Verveville's Curse

Chapter22

Willow’s Pov

Kaida and her mate weren’t present at breakfast which left me and Kael alone. I sat at the far end of the long oak table.

Breakfast was supposed to be simple, bread, fruit, cream, a quiet table between us. Yet there was nothing quiet about the way my pulse vibrated, nothing calm about how the man across from me made something as ordinary as eating feel like a seduction I hadn’t agreed to.

Kael sat with that same unnerving composure he carried into every room. He didn’t rush, didn’t slouch, even lifting his fork looked deliberate, like each movement was born of control. His gaze rarely lifted from his plate, but when it did… when his eyes caught mine for just a second… my breath tangled somewhere in my throat.

It was ridiculous, truly. Like something suddenly was wrong with me. Like I was being lured to him.

I was a nobody that couldn’t even remember her name and yet, here I was, watching his mouth like some lovesick girl with no sense of shame. The curve of his lips as they closed around a bite, the way his jaw flexed when he chewed, the soft glint of his tongue as he dragged it over a streak of cream on the corner of his mouth.

Gods, the sight made heat roll through me so fast I had to press my thighs together under the table.

My lips parted without thinking. I licked at them, tasting nothing, but imagining everything. Imagining him.

And of course he saw me.

His head tilted just slightly, his eyes pinning me, heavy and unrelenting. Time stilled, the hum of voices outside the hall, the clink of cutlery, even the pounding of my own heart. All of it dropped away. There was only him, there was only me.

I felt caught, like a prey, yet the thrill of it lit my skin from within. I should have looked away. I should have straightened my back, feigned dignity. But I couldn’t. My body betrayed me, leaning forward instead of back, like it wanted to fall into whatever dangerous current had opened between us.

Kael’s tongue flicked again, deliberately this time, staring deep into my eyes like he was seducing me, catching the last trace of cream from his lip.

At this point, I wanted to be seduced. My breath hitched audibly, and I cursed myself, almost biting my lips, praying he hadn’t noticed.

But the faint curl of his mouth said otherwise.

Heat climbed mercilessly up my neck, blooming across my cheeks. My chest rose and fell too quickly, and all I could think about was why I was so drawn to this person. Why whatever he was doing was having an effect on me. Why I suddenly thought of his body above mine.

It felt like there was something inside the air. And I made up my mind.

I wanted him. When his gaze lingered, sharp and knowing, I felt only this, If he leaned across the table right now and pressed his lips to mine, I would let him.

I would welcome it.

The meal dragged on, though I remembered little of what I ate. Every second was a war against myself. Against the way I wanted to lean forward, to close the space between us. Against the way I wanted to taste him, to press my lips where his tongue had been.

When the servants cleared the table and slipped away, the silence left behind was suffocating. I could still feel him watching me, though he sat perfectly composed, as though nothing had happened.

I couldn’t stand it.

“Why do you look at me that way?” The words slipped out before I could stop them, soft but sharp, carrying the weight of all my restless thoughts.

Hoping he would tell me what i wanted to hear.

His gaze flicked to mine again, that same storm burning. “And what way is that?”

I swallowed hard, fingers curling against the table’s edge. “Like you want something you know you shouldn’t.”

For a moment, silence stretched between us, taut and dangerous. Then Kael leaned back in his chair, his lips pressing into the faintest smile. “You see too much,” he murmured, his voice low and rough. “And yet… not enough.”

My pulse hammered in my ears. “Then tell me,” I whispered. “What is it I don’t see?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he rose, his chair scraping lightly against the stone floor. For one wild, breathless moment, I thought he would close the distance, that he would finally let the fire consume us both.

But he only lingered at the edge of the table, his hands braced against the wood, his eyes locked on mine.

“You.. lylah, you’d ruin me” he said, his voice thick with control

The words struck me. I wanted to demand what he meant, to tear down the walls he might have built between us, but my voice betrayed me, caught somewhere between desire and fear.

Before I could speak, he turned, striding toward the door. And I sat there, trembling, the taste of hunger still lingering on my lips.

The image of him haunted me even after hours, the way his tongue had glided across the cream, the way his eyes had burned into mine, the way he admitted, if only for a heartbeat, that he felt the same pull I did.

Gods help me, I wanted him.

Every inch of me screamed to resist, to remember who he was. The Alpha. To remember who I was, a nobody, an outcast.

And yet, when I closed my eyes, all I could see were his lips. All I could feel was the phantom brush of his hand against mine, though he’d never touched me.

I knew I wouldn’t stop.

Because somewhere in the hollow of my chest, beyond reason, beyond fear, beyond the weight of destiny itself, I knew the truth.

I was falling.