Page 104 of Sweet Venom

I smiled at the memory of her in my arms, looking at me as if I held all the secrets of her heart. I smiled like a man already madly in love with the fire he knows will burn him alive someday.

She cracked something open in me last night. Something I buried deep within so no one could ever find it.

It wasn’t weakness— although she’s my only one.

It was a spark of the man I never thought it was possible to be. The man my mother swore to me I would find when love took over my heart.

The man who could believe in a love that transcends death and the boy who swore he’d never offer his heart to anyone.

Poe did that without even trying.

And there she was.

In my arms with a blue rose tucked behind her ear, barefoot, glowing like the moonlight she was carved from. My name stitched into her bones. She didn’t say how she felt. She didn’t need to.

I wonder if she was up?

I’m the one who gets up first and make her food but today I overslept.Shit.

I grabbed my phone. Notifications flooded the screen— missed calls, various messages from my family, and updates from my businesses. I ignored all of it and went straight to the security app. The cameras lit up one by one. Rooms, corridors, kitchen, garden and lastly the ballroom. I leaned forward, watching the chaos unfold like every year before this one.

A small staff moved through the grand hall, weaving silently around one another as they hung decorations in every corner.

Blue and black ribbons trailed along the staircases and doorways. Blue roses were arranged with precise care,overflowing from sleek black vases and cascading in dramatic pools across the marble floor. Above them, chandeliers floated toward the high, arched ceiling, their crystals catching the pale sunlight across the cold stone walls.

All of this, for a celebration I never asked for. I never did.

I couldn’t care less about my birthday. It was just another day to me. I’d never celebrated it before my parents found me, so I learned early on that it wasn’t anything special. In fact, I hated it. The day I was brought into this world—I hated it.

But my mother… she insisted on it. Every year. A grand celebration, a reminder of my existence. It made her happy, and so, I endured it.

The decorations, the guests, the smiles—none of it mattered to me. But it mattered to her. It made her happy. And that was enough for me to stand through the charade. For her, I’d pretend to enjoy it.

But today... I forgot what day it was. I’ve been so consumed by Poe that it slipped my mind. Now, in truth today is not the actual day of my birth. Today is the day my mother found me and brought me into her world. She chose this day as my birthday and we’ve celebrated since. My real birthday is in a few days. That one I don’t celebrate. At all.

I was about to put down the phone and go in search of Poe when I saw her.

She was standing right in the middle of the chaos in the ballroom, laughing at something one of the workers said. I brought the phone closer to my face to see her more closely.

She twirled a ribbon between her fingers, soft blue against her skin, and my stomach twisted.

I watched her tilt her head, biting her lip, half shy as she answered something. Then she laughed again, covering her mouth. And the man she was speaking to—he smiled like she’d just handed him the sun.

I clenched my jaw so tight I felt it crack.

Jealousy.

Burning under my ribs like wildfire.

I didn’t like the way she looked so comfortable as if they knew each other. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her. I didn’t like that he made her laugh. Like he had any right.

She was mine.

I knew exactly what he was seeing—the most stunning creature he would ever encounter in his miserable life.

She lookedbreathtakinglystunning this morning. A beige, skin-tight skirt that hugged her curves like it was painted on. It draped down to her ankles, leaving nothing to the imagination. And the way it showcased thosemouthwateringcurves? Fuck. She paired it with a plain white shirt tied just right at the front, like sheknewwhat it was doing to every inch of my control.

Her feet were bare in cream sandals, and her hair was pulled into a simple ponytail that somehow made her plump, perfect ass look like it belonged in a sculpture. She hadn’t even bothered with makeup—and it didn’t matter. She was stunning without it.

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