Page 30 of Cruelly Fated (Princes of Avari #1)

Twenty-Six

KYON

S he’d left the door open.

And now I sat here, swathed by the city lights and paralyzed by indecision, staring at the last place her bare feet touched before she vanished into my bedroom.

Mine.

I exhaled through my nose, smoke curling toward the ceiling. The book balanced on my thigh, long forgotten and still upside down. At the time, reading seemed like a good excuse to be up. I might as well have written “I couldn’t sleep until you were here” on my forehead.

I leaned over slightly, catching her walking across the room. Her braid swung softly with every step. The scent of sweet, earthy peaches clung to the air. It stirred something deep in my chest.

She hadn’t closed the door.

The dragon stretched, scales shivering beneath my skin. It recognized her openness for what it was: an invitation.

My jaw ticked. I dragged a hand down my face, more roughly than necessary, like I could scrub the ache out of my skin.

I wasn’t blind to the fact that to her everything I did was part of a deal.

A temporary arrangement. But nothing about her had ever felt temporary.

Not the way she looked at me. Not the way her illusion held me captive.

I leaned in more, elbows to knees, ignoring the tightness across my ribs, a remnant from the attack. I stared at that door like it was a gate to something I could never return from.

She’d seen the scales. I watched the moment her breath caught, the moment her stare lingered too long and her pulse tripped. She didn’t flinch. That alone cracked something in me I’d thought long dead.

I couldn’t go in there. Not yet.

Because once I crossed that line, there’d be no walking back. No pretending this was just a…deal.

She didn’t know what it meant to belong to a dragon. What it would cost her to be claimed by one .

To be claimed by me.

I rose, muscles tight with restrained energy, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, needing the cold press of glass and stars. Below, Avari pulsed and glittered in the night—oblivious to the war inside me.

I could hear her heartbeat through the wall. Quick, hesitant.

The dragon coiled, restless, whispering thoughts that sounded a lot like mine.

She’s ours. She wants you to follow. Mark her again.

I gritted my teeth. The beast didn’t understand patience. It didn’t know what it meant to tread lightly, to earn something instead of taking it. All it knew was her scent clinging to our skin, her heat calling us home.

But I couldn’t take.

Not until she offered all of it. Not until she knew what that offer meant.

I turned my back on the door and the irresistible burn between us and lowered myself back onto the couch, my cock stiff as hell. Her shadow soared against the bedroom windows. I tilted my head against the backrest and shut my eyes, praying she’d come to me instead.