Page 81 of Forbidden Empire

A sharp knock shattered the silence. I saw Aidon tighten his jaw before slowly walking to the door, each step purposeful toward whatever waited beyond our temporary refuge.

Now someone stood on the other side of that door with a pin. I watched the muscles in his back tighten beneath his shirt as he crossed the room, each step bringing us closer to whatever hell waited outside our borrowed paradise.

Seventeen

AIDON

Esme had carved her way into me like shrapnel, sharp and impossible to dig out. For days now, her presence burned under my skin, a constant ache I couldn’t shake.

When we fucked, it was a collision, the kind born of people who’d tried to destroy each other and hadn’t quite managed. Her teeth sank into my shoulder hard enough to break skin. My hands left bruises along the insides of her thighs.

When it was over, neither of us could bear to let go. We’d collapse, limbs tangled in the aftermath, her breath hot and ragged against my neck.

I never pulled away first. Neither did she. Even when we were supposed to be strategizing, planning our next move, all it took was a look across the room, and we were on each other again.

Maps abandoned, scattered underfoot. Her back pressed to the wall. My name ripped from her throat, raw and desperate as a confession.

This morning, I woke to find her watching me and calculating, always.

Even in the half-light, those obsidian eyes burned with something dangerous. She traced the scar on my collarbone with a single finger, slow, thoughtful.

My pulse kicked up. I didn’t dare breathe.

Then, a knock.

Three sharp raps, so precise they echoed like gunfire.

Ares. The spell shattered, reality roaring back in.

I yanked the door open, hinges shrieking like wounded animals.

"Fucking finally," I spat, stepping aside.

Ares strode in with the cold grace of a blade, all edges and purpose, every move coiled and lethal.

The sickly hallway light slashed over the scar at his temple, jagged and ugly, a gift from Rhea, burned into flesh.

His eyes, hard and empty as spent shell casings, flicked past me, locking on Esme.

She stood by the windows, the city sprawling beneath her like something conquered. The silk robe clung to the body I had worshipped with my mouth not an hour ago, Vegas neon painting her in colors too wild for this world.

Goddess and demon, temptation and threat, all tangled together.

Ares' jaw worked, muscles tight beneath skin, but he didn’t flinch. He was used to this by now, to finding Esme here, the woman who nearly burned my entire world down, standing in my sanctuary like she belonged.

Esme didn’t look away. Her chin tipped up, a silent dare. Ares stared back, eyes narrowed, his hand drifting close to the weapon at his side, a habit, or maybe just instinct.

“There’s news,” he said.

The pneumatic door hissed shut behind us, sealing us in.

“Let’s hear it.” I stepped between them, shoulders stiff, heart pounding so hard it rattled my chest.

The weight of my Glock pressed firm against my lower back, a bitter comfort in a place that should have been safe.

Ares’s face stayed blank, unreadable, but the way he shifted his weight told me everything.

This was it.