Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy, #3)

by Lauren Roberts

Lust for money. Lust for purpose. Lust for revenge. But in some cases, it is love that first spurs these lusts. Or rather, the loss of it. Though these odd contradictories are rare, they are consistently tragic.

“Every brutal act is born of love.”

Damn the pretending. Damn the hiding. Damn everything but him and us and this moment where I need him.

It’s not as though she hadn’t promised to be my ruin, hadn’t already become my demise. She is the single most destructive thing I have ever desired, and yet, it is the diamond on her finger that will destroy me.

In love with a girl I’d have bowed to long before she became my queen.

I would spend the rest of my days making her flower crowns if she wanted to be a queen. My queen. Not Kitt’s. Not Ilya’s. Mine.

“So much as breathe on her again,” I snarl, “and I’ll ensure it’s the last time you ever do.”

I head for the door, a flood of voices following. “Tempting, but I’m a bit busy saving your ass at the moment.” She can’t see the smirk that twitches my lips, but I’m sure she hears it in my voice when I add, “Speaking of ass, how’s the view back there, Gray?”

“Oh, darling,” I murmur, “I know you don’t. But if I am to be your Enforcer, then you better get used to it.”

“I am no one’s queen.” “Is that so?” My fingers find her cheek before trailing down the smooth slope of her nose. “Then you have no idea how much power you hold over me.”

“You seem to forget that I’m completely powerless, Prince.” Her words hold an edge, as though her breath has become a blade she drags alo...

I tip my face until her forehead meets mine. “I’m too selfish to let you go so easily.” “Then pretend.”

Because if she truly becomes Kitt’s, I will spend the rest of my life mourning her.

So I distract. Deflect. Desire her more than ever in case this is the last time I get to.

“You’re not supposed to touch me at all.” “But you could command me to,” I drawl. “Then I’d simply be following an order.”

But for me, it is not loving her that has proven to be difficult.

“And it didn’t stop. You just kept screaming. So…” A pause. “We both know it will take more than a locked door to keep me from you.”

“Darling, I’d be in this bed beside you if my brother hadn’t slipped a ring onto your finger.”

Especially so considering the distraction I’m seeking—and every inch of him will most definitely do the trick. I want him desperately. Recklessly. And the embodiment of those feelings falls from my lips in the form of a single, traitorous sentence. “So slip it off.”

“The problem wouldn’t be taking that ring off. It would be getting me to put it back on.”

His words are a whisper against my lips. “You are devastating, Pae.”

“Not every time.” I shift, slipping off his chest to sit beside him. “Not when I’m with you.”

“Then I’ll never leave your side.” I give him a look. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” “It’s not promises I care to keep—it’s you.”

So, I flick the tip of his nose with a soft “You’re quite the poet, Prince.” Moonlight pools in the dimple that accompanies his grin. “And you the muse, darling.”

“You know,” he sighs, “I pictured a different forever for us. One that took place far from here. But if this is all we get…” He pauses, eyes as silver as the moonbeams pouring down on us. “Then we’ll make the most of it. I will be your Enforcer. Your rival. Your secret waiting beneath the willow.”

“Oh, my pretty Pae.” His words are a murmur against my lips. “For once, it is I who will be your undoing.”

He is a weakness I am not supposed to indulge in. Not in this life, at least.

“Couldn’t sleep without me?” he muses, sword glinting in the flickering light. I frown. “How did you know I was here?” “I knew you couldn’t stay away from me for much longer.” “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“No. But the sudden urge to hit you did.” He looms over me, his bare chest nearly brushing mine. “If you want to put your hands on me, just say that.”

“So damn the Trials. Pae, let me force every person in this kingdom to their knees for you.”

“Where else would I be?” “Your own room, maybe?” “My room doesn’t have you in it.” My lips twitch. “Hence why I’m in yours.” She shakes her head at me in disbelief. “Insufferable, cocky bastard.”

“But you have both left very different marks on my heart. One an O, and the other something even more damning.”

“Every person who has ever said that to me is gone. And I… I need you more than I need those words.”

I smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It will take far more than mere words to drag me from you, darling.” “It better,” she breathes.

And when she kisses me, long and fierce, I realize how happily I’d live the rest of my life at the end of a blade. So long as she is the one holding it.

In return, I remind her that Paedyn Gray has been my weakness since that very first dinner before the Purging Trials.

I will her to walk through those doors. If not for this kingdom, then for me. I need her to come back to me. She is willingly my weakness, and yet, nothing has ever made me stronger. And I fear what I will become if—

“I thought you might not walk through those doors tonight. And it made me realize that I’d much rather spend the rest of my life apart from you, watching at a distance, than without you.”

“And I will happily be your distraction from pain. For as long as you need.”

“And what did you lose yourself to?” “Duty. Loyalty.” His lips quirk. “A silver-haired pain in the ass.”

“Pae.” His voice is ragged. “I would lose my life for you before finding something else worth living for.”

“You are my inevitable. In life and in death.”

I shrug a shoulder, my eyes darting across the packed room. “Because I don’t like to share.”

“Oh, I’ll still have my eyes on you when I’m drunk, darling. And that is exactly the problem.”

“We are supposed to be keeping our distance, remember? I have enough trouble doing that when I’m sober.”

“I won’t be charmed by your pretty words, Prince.” The corner of my mouth curls into a wicked smile. “Seems a bit late for that, doesn’t it?” “Cocky bastard,” she whispers. “Pretty Pae.”

“And what makes you think I want to dance with you?” “I can’t think of a reason you wouldn’t want to, actually.”

“Has it been three dances? If they have any more, the court may begin to think our little brother is trying to steal away your betrothed.” “Oh, I doubt that’s the brother they’re worried about,” Kitt says evenly.

I’m breathless at the sight of her, doomed by the hope of having her. It’s a beautiful ruin, a devastating devotion. This girl holds my heart in her hands, could crush it between her fingers and still have me thanking her for the touch.

He tells me to stop looking at him like that. My voice sounds far away. “And how am I looking at you?” He says I’m looking at him like a promise I can’t keep.