Page 116 of Emylia

Because the taste of blood still coated my tongue, and the weight of what I’d done crushed my chest like a supernova—a dying star exploding in the most catastrophic way.

I needed something—anything—to drown out the echo of screams still ringing in my head. Something stronger than guilt. More immediate than grief. Something human.

Real.

Soft.

Because I couldn’t keep feeling like this.

Couldn’t keep feeling like a monster.

And him—Maalikai—he was all-consuming. Magnetic. Impossibly steady in the face of the raging storm I’d become. He was the only thing left that didn’t make me want to crawl out of my own skin.

So no.

This wasn’t about love.

It was about escape.

About forgetting the girl with blood on her hands. And remembering—for just a moment—that I was still made of more than ruin. If he could make me feel like I wasn’t just a weapon, but somethingworth touching—a body. A soul. Still worthholding.A heart worth fighting for—then I was okay with that.

Gods, I didn’t even know what was worse—that I was going to use him. Or that somewhere, in the deepest, most broken part of me...

It washimI needed.

Whatever power had surged through me today must’ve taken my senses with it—because I wanted him.

Desperately.

Recklessly.

And for once, I didn’t care.

Not about my insecurities.

Not about whether I was good enough.

Not even about the heartbreak I knew this would cause Sebastian.

I wantedhim.

And I would fight for him. Consequences be damned.

One moment, I was drowning in the delicious depth of his sapphire-laced onyx eyes—the next, my lips were on his.

“Princess.” Maalikai’s voice was barely more than a whisper.

“Seriously, still with the princess thing?” I shot back, teeth grazing his lower lip.

“Of course. You are my princess.” Even in the dim light, his cocky grin was impossible to miss—sharp, wicked, intoxicating.

Heat surged beneath my skin, a searing pulse that threatened to consume me whole. Or maybe it was just him. The way he claimed me—like I belonged to him, like he already knew I’d never fight it—sent a sadistic, storm-tossed warmth unfurling low in my belly.

His chuckle was low and all-consuming, curling around me like smoke and sin. “What’s the plan here, princess?”

“I want you.” The words tore from me, wild and breathless, unrestrained. I’d wanted him from the first moment I saw him—wanted to tear him apart and make him mine.

Whatever restraint I’d clung to cracked like thunder beneath the weight of that desire. And in less than a heartbeat, Maalikai closed the distance, pressing his body into mine until the air around us shattered.

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