Page 14 of Violent Delights

“What if I have never been kissed? What if tomorrow I’m married off to someone I don’t love and I would never have experienced a first kiss that I truly wanted?”

Another confession that makes my body react, but this time, it’s with rage. She’s too young to be thinking about getting married. She’s far too fucking young to even consider this as an option.

I shouldn’t be here.

I shouldn’t do this.

But I’ve never been a good person.

So I do lean in and steal her lips with mine. The softness of her molds to my hard contours. I claim a whimper that tries to escape her lips and revel in the sounds she makes as her hands snake around my neck. She holds on to me as if I’ve hung the stars in the sky for her. And for the first time in my life, I wish I were good enough to deserve someone so sweet, so pure, and so damn innocent.

When I finally break the kiss, I find her swollen lips still slightly parted. Her breaths come in short spurts. And her pupils are dilated with desire, her eyelids hooded with need. She’s like a blooming rose, opening petal by petal, and I want nothing more than to wrap my hand around her and squeeze.

“I should never have done that,” I tell her, my own voice taking on a husky tone. “You’re too good for me.”

A small smile dances on her mouth. “Most men are,” she sasses before she steps back and presses her fingertips to her plump, shimmering lips.

The sounds from the party are more prominent now. It’s as if the more alcohol that’s doled out, the louder they get. I’m sure Romano and Gian are enjoying themselves, or they would have made an effort to find me already.

The illumination from the moon dims, and we both glance up to stare at the cloud that slowly drifts across the sky. Thedarkness changes the air around us, and my gut churns with knowing. It’s a sixth sense that seems to play games with me when it wants to. Something bad is about to happen.

Since I was little, I could do it. My father thought I was cursed. He sent me to doctors. I was tested time and again, but the moment he brought me into the clan, that trait dissipated. I haven’t had a premonition orfeelingin a long time. But right now, it’s snaking through me like a poison.

“What is your name, pretty star?” I ask the girl, realizing I have no clue who she is. There are so many clans in the city, most of them loyal to the Montesano, but there are a handful who follow Vitale as if he were a god.

He’s not.

The man is evil.

“Perhaps for tonight, we’ll go on as strangers,” she tells me. “Isn’t it more exciting?” Her gaze flickers with excitement. It’s the innocence in her that beckons. She wants the fairy tale I cannot give her.

“Fated to meet but never to learn more?” I challenge. Perhaps she’s right. It may be terrifying to kiss someone you don’t know, especially when you’re in the house of your mortal enemy, but this girl doesn’t look like she’s dangerous. She certainly doesn’t look threatening at all. I could take her down with one hand.

“Exactly.” Her excitement brightens her expression. My chest fills with something I can’t quite put my finger on. I want to see her smile like this all the time. Not the maudlin princess I saw earlier. She shines like the North Star.

“A little Polaris here on earth,” I say as I think about her being a light in the dark.

Her gaze lowers to the floor, her cheeks darkened with a shade of red now. I’m thankful the clouds have given way to themoon, and it’s allowed me to see her the way I long to—happy and shy.

“I don’t know about me being a star,” she says quietly. “There are many girls at the party tonight who are far more suited to you.”

“And what makes you think I want them?”

She shrugs.

“I may think you’re far more beautiful than any of them put together,” I admit, once again reaching for her chin and tipping her head so she’s looking at me.

This time, she laughs. The tinkling sound reminds me of wind chimes. When a gentle breeze has tipped them against each other, the sound is musical. And I decide then and there, I want to hear it all the time.

“I have to go back to the party,” she tells me after a long, silent moment. Her admission makes my stomach drop. I don’t want her to go back. But I can’t stop her.

“Hey, Domenico. The fucking Vitales have spotted us.” Gian’s voice rings through the night air, and that’s when my little star looks up at me, her eyes wide with shock.

And then the emotion turns to anger.

Chapter 8

Lelia

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