Page 129 of Sinful Sacrifice

Around goddamn agony.

My heart is shattering.

The person who put me together before can’t anymore.

I blink through the tears.

“Imagine what we’d have,” he says, as if wanting to continue to make me suffer. “You’d wear a pink gown to our wedding, your hair down in curls, and I wouldn’t be able to take my eyes off you as you walked down the aisle. The woman I cherish more than anything in this messed-up world of mine would have my name, would be mine forever. But you took that away from me.”

He’s taking his pain out on me.

I don’t blame him.

I caused it.

He always said he never wanted an arranged marriage.

Never wanted to marry a woman who didn’t love him.

That’s exactly what he has to do with Riona.

It’s also what I’ll have to do when Cernach marries me off.

He retreats a step when the music changes, and I rotate to face him.

The pain that was in his voice matches the hurt on his face.

That same pain scorches through me as we stare each other down.

“I’m sorry,” I sob, unable to stop myself from walking straight into his arms and shoving my face into his chest.

My chest caves in when he pulls away from me.

I wait for him to leave me like I did him.

To make me suffer.

He backs up and spreads his arm along the railing.

I stare at him, my breathing heavy, as he drops one arm to hold out his hand.

“Can I have one last dance?”

He doesn’t give me a second to answer before pulling me back into his arms. I relax against his hard chest, against the warmth of him, and the song changes.

I know I shouldn’t be here with him like this.

He’s engaged to my cousin, for Christ’s sake.

But one last dance.

This last one.

He brushes his nose against mine and drags his hands down my spine, resting them on my lower back. We aren’t as much dancing as I’m just allowing him to hold me.

“I got you out of your marriage contract with Cernach,” he says, kissing my forehead.

“What?” When I attempt to draw back, he squeezes me tighter in his hold. “How?”

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