POV Luella
After the violent confrontation in the gardens, both brothers were confined to their chambers by royal order. The King's fury had been swift and absolute—no more fighting, no more public displays, no more disrupting the peace of his court.
At least now I have time to think. To figure out what's happening to me.
But thinking was the last thing I wanted to do. Every thought led back to the same terrible realization—I was more drawn to Kyrell than to my own supposed mate.
Tobias managed to send me letters delivered by loyal servants. Each one was more demanding than the last.
"You are my future wife. You belong to me. What happened in the garden was nothing—a moment of weakness that meant nothing. Remember who you are promised to."
His possessiveness bled through every word, making my wolf bristle with each reading.
He's not asking how I feel. Just telling me what I should feel.
Torn between them and desperate for answers about my own conflicted feelings, I made a decision that would have shocked me weeks ago. I decided to visit Kyrell first.
I need to understand what this pull toward him means. Why I can't stop thinking about him?
I found him in his chambers, drunk and bitter about his injuries from the fight. His left eye was swollen shut, and claw marks decorated his throat and arms. The scent of wine was heavy in the air.
He looks like he's been drinking for hours.
"Well, well," he slurred when I entered. "The future queen graces me with her presence. Come to gloat about the damage your perfect prince inflicted?"
His voice is different when he's drunk. Less controlled.
"I came to see if you were alright," I said, which was partially true.
Kyrell laughed bitterly. "How touching. The concerned fiancée checking on her lover's welfare."
Lover? Is that what he thinks we are?
"Why didn't you send me a letter?" I asked suddenly. "Tobias has been writing constantly."
I want to know if he was thinking about me too.
Kyrell studied me with his one good eye, something unreadable flickering across his face. "Because I simply didn't want to."
That's it? He just didn't want to?
The casual dismissal stung more than it should have. I moved closer, seeing the extent of his injuries in the candlelight.
"Let me tend to these wounds," I said, reaching for a clean cloth from his washstand.
He's hurt worse than I thought. Some of these cuts are deep.
"I don't need your pity," he said, but he didn't move away as I approached.
"It's not pity," I replied, gently dabbing at a cut on his collarbone. "It's just... I caused this fight. The least I can do is help clean up the damage."
His skin is fever-hot under my fingers. My wolf responds to his nearness despite everything.
The moment my fingers touched his skin, he went very still. His scent changed, becoming darker and more dangerous.
He's reacting to my touch. Just like I'm reacting to his.
Without warning, he grabbed my wrists and pulled me roughly into his lap. The cloth fell from my hands as I found myself straddling him, our faces inches apart.
His grip is iron. His black eyes are burning with something desperate.
"Kiss me," he demanded, his voice rough with desperate hunger. "Kiss me until I get sick of it."
What?
The command broke something fundamental in both of us. Weeks of suppressed attraction, months of psychological warfare, all of it exploded into raw need.
This is wrong. This is so wrong. But I can't make myself care.
I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, tasting blood, wine, and something darker that was purely him. The kiss was nothing like Tobias's gentle caresses. This was consuming, desperate, dangerous.
My wolf is singing. This feels right in ways the artificial bond never has.
Kyrell's hands tangled in my hair, pulling me closer as if he wanted to devour me completely. I could taste the copper of blood where his brother had split his lip, could smell the wine on his breath, could feel the barely controlled violence in every line of his body.
I want more. I want everything he's offering, even though I know it will destroy me.
Our desperate embrace transformed from punishment to passion as neither of us could deny the electric connection that had been building through months of cruelty and conflict. Every touch sent fire through my veins, every breath shared between us making the artificial bond with Tobias seem like a pale shadow of what real desire could be.
This is what I've been missing. This intensity, this consuming need.
When I finally pulled away, gasping and shaken by the intensity of my response, Kyrell immediately turned cruel again. The vulnerable man who had demanded my kiss disappeared behind his familiar mask of mockery.
And there it is. The cruelty I should have expected.
"How pathetic," he said with a cold smile, his hands still gripping my hips possessively. "You gave in so easily. All that resistance, all that righteous anger, and one little command from me and you melt like a candle."
He's trying to hurt me again. To make me ashamed of what just happened.
"That's what you think of me?" I asked, my voice shaking with a mixture of desire and hurt.
"I think you're desperate for my attention," he replied, his voice cutting. "So starved for something real that you'll take whatever scraps I throw you. Just another conquest I could claim whenever I choose."
Even now, after what we just shared, he's trying to reduce it to nothing.
The words hit their mark, shame flooding through me even as my body still hummed from his touch.
He's right. I am desperate. I threw myself at him the moment he asked.
"Get off me," he said suddenly, his voice flat and dismissive. "You've gotten what you came for. Now go back to your perfect prince and pretend this never happened."
He's pushing me away again. Just like always.
I climbed off his lap on unsteady legs, my wolf whimpering at the loss of contact. The taste of him still lingered on my lips, the memory of his desperate hunger burned into my mind.
What have I done? I kissed another man while engaged to Tobias.
"This was a mistake," I said, trying to salvage some dignity.
"Was it?" Kyrell asked, his cruel smile widening. "Or was it just the first honest moment you've had since arriving at this court?"
Honest. He called it honest.
Before I could respond, he waved his hand dismissively. "Run along, little wolf. Your keeper will be wondering where his pet has wandered off to."
Pet. Keeper. He knows exactly how to twist the knife.
I left his chambers with my heart racing and my mind spinning. The kiss had answered some questions but raised so many more.
Why does someone so cruel make me feel more alive than someone who claims to love me?
The artificial bond with Tobias should have been pulling me back to him, making me feel guilty for what I'd done. Instead, all I could think about was the desperate hunger in Kyrell's voice when he'd demanded my kiss.
What am I becoming? And why does it feel like I'm finally becoming myself?