Page 69 of Depths of Desire
My throat tightens. “It’s not that simple.”
He scoffs a little. “It never is.”
I let out a breath and gaze glumly at the floor. “I didn’t grow up wanting this. I didn’t want a family soaked in secrets and blood. I didn’t want to be hunted, used like some pawn in a game I didn’t agree to play. And now Malrick Comescu is out there somewhere, planning to take possession of me like I’m property.”
Julien’s jaw tightens at the name. “Malrick should have been dealt with long ago.”
“He wants to own me. Power, control... I’m a tool to him, a means to an end.”
“And Nico?”
I still, mulling the question. Considering what my answer should be.
Julien waits patiently. I think he already knows my answer. But he waits anyway.
“Nico…” I whisper. “He’s not like the others.”
“No,” Julien agrees. “He never has been.”
“He’s dangerous. Fierce. Ruthless when he needs to be. But with me...” my voice cracks. “With me, he’s different. Like he’s fighting some war inside himself just to be gentle.”
Julien watches me for a beat. “That’s because he loves you.”
I shake my head, eyes burning. “You don’t know that.”
“I do,” he says simply. “I’ve known Nico Valdici since he was a boy with more fury than sense. I’ve watched him grow into a man who would burn the world to ashes to protect the people he loves. I have never—never—seen him look the way he does when he speaks of you.”
His words settle over me like a weighted cloak.
“Do you love him?” he asks, voice gentler now.
I swallow hard. “I don’t know what this is. It’s not what I expected. But it’s real. When he’s near, it’s like the air bends around us. Like gravity isn’t of consequence. If we had met some other way, some other time, this would all be so much…simpler. But we didn’t, and I’m scared of what it all means.”
Julien nods thoughtfully. “You should be. Real love is terrifying. It changes everything. But if it’s any comfort, I’ve seen what a loveless bond looks like. What it does to both souls. And this?” He gestures to me, then to the door, meaning me and Nico. “This is not that.”
I sit in silence, absorbing his words.
“I won’t ask you again,” he says softly. “If you tell me now—if you tell me you don’t want this—I’ll find a way to stop it. To protect you. No one else even has to know. But if you do want this… if you want Nico... then I will perform the ceremony and bless your union.”
I lift my eyes to his. “I want to believe that we’re doing this for the right reasons, but I’m not so sure. I’m doing this because I don’t want to die. He’s doing this because he feels obligated.What we feel for each other is too new…too raw to put into words. I want to believe so badly that this will work out. That this will be a good thing.”
Julien smiles. “Then I will believe it with you.”
And for the first time in hours, I breathe. Julien squeezes my arm and then stands. “Time to get you married.” He leaves the room just as Pippa and Mia arrive.
“Are you okay?” Pippa asks me.
I shrug. “What is okay? At this point, I have no idea. But it looks like I’m getting married.”
Mia grins as she pulls me off the sofa. “Then let’s freshen up those final touches and get you down the aisle.
The chapel is eerily quiet, lit only by the trembling glow of a hundred candles. Light dances across the stone walls, casting long shadows. I feel each step like it’s carved in stone, the sound of my heels echoing off vaulted ceilings as I walk toward the altar.
Toward Nico.
He’s watching me like I’m the only thing that exists in the world. Like I’m both his salvation and his ruin. My breath catches when I see the look in his eyes—something deep and unreadable, something that tightens around my chest like a vise.
Julien stands just beyond of him, dressed in the same jeans and black button-down shirt he’d had on earlier, only now, awhite collar is fastened above the buttons. There’s something ancient about him—an aura that doesn’t feel entirely priestly, despite the collar around his neck.
