Amber light filtered through the towering stained-glass windows of the castle’s sunlit atrium, glinting off the polished marble floor and reflecting golden hues into every shadowed corner. Alina’s breath came in quick, uneven bursts as she stepped into the room, still flushed from the lingering warmth of her night with Kael. Her mark pulsed faintly beneath her skin, its shadowed tendrils writhing in anticipation, almost as if they knew what was to come.
Riven stood near the center of the atrium, leaning against the gilded railing, his golden eyes glimmering like molten sunlight over polished bronze. He looked every bit the predator and the temptation rolled into one—a lethal combination of elegance, strength, and raw magnetism. Flames flickered along his fingers, dancing along the polishe
