Chapter Eight: After the Fire
1131 Words
Dario’s POV
The kiss still burned in my mouth. It might have been her choice.. her fire.. but it was my claim.
Austin’s roar echoed again, as his face twisted in betrayal that belonged only to fools who thought they were owed loyalty.
“.. You.. ” he spat, thrashing against the guards who had held him before he moved closer. “You filthy whore..”
I stepped forward before he could finish. My voice cut through his rage, cool and absolute.
“Do not speak to my wife that way.”
The words landed like a dagger. Emily stiffened at my side, but I kept my eyes on him.
I let the corner of my mouth curl, just enough to show him the mockery he deserved. “Have some respect for your stepmother.. Son.”
The word dropped in the air like a whistling middle. Austin froze, his face looked like it had lost all colors before flushing red with anger. His mouth moved, but no sound came out, only a strangled noise of disbelief.
For a heartbeat, silence filled the living room. Only the grandfather clock ticked in the distance.. Emily’s hand twitched in mine, I could feel her pulse as it hammered against her skin.
I took another step forward, closing the space between us until he could feel my breath but not touch me. “Look at you,” I said, quiet but lethal. “My Son.. Thrashing like a dog at the end of its chain. All that fury, all that noise… and still, you couldn’t hold onto her.”
Austin’s jaw clenched. “You’re not worthy of her..”
I chuckled low in my throat. “And you are? You, who wanted her for your personal gain? You, who watched her become smaller so you could feel taller? If you wanted to keep a jewel, you shouldn’t have treated her like glass.”
He struggled against the guards. “You think you’ve won?”
“I know I have,” I said simply. “Because I don’t need to scream to be heard. And because she’s here, now, beside me.. not behind you.”
Emily’s breath caught. My words were a blade, but the truth in them was a hammer.
I tilted my head, savoring the moment. “Now son. It’s no one’s fault you lost the moon because you were too busy chasing shadows.” I brushed my thumb across Emily’s cheeks, my gaze never leaving his. “Now, I have the moon as well as the stars. And every single one of them belongs to me.”
Austin thrashed harder, fury vibrating through his body. “She was mine! You.. you took her..”
“No,” I interrupted smoothly, my voice dropping to silk and steel. “You threw her away. You made her nothing, and I found everything.”
He lunged forward, but the guards yanked him back again. I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t need to. Calm authority was sharper than rage ever could be.
“Take him out,” I ordered, brushing invisible dust from my sleeve. “When he remembers his place in my house.. when he learns to behave.. he may come back. Perhaps he’ll even earn the privilege of sitting at my table for dinner.”
The guards moved instantly, dragging him across the marble floor as he kicked and cursed. His voice cracked..
“Both of you! You think this is over?!”
I only smiled as his shouts grew distant.
By the time the door slammed shut behind him. Peace returned to the hall, but not to the woman standing beside me.
Emily’s hand was still in mine, tense, her fingers stiff as stone. When I let go, she pulled back sharply, as though my touch burned.
Her eyes cut to me, and it shimmered with pure undiluted rage. “You knew.”
I didn’t answer at once. I let her words hang in the air, let her anger swell, let her pulse thunder in her throat. The fire suited her.. it made her beautiful.
“You knew who I was,” she pressed again, her voice low, trembling with something between rage and betrayal. “Before that night.. before the ring. Before the vows. Before..” She broke off, her lips parting. “And you didn’t say a word.”
I stepped closer, slow, measured. “Yes,” I said simply. “I knew.”
Her jaw clenched. “Why? You’re as bad as your bloody son”
I studied her for a long moment, every flicker of her expression, every stubborn line of her body as she tried to hold her ground.
Most people crumbled beneath the weight of silence. She didn’t. She glared at me like she could tear me apart with her stare alone.
Finally, I spoke. “Because I wanted you.”
Her breath hitched, and I caught it.. quick, fragile, unwilling.
“You think I care for your past?” I continued, my voice silk wrapped around steel. “What you were to him, what you believed you lost? None of that mattered. You stood in front of me, calm when you should have broken, like steel wrapped in silk. And I decided then.. ” I leaned in, my lips grazing her ear, “..that you would be mine.”
She shuddered, but not from fear.
“You’re as insane as him.. at least now I know where he got it from,” she whispered.
“Perhaps.” I caught her chin between my fingers, forcing her to look at me.
“But unlike him, I do not throw away what I claim. Unlike him, I see the worth in the quiet. The danger in restraint.. You are not fire.. you are the calm before the storm. And I…” My lips brushed hers, just enough to taste defiance on her breath. “…I have always preferred storms.”
Her hands trembled, but she didn’t pull back. Not this time.
“You can’t just..” she began, but her voice cracked betraying her.
“I already did,” I murmured.
Her eyes glowed, torn between fury and something darker, something she didn’t want to name. And that was enough. That war inside her was mine.
I released her chin at last, letting my fingers trail down her throat before I stepped back. “Rest now. It’s still too early in the morning to stress yourself.. As for him” I smiled, sharp and deliberate
“He will gnash his teeth like a starving dog behind locked doors.”
Her breath shivered, but she said nothing. She only glared at me as though her silence could undo me.
It didn’t..
If anything, it made me hungrier for her.
- Writer
