Page 115 of Vendetta Vows

The sudden emptiness leaves me with a different kind of ache. One that comes from a place deep inside of me.

His cum runs down my thigh until it begins to pool in the space between us, a reminder that he's marked me in the most primal way.

I press my head against his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart as it returns to its usual cadence. His arms tighten around me, and he plants a tender kiss on my forehead.

We stay like this, wrapped in each other, as dawn breaks outside the window, painting the world in shades of gold and pink. He continues to hold me like I'm something precious.

And as the sun inches higher in the sky, I realize that I am.

I'm hiszarechka.

His little dawn.

And this is where I belong.

30

AURORA

THREE DAYS LATER

"I can still tasteyou on my tongue, by the way," Ruslan tells me as we stand at the entrance to the mansion, his hand entwined gently around mine.

The breeze carries the scent of roses from the garden nearby, but it does nothing to calm the storm inside me.

"You plan on kissing your mother with that mouth?" I bite my lip, surprised at my own boldness as I try and lighten the mood.

The corner of Ruslan's mouth lifting in that half-smile that makes my stomach flip.

"Only if you promise not to kiss her with yours."

Heat floods my cheeks as memories of him holding me upside down in his strong arms this morning, feasting between my legs while I sucked him dry.

A sleek black car appears as the distant wrought-iron gates open, and slowly grows larger as it moves up the long driveway. My heart pounds against my ribs like it's trying to escape. What little break there was in the tension fades like morning dew in the sun.

"Why do I get the feeling she's going to take one look at me and figure out everything," I say, smoothing down my dress for the hundredth time.

"You'll be alright." Ruslan's thumb traces circles on the back of my hand, somehow both calming and electrifying at once. "My mother is many things, but she is not cruel."

"Somehow that doesn't make me any less worried." I sigh. "What if she wants to know the truth about why we're getting married?"

"Then tell her the truth," he replies. "She's been in this world long enough to know when she's being lied to."

The truth…I chew my bottom lip. And just whatisthat truth anymore?

When Ruslan and I first came up with this idea of a marriage, it was for our mutual benefit: he gets to avoid a marriage he doesn't want, and I get the protection that I never would've had.

But each day with him has changed something between us.

And these past three days have been the greatest revelation of them all.

Each night in his bed has stripped away another layer between us, literal and figurative. Our bodies fit together as if designed that way, but there's far more than a simple physical connection between us.

Seven years I've lived as Aurora Castellanos without letting anyone truly see me.

And somehow, in our short time together, Ruslan has seen everything.

When he looks at me, I don't feel like I'm playing a role anymore. It's like I'm a map that only he can decipher, and he knows where all of my hidden scars because it's the same ones that have marred him.

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