To Bleed a Crystal Bloom (Crystal Bloom, #1)

by Sarah A. Parker

So I do what I do best. Because lies are pretty little masks we place on our words to tint the truth into something palatable.

Part of me wants to be closer, the rest of me knows I need to stay the hell away—that Rhordyn’s an ocean that would plunge into my lungs and drown me if I fell into him.

I need something normal to cling to or I’m going to fall apart. Maybe not straight away, but eventually the noose of anxiety will slither in and steal my breath, just like it always does when I feel like I’ve lost control.

I’m in love with a man who’ll never be mine—who’s unavailable in every way, shape, and form—and I’m certain it’s going to ruin me.

“What I want, what I need, and what is right are three entirely different things.”

Being ruined by Rhordyn would be better than never drinking the sips of his affection again. “I know that your cheeks are flushed because you’re embarrassed by the dull ache between your legs. By the wetness you can feel smeared between your thighs. You’re worried I can smell it. I can.”

I’m not okay. My tears may be silent but inside I’m screaming.

This gown was its own sort of mask ... and deep, deep down in the shameful corner of my mind, I’d hoped Rhordyn would see through it. Peel it back. That he’d take one look at me and see the dress for what it really was; a pretty tourniquet to hold me together while I fell apart on the inside. But he didn’t, and the dress worked too well.

“Gift me all your problems, Treasure. I’ll toss them in my trash trove.”

“Simple, Milaje. I refuse to live in a world where you don’t exist.”