30: The Last Temptation
30: The Last Temptation
POV – Ava
One day.
That’s all the time I had left.
One day to decide my fate. One day before the elders made the choice for me.
Lucien sat across from me, his golden eyes burning with something unreadable. A predator watching, waiting.
Dante stood beside me, his body rigid, his rage like a storm barely held at bay. A fuse seconds from igniting.
And me?
I was trapped between two men who refused to let me go.
Between two different fates.
One would claim me.
The other would set me free.
At least, that’s what he wanted me to believe.
Lucien would never say it outright, but I wasn’t naïve enough to think his offer came without strings. Freedom was a beautiful illusion—one that always had a price.
And Dante?
Dante was the opposite of illusion. He was real. Solid. Unyielding.
Dangerous.
His claim wouldn’t be an offer—it would be a sentence.
A vow written in blood.
And if I chose him, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to walk away.
Not because he wouldn’t let me.
But because I wouldn’t want to.
That terrified me more than anything.
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Lucien’s Offer
POV – Ava
Lucien’s voice was soft, coaxing. Too smooth. Too knowing.
"You still have a choice, Ava."
The words slithered around me, tempting, twisting into something that almost felt true.
Dante scoffed, his grip tightening around his knife. The blade glinted in the low light, a silent threat.
“She made her choice last night.”
Heat flashed through me at the reminder.
Lucien smirked. “Did she? Or did you just fuck the doubt out of her?”
Dante snarled, standing so fast his chair scraped against the floor. The sound cut through the thick silence, sharp as a blade.
"Get out," he growled.
Lucien didn’t flinch. He never did.
Instead, he leaned back in his chair, stretching out like he had all the time in the world. Like Dante’s fury was nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
His golden eyes locked onto mine, his smirk fading.
“They moved the coronation because they know what Dante will do,” he said. “They know he’ll force the mark on you if you don’t accept it willingly.”
The air in the room turned to ice.
I barely felt myself breathing, barely heard my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Because I didn’t need to look at Dante to know—
Lucien was right.
Dante’s silence was damning.
Because he hadn’t denied it.
"Tell me, Ava," Lucien continued, his voice dropping lower, more intimate. "If Dante hadn't been there last night, if he hadn't spent the entire night making you forget how to think—would you have chosen him?"
My stomach twisted.
Dante exhaled sharply, stepping closer. "She did choose me."
Lucien gave a small, knowing tilt of his head. "Or maybe you just didn’t give her the chance to choose differently."
Dante’s snarl vibrated through the air. "I won’t ask again—get out."
Lucien ignored him, his gaze still locked on me. "You don’t have to belong to anyone, Ava. Not me. Not him. The throne doesn’t have to be a cage—it can be yours."
Dante let out a low, humorless laugh. "And what will it cost her, Lucien?"
Lucien didn’t answer.
Because they both already knew the price.
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Dante’s Possessiveness Unleashed
POV – Dante
I saw it.
The hesitation in her eyes.
Lucien had planted a seed, and fuck if I wasn’t seconds away from tearing him apart for it.
I moved before I could stop myself, gripping Ava’s chin, forcing her to look at me.
Her breath hitched. Her pulse fluttered against my fingers.
“You think they want you as their queen?” I murmured, voice deadly soft.
She swallowed. “They—”
“They want to own you.” My fingers tightened slightly, just enough to make her eyes widen. “Like a fucking pet.”
Lucien exhaled sharply. “And you don’t?”
I turned my glare on him, my jaw clenching. “I protect what’s mine.”
His smirk returned, slow and knowing. “And what if she doesn’t want to be yours?”
Ava went still.
A single moment stretched between us, suffocating.
My chest tightened.
I turned back to her, my grip loosening.
“Tell me,” I murmured. “Do you want to belong to me, or do you want them to claim you?”
She didn’t answer right away.
And that?
That fucking killed me.
Lucien’s voice cut through the silence like a blade.
“She hesitated, Dante." His smirk widened. "That should tell you everything.”
Ava's jaw clenched, her gaze snapping to him. "Stop it, Lucien."
"Stop what?" he mused, feigning innocence. "Telling the truth?"
Dante's entire body coiled, his restraint fraying. "If you don't leave in the next three seconds—"
Lucien sighed, standing slowly, languidly. "Fine. But Ava, just remember—" His gaze softened, just a fraction. "Power is its own kind of freedom."
Then, without another word, he disappeared through the door.
Leaving me alone with her.
Leaving her alone with me.
And all that fucking hesitation.
I inhaled deeply, dragging a hand through my hair. "Say it."
Ava stiffened. "Say what?"
"Say you don't want me." My voice was low, quiet. "Say you don't belong to me."
Her lips parted, but no words came.
I took a step forward. Then another. Until I was right in front of her, my breath mingling with hers, my fingers trailing over her pulse.
It was racing.
"Say it, Ava."
She trembled, but it wasn’t fear.
It was something else. Something deeper.
Her lips parted, and for a split second, I thought she might.
But then—
"I can’t," she whispered.
Something inside me snapped.
A growl tore from my throat as I hauled her against me, my mouth crashing over hers.
Because if she couldn't say it—
I would make her feel it.