Page 22 of Blood Queen

I lift my chin, forcing steel into my spine. “Mistake.” My voice doesn’t waver. But my body does.

He sees it.

Feels it.

His grip tightens, his free hand coming up to cup my face.

“You’re shaking.”

I let out a sharp breath, hating how raw I feel. “I just killed a man.” My voice breaks around the words, and his thumb brushes over my cheek like he can smooth out the damage.

He exhales hard. “Come here.”

I should push him away. Hedeservesa life. He deserves to have happy and normal relationships with available women.

But when he pulls me against his chest, I let him.

And when his lips press against my temple, I break.

The tears come first, hot and unstoppable. He rocks me gently, his breath warm in my hair, his heartbeat a steady rhythm beneath the chaos spinning inside me.

“You hate me now,” I mumble against him.

“I could never.” His voice is fierce now, pulling me back from the edge.

I press my face into his shoulder, trying to breathe past the knot in my chest.

We don’t move for a long time. It feels good, being like this with him again. Too good.

When I finally pull away, there’s something new in his eyes—a flash of something deep and urgent.

“You can’t keep doing this. You have to get out.”

I shake my head before he’s even finished speaking. “You know I can’t.”

His jaw flexes, his hands still gripping my arms like he can physically hold me together.

“K—”

“No.” My voice is sharper than I mean it to be, but I can’t let him say it. Can’t let him tell me what I already know—that I should run, that I should escape this life before it swallows me whole. Because it’stoo late.

I wipe at my face, forcing the weakness away. “You think I don’t want to?” My voice is raw, the edges frayed. “That I don’t dream about just—just disappearing? Leaving it all behind?” I shake my head, laughter bitter in my throat. “But that’s not how this works. You don’tleavethe Testa family. You don’t walk away from this world.”

His grip tightens, frustration flickering in his dark eyes. “You’re not just playing in this world, you’rebeholdento it. You’re a pawn in their game, making moves and pulling triggers for them. And one day, all of their demands are going to catch up toyou.”

I exhale slowly, pushing past the ache in my ribs. “Maybe.”

He curses under his breath, raking a hand through his messy hair. “And that doesn’t scare you?”

Of course, it does.But fear is a luxury I can’t afford.

I step back, putting space between us before I do something stupid, like beg him to make me forget—like crawl into his bed and let him kiss the blood and guilt away.

My gaze flickers to the crumpled sheets, to the faint imprint of another woman’s body.

A sharp pang slices through me, fast and brutal.

I lift my chin. “You should get back to bed.”

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