Verveville's Curse

Chapter21

Kael’s pov

Sleep was never gentle for me. It came in broken pieces, with restless and filled with ghosts. But tonight… tonight it was her.

Willow.

At first, she came to me like a whisper. The brush of a hand across my chest, the faint press of her lips near my throat. I should have pushed it away, the way I always did with the visions that haunted me, but this wasn’t a vision. This was heat, scent.. Her scent. The pull of something I could not command into silence.

She was on me, straddling me, her white hair tumbling across my bare chest like. My breath hitched at the sight of her, glowing, fierce, utterly mine in a way reality would never allow. The thin fabric of her gown clung to her curves, but I didn’t wait. My hands tore it away in my mind’s world, my imaginations, as fingers mapped the shape of her waist and the swell of her hips.

“Kael,” she whispered, and the sound of my name in her voice unraveled me.

I pulled her down, lips crashing against hers, a kiss that was desperate and consuming, nothing like control. Her mouth opened beneath mine, sweet and yielding, and I devoured her like a starving man that I was. Her taste was wild, sharp and addictive. I kissed her until her breath broke into soft moans, until her nails raked down my shoulders and I thought I might shatter under the pleasure.

When her hips ground against me, I nearly lost myself. She moved like she knew the exact rhythm to unmake me, slow at first, teasing, then deeper, harder, as though she demanded surrender. And I gave it, every part of me helpless against the pull of her body against mine.

The dream blurred into heat. Skin against skin, her breasts pressed to my chest, n*****s hard, aching. I trailed my mouth down her neck, across the delicate curve of her collarbone, lower, until I captured one peak in my mouth. She cried out my name again, broken and beautiful. I sucked harder, teeth grazing, tongue circling, until she writhed in my arms, begging for more.

Her scent was maddening. Sweet, wild, tinged with the earth after rain. I buried my face against her, inhaling like a beast unchained, as though one breath could never be enough. My hands slid lower, cupping her ass, guiding her grind against the hardness straining between us.

“Say you’re mine,” I demanded, my voice rough, breaking with need.

“I’m yours,” she gasped, body trembling, eyes glowing. “Always yours Kael”

That vow tore through me. It was everything I wanted and everything I could not have. I flipped her beneath me, pressing her into the mattress, caging her with my body. She opened for me, thighs spreading, hips arching, a silent plea I could never ignore.

I entered her in one hard thrust, and the world burned.

She was heat and tightness and heaven all at once. Her cry filled my ears, a sound that ripped me apart and stitched me back together. I moved inside her, rough, each stroke a clash of need and desperation. She clung to me, nails digging deep, mouth on my shoulder, giving bite marks,muffling her moans as if the world could shatter around us.

Faster, harder. My rhythm turned primal, every thrust a claim, every kiss a worship, every touch a reminder that she was mine, even if only in this cursed dream.

Her climax came suddenly, a shuddering cry that echoed in my soul. Her body clenched around me, pulling me deeper, dragging me over the edge. I followed her, lost in a rush of fire and light, my body convulsing as I spilled into her with a groan that shook the silence.

And then..

I woke.

My chest heaved. Sweat clung to me, dampening the sheets, and my c**k throbbed with the remnants of the dream’s release. For a heartbeat, I swore I still felt her, warm and trembling beneath me. I swore I still heard her voice saying she was mine.

But the bed was empty. Only shadows filled the room, long and cruel.

“f**k,” I whispered, dragging a hand over my face. My body burned with satisfaction, but my soul recoiled.

Willow.

Enemy.

The curse tightened like a chain around my throat, dragging me back to reality. She was the princess of Verneville, the blood I was sworn to oppose. Her lineage and mine were bound by divine hatred, an unbreakable curse that had brought kingdoms to ruin. And worse still I had taken her memories, stolen her past, made her forget the vengeance that should rightfully consume her.

How could I dare dream of her like this?

I swung my legs off the bed, forcing myself upright, grounding myself in the cold stone floor. My heart still pounded with the remnants of desire, but guilt sank its claws deeper with every breath. I had touched her, taken her in ways she could never consent to, because it was only a dream. And yet it felt real enough to damn me.

Her laugh,bright, unguarded echoed faintly in my memory. I could not let myself want her. I could not give in to the beast inside me that whispered of claiming, of binding her to me with blood and soul.

Because if I did…

The curse would devour her.

She would die.

And it would be my hands that killed her.

I clenched my fists until my nails bit into my palms, grounding myself in pain. The wet dream had left me weak, disarmed, and vulnerable. But I could not afford weakness.

Willow was temptation’s incarnate, a fire I could not touch without burning everything I loved to ash.

And yet…

When I closed my eyes, I still saw her lying beneath me, body trembling with pleasure, whispering that she was mine.

Always mine.

The words mocked me, because even if the gods themselves decreed it, I knew the truth, Willow could never be mine.