Chapter 16
1069 Words
Azzurra slipped into the adjoining room, only to find it was nothing more than a cramped storage space. Clicking her tongue in frustration, she stepped back out, her eyes scanning the dim hallway as she tried to recall where the maids’ quarters might be.
Her heart nearly stopped when a guard passed by the corridor. Without thinking, she ducked behind a counter, her movements so fast and sharp it nearly winded her. Breath held, heart pounding against her ribs, she silently cursed her impatience. This wasn’t the time for carelessness.
Once she was sure the hallway had cleared, she darted toward the door, her only thought to retreat safely back to her room. If she were caught wandering the halls, it wouldn’t just be her who paid the price Benedetto could be punished too. He hadn’t locked her door tonight. Despite his betrayal, he’d tended her wounds after both princes had punished her. She was almost certain the king had commanded him to care for her. That didn’t make her feel any better.
Peering cautiously through the c***k in the door, she looked left, then right. The coast was clear.
She made a break for the staircase, moving with light steps. Just as she reached the third step, a hand large, calloused, and unyielding clamped down over her mouth. She was yanked backward, her body slamming into a solid chest with enough force to knock the air from her lungs.
She gasped against the rough palm, pain spreading through her spine, but that wasn’t what made her blood run cold. It was the heat hot breath near her scalp and the terrifying awareness of the body behind her. Massive. Silent. Familiar.
Her entire body went rigid, her muscles locking as though turned to stone. Her skin prickled with goosebumps despite the heated air of the hallway. She could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest behind her head, the rumble of his breath vibrating through his ribs.
Slowly, as if dragged by fate, she turned her head. Her wide, frightened eyes met a pair of burning amber ones.
Time stilled. Her mind blanked. Her body forgot how to function.
The beast stood over her.
He leaned down, his mouth brushing her ear, his voice a low growl wrapped in that unmistakable accent.
“What are you doing here, pet?”
Her eyes fluttered shut. She couldn’t move. Every instinct screamed at her to flee, but she was trapped in his presence his sheer dominance clamped around her like an iron shackle. Her heart thundered violently against her ribcage.
With trembling hands, she grabbed his thick wrist, trying to peel it away from her face. He didn’t move. Instead, he leaned in further and inhaled deeply, drawing in her scent like a predator savoring his prey. A deep, guttural sound rolled from his chest, and she felt it vibrate against the back of her head.
His hand was massive rough and veined and it covered more than half her face. He could crush her skull with a twitch of his fingers. The thought made her stomach churn.
Then, suddenly, he released her.
She gasped for air, panting. And before reason could stop her, she bolted.
Her feet barely found the second stair before an arm looped tight around her waist. She was lifted off the ground and hurled back against the wall. Her bones rattled on impact. Pain lanced through her spine, sharp and immediate. She bit down on her lip to stop from crying out.
Tomorrow, there would be bruises. That is, if she lived to see the morning.
“Were you trying to escape?” he growled, voice low and lethal.
Her eyes snapped open. He was right in front of her now, looming like death itself. His presence swallowed the hallway, his posture exuding authority so suffocating she instinctively tried to sink into the wall behind her.
He advanced, and she flinched, but didn’t run. Couldn’t. Her mind stuttered, unable to process why he terrified her so completely. He wasn’t worse than the others. He was like his father, like Mattia brutal, heartless, and inhuman. Yet something about him unraveled her entirely.
Her breath hitched as she tried to calm the pounding in her chest. But all she could smell was him his cologne, smoky and dark, mingled with the bitter spice of cigarettes. He was too close. Too powerful.
She forced herself to look up, her voice steady despite the chaos within her.
“You think I’d dare?”
Internally, she applauded her calm tone. Her body shook like a leaf, but her voice didn’t betray her.
That’s what made him terrifying. She couldn’t read him. His eyes were a void deep, endless, and cold. His face was carved in stone, emotionless. A statue would have more expression.
“Pet,” he hissed, stepping closer still.
She refused to move. She stood tall, defiant, her spine straight as she held his gaze.
“Azzurra,” she said, tilting her head slightly, her voice soft but unyielding as if introducing herself to a stranger at a masquerade, not a monster who could end her life in a breath.
Something flickered in his eyes. Just for a second. A flash. The barest glimmer of amusement or intrigue, maybe even recognition. The corner of his mouth twitched into something like a smirk. But the moment passed. When she blinked, all she saw was stone again.
“I assume you’ve forgotten who you’re speaking to,” he said, his tone laced with steel. A clear warning.
Her lips parted in quiet defiance.
“I didn’t know ‘assuming’ was a royal virtue,” she replied, and his jaw flexed.
His hand shot out, rough fingers curling around her throat.
She gasped as he pinned her head back against the wall, his grip threatening but not yet lethal. The weight of death hovered between them like a veil.
“Do not cross the line, woman,” he snarled.
She trembled, but didn’t cry. Her jaw locked, her lips drawn in a tight line.
“I could kill you here and now,” he growled, and the words sent a chill racing down her spine.
Her eyes snapped open, wide with defiance, and she stared him down.
“Then do it,” she whispered, her voice like a ghost’s sigh. “Kill me.”
And somehow despite everything she smiled.
- Writer
