Page 84 of Crowned In Venom

I refuse to look at her.

Because if I do—I don’t know what I will do next.

Because she is under my skin now.

And I don’t like it.

“Leave,” I order. Her feet shuffles to the door, lingering for a moment but I refuse to look at her.

I can’t afford it.

26

ANYA

The kiss is fire and ruin.

I should hate it.

I should hate him.

Instead, I burn.

Even now, minutes—or has it been hours?—since she left his bedroom, the taste of him lingers on my lips, the ghost of his hands still branding my skin.

I touch my mouth, fingers trembling just slightly.

It should not have happened.

Not like that.

Not with heat instead of hunger.

Not with desperation instead of dominance.

I have been kissed before.

I have been taken before.

But this…

This was different.

And that is what terrifies me.

The halls seem emptier than before.

Or maybe I am the one who has changed.

I walk through the winding corridors, my body moving on instinct, my thoughts still tangled in the space between what just happened and what it means.

Varkos had kissed me before. But not like that.

That was not control.

That was not the game.

That was something else.

---