Page 56 of Monsters Carve Thrones (Crowned Monsters Duet #2)

Italy, Weeks Later

The sea crashed against the cliffs below, turquoise and shimmering.

I sat in a stone tub carved into the terrace, the scent of salt and lemon trees threading through the warm evening air.

The sun was sinking over the water, casting everything in honeyed gold, and for the first time in months, maybe longer, I didn’t feel like I was waiting for something awful to happen.

Steam curled around my skin as I leaned back, letting the heat soak into sore muscles and faded bruises. My legs floated in the water, marked with symbols of survival instead of shame. A jagged scar on my ribs caught the last rays of light. I traced it idly.

This body had been through war, but it was mine again. No other men would ever hurt it or use it again. No one but my husband.

Somewhere inside the house, soft music drifted through the open windows.

Andrea Bocelli, of course. Rafe had a flair for drama even when he was calm.

He’d been in the kitchen earlier, barefoot and shirtless, humming along to the music as he sliced blood oranges.

I could still smell their sharp sweetness in the air.

My heart ached in that quiet, sudden way it always did when I let myself feel too much.

I closed my eyes and let the breeze lift strands of damp hair from my shoulders.

Somewhere below, a boat motor sputtered across the water.

It was the kind of place where I could breathe.

It was an old stone villa tucked into a cliffside that overlooked the sea.

We hadn’t spoken much about what we’d done. There wasn’t much to say after returning from Europe.

They were dead. Every last one of them. And it made headlines everywhere.

A soft creak behind me made my lips curve before I even turned. I felt the weight of his presence and his gaze. “You watching me again, Mr. Vaughan?” I asked, eyes still closed.

“Always,” came Rafe’s voice, with that sinful rasp that still made something tighten deep inside me. “You’re a vision, love.”

My eyes fluttered open. He leaned against the balcony door, barefoot, loose white linen pants hanging low on his hips. His hair was damp from a shower. He hadn’t shaved. There were still traces of a bruise near his jawline, and God, he looked like sin dipped in sunlight.

He walked toward me slowly, eyes locked on mine. “You’re brooding,” he said.

“I’m reflecting ,” I corrected.

“Same thing when it comes to you.” He stopped beside the tub and knelt, brushing his knuckles down my arm, his touch so gentle it nearly made me cry. “How are you feeling this morning?” he asked quietly.

I looked back at the ocean, lips parted but silent for a moment. “I feel at peace, Rafe,” I said. “I feel that we genuinely have a chance now. We’ve experienced so much together. And I’m honestly ready to just... be for a while.”

His mouth curved into that dark, dangerous smile I’d fallen for. “Good thing Laura is heading Sinclair Solutions for a while.”

I smiled up at him. “Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll ever want to return, honestly.”

He chuckled, planting a kiss on my wet shoulder. “We don’t need to, baby. I could stay here forever with you.”

***

The fire crackled low in the stone hearth at the edge of the terrace, its light flickering across Rafe’s face as he poured two glasses of wine.

Candles glowed on the table between us, scattered in mismatched holders we’d picked up from a local market earlier that week.

Wax dripped lazily down their sides, tiny rivers of gold hardening against terracotta and glass.

The wind had cooled. I’d wrapped myself in a linen robe and curled up beside him on the wide cushioned bench. My legs were tucked under me, the sea murmuring down below, the sky black and spangled with stars. Everything smelled like rosemary and woodsmoke.

Rafe handed me a glass and clinked his against mine. “To our next chapter.”

I smirked. “To our next chapter.”

He gave a small laugh and took a sip. Then his arm came around my shoulders, drawing me close. I leaned into him easily, letting my head rest against the hollow of his neck.

“Speaking of books,” he snorted. “It’s been a while since you’ve read one of your dirty ones.”

I rolled my eyes. “Honestly, Rafe, you’re more of a man than any of the ones I’ve read about. Just as wild, even more unhinged. And you blow my mind in the bedroom.”

His answering grin was wicked, his tired, icy eyes sweeping over my face.

“It’s wild that those books are a huge reason we... connected in the first place.”

He nodded, his gaze lifting to the stars.

“I was looking for a way to get under your skin. I was obsessed with the idea of owning you, and solidifying an alliance.” He shook his head, gently caressing my arm, still looking at the sky.

“The books definitely intrigued me. I knew you’d be different than any woman I had ever met. ”

“You were quite keen on owning me, and never letting me go,” I sighed, recalling how different he was when we first met. I used to be scared of and crazy about him all at once.

“I was,” he agreed. “Never did I think that it would end up being the other way around. You own me, baby. My entire heart and soul. It’s all yours.”

“My greatest possession,” I murmured, leaning my head on his muscular shoulder and inhaling the scent of his cologne. Cedar and spice.

For a long time, neither of us spoke.

We just sat there, watching the moon rise higher.

Until finally, I whispered, “Do you think we’re done?”

“With what?” he asked softly.

I glanced up at him. “The violence.”

He let out a breath. “My love, there will always be violence in our world…” he trailed off, choosing his words with care. “But it will never be what it was. Not with you.”

“I want peace. I want us. Without looking over our shoulders. Without waking up wondering what we missed, who’s coming. Do you think that’s possible?” I asked.

His hand tightened on my arm. “I didn’t think love like this was possible,” he murmured, brushing his nose against my temple. “And yet, here we are. You’ve tamed the Dark Monster of New York City.”

“Psh, I don’t know about tamed ,” I joked, tracing my nails along his muscular forearm.

“I’m proud of you,” he said suddenly, voice gruff. “For surviving. For killing him. For coming back to me when I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“I never stopped trying to get back,” I whispered. “You were the only thing that got me through it, honestly.”

“I know.” He kissed the side of my head. “I felt it. Every goddamn day.”

A tear slipped down my cheek, hot and uninvited. I blinked fast and smiled anyway. “I still dream about it sometimes,” I confessed. “Being trapped. Hearing your voice and not being able to get to it. Like I’m screaming underwater.”

His jaw clenched beneath my cheek. “I dream about it, too,” he said. “Except in mine, I’m always one step too late.”

I lifted my head and turned to face him fully. “You weren’t,” I said. “You were right on time.”

He searched my face. Then he cupped it, fingers warm, thumb brushing away the tear. “I don’t deserve you,” he said.

“Maybe you didn’t,” I whispered. “But there’s no doubt in my mind that you do now.”

And then I kissed him. It was long, slow, and filled with a genuine kind of affection. When we pulled apart, he smiled, that dimple showing up on his cheek.

“We should light the fireplace inside,” I said, tucking myself against his chest again.

He wrapped both arms around me. “We should do a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

“Like, sleep in tomorrow. Like, make pancakes. Like, never leave this place unless it’s to fly to another beach.”

“Or a mountaintop.”

“Or a lakehouse. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere just for us.”

“You getting soft on me, Vaughan?”

“Never,” he said, kissing my hair.

***

RAFE

My heart wasn’t supposed to work like this.

Not after everything I’d done. Not after everything I’d lost.

But she touched something inside me that I didn’t know was still alive. Something that ached now with how goddamn much I loved her.

She moved through the villa with a kind of grace that I couldn’t get enough of. Her legs were bare beneath the hem of her robe, candlelight dancing on her skin.

She looked like home .

We’d lit the fire ten minutes ago, and it crackled quietly beside us now, throwing golden shadows across the terracotta tile. The ocean crashed beyond the closed balcony doors. The world was finally still. And she was mine.

She turned toward me and smiled, curling up on the couch, wine in one hand, the other reaching for me.

God, I used to think I had everything. Power. Respect. Control. But it was all hollow without her. My place was here–beside this woman who had every reason to run and never look back. Instead, she reached for me.

“Come here,” she said softly.

I sank down next to her, pulling her into my lap. She giggled, setting the wine down. Her thighs straddled me, her robe parting just enough to reveal the skin I’d never get tired of. But I didn’t rush. Not this time.

I just held her.

“You okay?” she asked, tilting her head. Her voice was quiet, careful.

I nodded, my hand brushing her hair back from her face. “I’m better than okay,” I said. “You want to know something fucking insane?”

She smiled again, and I couldn’t help but stare. “Of course.”

“I’d give it all up,” I whispered. “The power. The money. The empire I bled to build. If you asked me to drop it all and walk away, I would. For you.”

She blinked, lips parting, breath catching just slightly.

“I don’t care if it started filthy. If I wanted you for all the wrong reasons. I don’t care that I once thought I needed you to protect my empire. Because somewhere along the way… it became about you. Not the business. You .”

My hands slid along her thighs, up beneath the robe.

“You survived hell, baby. And you still came back to me. You’re the strongest fucking woman I’ve ever known.”