Page 1 of Gilded Kisses

One

Aster

At eleven fifty-eight on a gloomy summer morning I fell in love.

And it ruined my life. I tried to resist, but I lost the internal war with myself when they looked into my eyes. Worse than that I don’t think they realized the damage they did to my young heart.

Everyone talked about them. Selfish, ruthless tatted up bastards who would kill rather than save lives. But not to me. I saw them as protectors who guarded the ones they loved. Who fought to give the world to the people they cared about.

Me.

Standing in my virginal white dress surrounded by my father’s many enforcers as witness, Viper pressed his warm lips across the back of my hand and promised to always protect me to the end. He might as well have put a wedding band on my finger with those words.

One by one his blood brothers—Mirsha and Luther—followed, vowing to be my lifelong guardians.

But words were not enough for them, thinking back on it. Not for those three. They always loved a good show, but I never expected the glimmer in their eyes was a hint to what they really had planned.

To this day I can feel the warmth of their touches.

While my father—always with that air of arrogance around him—looked on, they each lowered their muscular bodies to one knee at my feet. And as I looked on, Mirsha drew a silver blade across his palm before passing it to Luther. When it was Viper’s turn he held my gaze, never flinching.

With crimson spilling from their hands all three spoke with a soul-deep power I’ve never felt before or since.

“Aster Constantine, with our blood and our lives, you will be protected until we no longer draw breath.”

Though I’d known them my whole life, my father’s most loyal friends became my godfathers that day. It was my sixteenth birthday.

I’ve never been the same since. And that is where the real danger lies.

Before you curse my soul to hell for craving the most forbidden desires with men literally double my age, give me a chance to live this one night as their angel.

Mirsha, Luther and Viper. Criminals and mafia bred down to the very last drop of blood in their veins. Ruthless, violent men who consider my father a close friend. Which should clue you in on the kind of man my father is.

All three of my men are villains. And my darkest desires. Assassins. But I don't judge them for who they are. I only love them for who they are to me.

My protectors.

My lovers, I hope.

An enormous, exceptionally dirty craving my father will kill me over if he ever finds out I’ve gone against his orders to keep my virginity intact until he marries me off to someone he can use to further his criminal ambitions.

I’m not even joking. My father doesn’t take any slight against the family name with grace. He’s the type who acts with the full force of his violent nature rather than find reason and understanding.

Daughter or not, if he discovers I have a thing for my godfathers, I will become the daughter hehadinstead of the one he has. I’ve seen him kill for less, so I know what I am talking about.

Knowing all of this, I have never wanted someone so deeply that my soul actually aches from need. But it’s the only way to describe this force driving me to disobey my father’s unbendable rules. Whatever this is pushing me to do wrong can’t be driven from my mind any more than I can erase knowledge of my godfathers’ existence from my heart and soul.

God, make it stop,I plead for the hundredth time today.

I splay the palm of my hand across my stomach to ease the quivering. It takes a lot to ruffle me but my knees turn into melting butter every damn time I think of the way they offered their lives and their blood to protect me.

Normal girls usually got ridiculously expensive cars for their sweet sixteen. Not in my twisted realm. The moment they placedtheir bloodied palms over my heart and kissed my cheek, I silently swore my heart to each of them.

Like a damn fool, I should add. I wish I could take back my love. I wish I could reset the clock on my heart and never fall in love with forbidden men.

No such luck.

But that was two years ago. I’ve learned a lot in the past twenty-four months. Namely, how to take what I want, when I want it. According to my father that is how you make wishes come true, the cost be damned. I prefer a more suave approach to the same end.

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