Selene’s POV
There was a knock at the door.
This time, I didn’t ask who it was.
I already knew.
The air had grown heavier. The wood itself vibrated, as if it too recognized the presence waiting on the other side.
I took a deep breath.
I adjusted the bathrobe over the humiliating lingerie they had forced me to wear.
I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
Not that easily.
I walked to the door without trembling.
Every step was a choice.
Every breath, a form of resistance.
And I opened it.
King Aedrian stood there.
Tall. Impeccable. Dressed in a long black fur coat, shiny leather boots, and a partially open shirt that revealed a sculpted chest. He looked like he had stepped out of an ancient painting—if that painting hid a beast behind the frame.
His eyes roamed over me from
