Page 109 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

Her eyelashes flutter as she takes a lilting inhale. “Youreallygave them your blessing? After all of that?”

“Kai is my progeny, a member of my clan. They have the right to marry whoever they choose.”

Paige’s eyes darken. “And what about you, Crimson? Do you have that right?”

My words fail me. Perhaps I’m older than I realized.

So instead, I bend down, and capture her lips with mine. Our kiss is tender, slow. It might be a mistake, but it’s a delicious, wonderful mistake.

And I can feel her hesitation, her uncertainty, in the way her lips tremble, in the sadness wafting off her skin like the scent of moonlight.

It’s hard not to carry everything into this moment with us. Everything that’s happened to me, everything I’ve done, the prophecy that threatens to destroy us both…

But for just a second, it’s only the two of us here. No past. No future. Just this precious, infinite moment.

Although it takes everything inside of me, I break our kiss, and I gaze down at her.

Slowly, I trace the lines of her lips with my finger, as though memorizing her face.

As though I’m remembering it. Keeping it with me like a precious gift. Like a rose that’s destined to wilt, to crumble to ashes as time separates us.

It’s impossible to comprehend.

“I know you want more from me,” I tell her. “And you should have it. You should have everything you desire, sweet one.”

She takes a shaky inhale, her eyes glistening with the promise of tears.

“But I don’t know what I can give to you. I don’t know if I…if I have it in me.”

To my surprise, my voice catches. Overwhelmed by the sudden rush of emotion, I close my eyes tightly, turn my face from her’s.

I’m not sure how to move forward, but I don’t need to be sure right now. I feel her fingers reach up, thread themselves through my hair.She pulls my face down to her’s, our foreheads touching.

I’m so afraid she’ll say it. I don’t know what I’ll do if she says she loves me.

But she doesn’t say a word. The soft caress of her breath is enough.

I can’t lose her…

I can’t lose someone again.

CHAPTER 38: COMPANY

Paige

I clasp my hands in my lap, trying not to fidget.

I’ve eaten in the hotel’s lounge a few times, but tonight, I’m accompanied by Crimson. She sits in the chair opposite mine, somehow both regal and commanding while also radiating a casual charm. Tonight, she wears a suit jacket with a maroon pocket square, a matching ruby stud in each ear.

I’m overwhelmed in her presence yet again, although it does feel as though something’s shifted between us. I’m just not quite sure how to process it.

Iknowhow dedicated I am to her. How deeply I feel about her. I know I could never be with anyone else. And I had resigned myself to the reality that it might be one-sided. That she might always keep me at arm’s length. That I might just be another blood donor in a long line, destined to be forgotten eventually.

But after last night, after everything she said…could shepossiblyhave real feelings for me? Could I mean something more to her? I’m scared to want it too much, to let that hope build me up. But I can’t help it.

“You look exquisite tonight, Paige,” she tells me, the jewels in her ears accentuating the flash of crimson that flickers in her irises.

“Thank you, my king,” I reply, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “And thank you for having dinner with me…or, sitting with me, I suppose.”