"I love you,Serenyth" Valen panted, forehead pressed to hers, voice cracked and reverent.
It wasn’t a confession.
It was a breaking.
A vow crumbled from a man who had sworn he would never love again, yet now whispered those three words like a curse—one that only she could lift, one that only she could bear.
Seraphine’s lips parted, her breath shallow. His words carved into her chest, branding her in a way even his fangs couldn’t.
But Valen didn’t wait for an answer.
He gently pulled out of her, every motion slow, as if she were made of glass. Her legs trembled around him, and he steadied her with one hand behind her back and the other beneath her knees, lifting her from the blood-marked throne.
Her body instinctively curled into his, cheek pressed to his shoulder. She felt utterly u
