The Emperor (Dark Verse, #3)

by RuNyx

he asked her, his voice rough, his words rolling over her in the quiet of the room. No, she wasn’t scared. She was hungry for something she shouldn’t be. Amara shook her head. He straightened, taking a step closer to her, close enough that she could feel dwarfed in his presence. Amara loved that about him, that he was the only man she knew who could make her feel so small, so protected. She watched as he slowly raised his hand, slow enough that she could stop him if she wanted, and hooked his index finger in her scarf, tugging it down her neck. The skin underneath exposed. Her breasts heaved. Heart hammering inside her chest, Amara fisted the sides of her dress to keep her hands from doing anything they shouldn’t. She watched him, his dark eyes never wavering from hers even as he exposed her scar to the light in the room, the scar she always hid from everyone. His gaze never flickered down to it, their eyes locked on each other as he touched the skin with his index finger. A soft, barely-there touch. It seared her, from the point of his finger to her flesh, burning and not in a way that was painful. No. It was decadent, like the warmest of fires that seeped into her cold soul, kindling her chilled bones, warming her from the inside out. His dark eyes, still the most beautiful she had ever seen, focused on her own as he deliberately brushed her scar again, almost as though he was learning its texture. A small shiver went down her spine, raising goosebumps on her arms and ma...