Page 105 of Marked By Moonlight
“You do; I can see it. Tell me it’s true, I need to know. It’s not fair to Lumi to put her through tonight if you don’t love her.”
I open my eyes, my stare boring into Rowena’s soul, begging her to stop this line of questioning. Rowena could be the one to prevent the curse from being broken. With one question, she could end Lumi’s life.
I hear footsteps, and I know what I must do.
“I don’t,” I say with as much truth in my voice as I can muster.
Rowena searches my eyes. “Liar.”
My heart thrums fast, a warmth sinking into my chest, and I know I’m seconds away from killing her. I have to stop this. I have to, no matter the cost. I have to prevent Lumi’s death.
I grab Rowena’s waist, clearing my mind completely as I pull her hard to me and press my lips against hers, kissing her with everything I have. Rowena tries to pull away for a split second, but I press my tongue against the seam of her lips, and she opens, allowing me access.
I don’t think as my tongue sweeps in her mouth, eliciting a soft, shocked moan.
Her hands push hard against my chest, breaking the kiss as quickly as it started, and Rowena looks wide-eyed at the person behind me.
“Lumi,” Rowena says in one breathless word.
Chapter 44
Lumi
Their lips touch, and it’s seared into my brain forever. I’ll never stop seeing them kiss. Not when I close my eyes. Not when I sleep. I’ll never be able to look at Rowena again without seeing her kiss Ambrose.
Mine—he’s fucking mine!My entire body screams for me to claim him loudly and viciously so that she, nor anyone else, ever dares to touch him again. Ambrose is my mate. If I didn’t believe it before, I believe it now. This coiled feeling of intense possession confirms it.
But I don’t scream or shout.
I don’t say any of the words to let out the pain bleeding from my damaged heart.
I don’t pull Rowena away from him.
I don’t attack either of them for what they did.
My reaction is blank and laser-focused on why I’m here.
I know why he kissed Rowena. He’s trying to deny his feelings for me, to try and prove to the gods that he doesn’t love me. He did it to save me, to buy us a few more minutes of time to break the curse before his curse ends me.
Ambrose’s back is to me, but he feels my presence. I’m thankful he doesn’t turn to look at me, because I don’t want tosee the expression on his face. Whatever is there will devastate me. I’m strong, but not strong enough to face that. So I build up my shields in my head, blocking him out so that he can’t speak to me or accidentally send me any of the emotions he’s feeling.
But Rowena’s misty eyes don’t stray from mine.
“Lumi…I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—” she says barely above a whisper.
“Don’t,” I should say more. I should tell her not to apologize. I understand why it had to be done. But I can’t say any of those words. If I start, I’ll break. I’ll probably end up killing her and then regretting it after.
She opens her mouth to say more, but I turn to the office door.
“I need to speak with the seer.” I don’t wait for them to respond. I don’t want an apology or an explanation. I just want to forget what I saw, because I’ll die if I think about it too long.
I force my legs to walk through the door, turning my attention to the woman inside. I stutter when I see her. She isn’t what I expected at all. She’s my age for one, and two, there are no ridiculous flowing white robes in sight.
The red-haired woman smirks at me from the chair she sits in behind Ambrose’s desk. “Not what you were expecting?”
I swallow. “Not exactly.”
“You are exactly what I was expecting.” Her words sound as if that’s a bad thing. Apparently, she sees me as nothing more than a weak human who struggles to shift and isn’t strong enough to break the curse.
