Page 73 of The Musician and the Monster

Drystan’s knees nearly buckled. Even in his best dreams, her reply had not been so generous. He tugged her forward until their bodies pressed together, only layers of cloth separating them. The intimacy of the position, the way she molded to him, sent a bolt of desire straight to his groin.

“I’ve dreamed of this,” he confessed, voice thick. “Longed for it. To hold you in my arms, to kiss you again.”

“Then do it.” She caressed his face, brushing the ends of his hair with her fingertips.

The smallest hesitation held him back. He couldn’t bear to push it, to lose her again. “Yesterday, you—”

“I was wrong. Scared. Uncertain. But I know now. I knew the moment I stepped away then, but it was too late. I want you.”

I want you.

And oh, how he wanted her. As much as life itself. His body tingled as he closed his eyes and leaned his head down toward hers.

But just before their lips touched, she whispered, “Kiss me, Tristram.”

He froze. His eyes flew wide. Drystan’s heart leaped into his throat as he ripped away from the beauty before him and stared at her in horror.

Chapter 34

Drystan

She stared at him wide-eyed, her mouth gaping open before she covered it with a delicate hand. “Oh, blessed Goddess, it’s true.”

He balled his hands into fists as he turned away from her and stared at the fireplace. “Tristram is dead.”

Publicly executed for his crimes. Buried without ceremony. A fitting end for the monster he became.

Blood roared in his ears. His chest rose and fell. He never even heard Ceridwen approach until she laid a hand upon his back that caused every muscle in his body to stiffen.

“He’s not,” she whispered. “But I don’t care about that. To me, you’re Drystan, no matter what you were once called.”

He slammed his eyes shut, fighting against the pain of that name and the monster rumbling once more under his skin. Drystan jerked away and crossed the room to fall into his customary chair, head in his hands.

She didn’t even know his greatest sin and shame, but she knew enough, more than he’d ever wanted her to know. How? How could she have learned such a thing when he’d been so careful? Tristram was dead, Drystan Winterbourne reborn in his place. A noble sprung from the shadows to serve the king or receive the punishment he truly deserved, one that had been bestowed on some unfortunate man who bore a passing resemblance to him that the king had dug up to execute in his stead.

He was nothing more than a ghost, a shadow in an already dark world.

Where the king planned to wield him like a cruel blade for his own uses, and had, to his shame, only one thing gave him the courage not to lie down and die or accept the torment he so readily deserved: the chance at revenge.

Ceridwen was a beautiful light in the dark despair of his recent years. A bright spot amid all the grief, loss, and guilt that plagued him. She was so much morethan a monster like him deserved, yet he’d been unable to stop yearning for that light, for the beauty of her spirit that shone through in her songs and smiles.

He gasped when Ceridwen stepped before him and placed her palms on his shoulders. She shoved him, forcing him to recline in the chair.

“Ceridwen—”

Before he could protest further, she hiked up her skirts and climbed atop his lap.

“Goddess above,” he groaned.

“You can’t run from me now unless you plan to tip me off onto the floor.” Her words were near breathless, her chest rising and falling with breaths as heavy and uneven as his own.

He planted his palms on her waist, holding her in place. “We can’t have that.” Of all the things he’d damaged, he wouldn’t let her be one of them.

If this was her reprisal for his secrets, her way of tormenting him, he’d gladly take it.

Once again, her tongue peeked out, moistening her lips as she stared him down. That act, along with her nearness, had his cock stiffening again despite her revelation moments ago.

“It’s true?” she asked. Her gaze dipped to his chest where her fingertips scrunched the soft material of his shirt. “Are you really Prince Tristram?”

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