Page 71 of Savage Crown

For making me want this.

For making me care.

I slide my hand to the back of her neck, deepening the kiss, swallowing the way she gasps against my mouth.

She melts.

For a second, just a second?—

Then—

Footsteps.

Loud. Rushed.

The moment shatters.

One of my men bursts into the hall.

Seraphina and I jerk apart, chests heaving, lips kiss-bruised, the heat between us still burning in the air.

The guard freezes at the sight of us.

Then, wisely, turns his gaze to the floor.

"Sir," he says, voice edged with something close to fear. "It’s Lartina."

Seraphina stiffens beside me.

I go cold.

I already know.

But I ask anyway.

"What about her?"

The guard swallows.

"She’s gone."

26

SERAPHINA

There’s no easy way to tell him.

Rylan stands across from me, the firelight carving shadows across his sharp, unreadable features. His emerald eyes glint, sharp as a blade, waiting. Always waiting.

I take a breath, slow and measured, and yet it does nothing to still the storm churning in my chest.

Lartina is gone. That should be the most important thing right now. She’s out there, planning something, moving against us in ways we can’t yet see.

But instead, this moment stretches between us, taut and brittle, because I am about to speak words that will change everything. The reason why I so desperately want him to take me in.

I exhale. This is it.

“The treasure is real.”

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