls from the other side. I tug back the curtain and step out, and Amya’s jaw drops. The royal family wears black. Nadir’s companions wear black. But I am not his conquest. I am not his to claim. I’m not part of their royal line. I have my own family. And I am my own fucking castle. Our gazes meet, and I can see Amya understands what this means to me. “It’s perfect,” she says. “We’ll take it.”
“Let me taste you again,” he says, his voice rough. “Before we go downstairs.” My throat goes tight. “You’ll mess up my hair. And my makeup,” I say, grasping at any straw I can. Everything in me wants to say yes, but still I hesitate. “I promise I won’t,” he says, stepping closer, his mouth brushing my ear. “You’ll just sit there like a queen while I worship you from my knees.”
I’m not too stubborn to understand that I need your help if you’re willing to offer it, but I need to learn to protect myself, and I’m not yours.” Nadir sucks in a sharp breath and it’s obvious he wants to argue. His jaw flexes, and his eyes flash with sparks of crimson. “No, but you will be,” he says, and there is a solemn oath hidden in those words. The expression on his face tells me this is far from the last I’ve heard of this, but I must stay strong.
“Fuck, Serce. You undo me. You are my star, my moon, my heart. I want to love you and fuck you and cherish you for every day of my life. And even when I’m wandering the Evanescence, I’ll still long for the taste of your mouth and your sweet pussy.”
“You’re allowed to be scared. No one expects you to be strong all the time. I think maybe you believe you have to.” Those earnest words catch me off-guard, and I hesitate, studying him carefully. It’s like he can see straight through to the darkest parts of my soul. Like he can read all of my thoughts. Everything shifts and my magic lurches towards him with such force it nearly knocks me over.
Nadir’s looking at me, not the Crown, with a mixture of emotions that feel too complicated to name.
I was so worried I’d fucked this up forever. That she was going to hold to what she said about this never happening again. Should I stop and make sure she knows what she’s doing? Fuck, I want this so much. I can’t. She’s mine, and this was always inevitable. I will never, ever let her go.
“Tell me you’re mine,” I say, and her head snaps up. I can’t read what’s in her expression, but she has to understand what I’m beginning to suspect. Lor didn’t just drop into my life by chance. None of this is a coincidence. It’s destiny. We were made for each other. What we have goes deeper than lust. Deeper than love. “Never,” she counters, and my heart seizes. “This is just sex, remember?”
