Page 58 of Necromance
How could that possibly be real? How could something as maddening, as vast and terrifying and beautiful as love bloom in the space of days?
But love, I was learning, didn’t play by rules. It didn’t keep time or logic. It simply… was.
Maybe I’d been falling from the moment I stepped foot in this damned castle. Maybe the moment I touched the painting and heard his voice, sharp and sarcastic, I’d started unraveling.
And now? Now I was too far gone.
The weight of it settled deep in my chest, thick and heavy, sending a sharp ache through my heart.I loved him. The words echoed in my mind, relentless and undeniable.
No matter how hard I tried, how many nights I spent searching, how desperately I clung to the belief that I could save him, I was no closer to breaking the curse.
What if I failed?
The painting was fading. I could see it with each passing night, his outline a little dimmer, his presence a little harder to holdonto, the rot digging into each brush stroke. What would happen when it disappeared entirely? Would he be lost? Trapped in nothingness forever?
Or worse… would he die?
And even if I did succeed in breaking the curse… what then?
He’d know.
He’d know the truth, that my grandmother had a hand in binding him to canvas and shadow. That she was part of the reason he lost his life, his memories, his freedom.
Would he ever look at me the same again?
I saw my grandmother’s hands tremble as she sealed his fate, afraid of someone that I couldn’t see.
Was she forced? I didn’t know. And maybe I never would. But the truth remained: I was falling in love with a man who deserved a future… and I might be the reason he never had one.
Tears burned at the edges of my eyes, but I swallowed them down. What cruel irony was this? That I, Mia Arden, pragmatic, stubborn, too headstrong for my own good, had let myself fall for a man I could never have? A Duke and a necromancer—two different worlds that had never meant to collide.
And now… I was running out of time.
I had spent my life walking the line between the living and the dead, never truly belonging to either world. And yet, for the first time, I had found someone whochallenged me, who made me feel a happiness that I’ve never known.
And I was about to lose him forever.
“Lucien,” I said softly, trying to gather the courage to tell him everything, but I couldn’t force the words past my lips.
Instead, I closed the space between us, pressing my lips to his. Lucien inhaled sharply, and then his mouth softened against mine.
The kiss wasn’t desperate or hurried—it was slow, aching, reverent. A silent promise wrapped in the press of his mouth against mine. His fingers threaded into my hair, angling my head as he deepened the kiss, and I melted into him, into his warmth.
I wrapped my arms around him, my hands desperate to memorize every inch of him and burn it into my heart. His fingers trailed down my arm then moved over my hip, pulling me closer to him.
He kissed the corner of my mouth then trailed his lips down my neck, each one leaving my skin blazing with need.
A low groan escaped him when I pressed myself further into him. It still didn’t feel close enough. I clung to him like he might slip through my fingers at any moment.
His mouth moved close to my ear, his warm breathfanning my skin. “Tell me to stop, Mia.”
I swallowed a moan. Even as the words left his lips, his hand moved over my breast, his thumb stroking the peaked bud so gently, I wanted to cry.
“No,” I managed, my voice barely audible. “Please, don’t stop.”
That was all it took to shatter any morally ambiguous notion he had.
His hands moved over the laces of my corset, precise movements undoing it with ease. His mouth continued trailing fire over my neck, down my collarbone, and dipping to the base of my throat. My mind whirled and my skin felt too hot.
