Chapter 17 If I touch you, you’ll die!
Daevir’s POV
She ran.
For a moment, all I saw was the blur of her pale skirts disappearing down the vast marble corridor. Her hair, trembling. The echo of her footsteps stabbed through the hollow space of the palace halls. The halls that were empty only because everyone else was too busy laughing at the party where I had humiliated her.
I didn’t think. I moved.
“Amarien!” My voice cracked. I am pathetic, a prince chasing after a girl he’d just broken. But I couldn’t let her vanish into the dark. Not like this. Not because of me.
Her small form darted around a corner, stumbling, nearly falling. She was shaking so hard I could see it even from behind her. She didn’t hear me, or she didn’t care to. Maybe both.
She thought I hated her.
And the worst part was… she had every reason to.
But how could I hate a woman that I'd kill to protect? How would I hate a woman that I'd poison my own father’s goblet publicly to have?!
Her crying echoed down the corridor—small, broken, terrified. A sound no one should ever make. A sound I caused.
I pushed faster.
The palace twisted into a labyrinth. Sunlit hallways and gold pillars blurred as I chased her.
The look in her eyes as I gave the toast shattered me. She had looked at me like I’d torn her open with my bare hands.
And I had.
Amarien turned sharply toward the inner imperial court, her breathing ragged. When she risked a glance over her shoulder and saw me gaining on her, something awful flashed across her face...
Fear.
Of me.
She bolted harder.
“Don’t run from me!” I snapped. Look, it's not an order. It's a plea disguised like one.
She didn’t stop. She didn’t even falter. She flew down the last stretch of hallway like a hunted creature.
I caught her only because she stumbled. I grabbed her wrist, the momentum slamming both of us into the stone wall. My hand braced her head from hitting it, my body pressed against hers just to keep her upright. The impact sent a shudder through us both.
“Let me go!” she wept, trying to twist away, wild like a cornered cub. “Please…please, just let me go!”
“No.” My grip tightened despite the guilt burning through me. “Amarien, be still.”
“Why?” she choked. “So you can remind everyone what I am?”
Her voice broke. It shredded whatever remained of my composure.
I forced her chin up. Her tears streaked hot across my thumb.
“I was protecting you,” I said, though the words scraped out like gravel.
She gave a bitter, hopeless laugh. “Please don’t lie to me. Not you. I…I know what I am. Everyone says I’m cursed. And maybe they’re right.”
“Stop.” My voice cracked. “Amarien…don’t say that.”
“Why not?” She shoved weakly at my chest, but I didn’t move. “I killed my mother! Do you know that? My first breath stole hers. People say I’m a monster born from a dying womb. They say I don’t belong among humans…”
“Enough.” My chest rattled because I couldn’t breathe, not with the pain burning through her words. “You’re not cursed.”
“Yes, I am!” she sobbed. “You said it yourself. You toasted to it! You…you made them laugh…”
Her voice dissolved into trembling cries. I hated myself more than the gods themselves could punish me.
I gripped her shoulders, desperate, rough, shaking. “Listen to me. I was trying to create distance. To keep attention away from you.” I pinched my fist on my lips, trying to hold back the pain and jealousy—the fury I felt when my father hounded her and threw her on his lap.
“I wanted to make you seem unimportant.”
No, that came out wrong!
“That hurts more,” she whispered.
I closed my eyes. I deserved that.
She tried to slide down the wall, but I stopped her by leaning closer, trapping her there because if she fell, I’d break entirely.
“I’m not protecting you from them,” I said, finally letting the truth tear free. “I’m protecting you from me.”
Her breath hitched. “What?”
My voice dropped to a guttural rasp. “You think you’re cursed? Amarien, I…” My throat closed around the confession. “I’m the one who carries the curse.”
She stilled.
“My brother is Alpha Theron,” I forced out. “Yes, that Theron. The ruthless Alpha of the South.”
Her eyes went wide with fear, shock, and disbelief. Her lips parted, but no sound left her.
I continued, because if I stopped, I would never speak again.
“His blood runs in my veins, Amarien. The monster you saw in the forest that day is exactly who I am. I keep fighting it every day…but…. Every time I feel anger, fury, possession... I know it's my wolf. He is more dangerous than I imagined.”
I stumbled on my words but continued. "My wolf...he's out of control. I may turn to Theron one day. I could become the obscure beast that hunts my people...I think..."
Her tears had slowed. Mine threatened to fall.
“You’re not the monster,” she whispered.
“You don’t know the things I’ve done,” I said hoarsely. The guilt of poisoning my father pricked me. “Or the things I want.” My gaze caught hers.
I was too close now; her breath trembled against my mouth. My hands trembled on either side of her head. Her scent flooded me; soft, warm, devastating.
It was torture.
My restraint was a thin, dying thread.
She lifted a hand. I froze, terrified she’d push me away again. Instead, her fingers brushed my cheek, feather-light.
“Your highness,” she whispered, “you will never be a monster in my eyes.”
Her touch.
Something inside me shattered.
Healing
Longing
Desire!
My breath broke.
“The last time I felt this safe with a woman…” The words came without my permission. “…was my mother.”
Her eyes glistened. Her other hand lifted, touching my jaw, grounding me with a gentleness I thought I’d lost forever.
“Amarien…” I breathed. Saying her name felt like bowing before a goddess.
Her scent swept over me again; sweet, intoxicating, unbearably alluring. It clawed at my wolf.
“Your scent…” My voice was almost a growl. “It drives me insane.” I dropped my forehead to hers, shaking.
I couldn't make up the words.
But my heart said it.
I want you to be mine alone, Amarien.
That night in the cave, I couldn't sleep. Not when I had all of her softness to myself. Not when I could watch her tender beauty all night long.
Not when her scent drove me crazy.
Not when I was tempted to touch her!
But I can’t, Amarien!
I can’t do anything!
You’re my father’s wife. If I touch you, you’ll die!
Being a concubine here means you'll get punished for any close proximity to a man. Even if it's the man responsible.
“I have to be careful,” I whispered brokenly. “Being with you in public could get you killed.”
She raised her hand to wipe the tear sliding down my cheek. I didn’t even realize I was crying until she did it.
Her arms slipped around me.
She has no idea what I feel for her. The strong desire burning for her. She had no idea what lengths I'd go to protect her. What lengths I'd go to have her all to myself.
My body moved on its own; my hands sliding around her waist, pulling her into me as though she were air, warmth, life. She pressed her forehead to my collarbone, and I melted against her.
For a moment…for the briefest, blasphemous moment…I felt peace.
Then, I felt it.
A ripple.
A prickle along my spine.
Someone else is here with us.
And he is watching us.