Page 42 of The Duchess and the Beast

Unbridled passion and controlled chaos.

He was a beast and she was his to prey on. As she rode him in the library, as he leaned back and howled into the night, she knew that her marriage would never be the same.

They lay together afterward. Sebastian on his back, Virtue wrapped in his arms. It was strange how natural the action felt to Virtue, that as soon as they were finished, he fell back so she could snuggle into him without question or protest. That justspoke to how important what had just happened between them was.

They’d needed tonight the same way they needed oxygen. The survival of their relationship had depended on it. Slowly progressing but nowhere near fast enough, Virtue had taken the lead, and was now glad that she did. But she also knew that it was but one step, and there was still a long way to go. Sebastian had started to open to her, yet he was still guarding his most perilous secret. If they were to truly come together as a couple, he needed to drop his guard fully. And what better time to drop it than when she was lying naked and vulnerable in his arms?

“See,” Virtue cooed as she delicately traced her slender fingers along the fine path of his scar. “It was not so bad, was it?”

Sebastian's muscles tensed briefly under her fingertips. “You clearly had too much to drink.”

“Oh…” Virtue responded with a playful slap on his chest, eyes sparkling. “You know I did not! And you know I am being sincere. I prefer you without the mask.”

“Do you… do you mean that?”

She leaned in and kissed him flush on the scar. “I do. Although…” A slight hesitation, purposeful so he would know that she was not charging into this topic without careful consideration. “There is stillonething I am curious about…”

“Oh?”

“How you got it exactly?”

Again, she felt him tense. “That is… a long story.”

“I have time.”

“And a painful one,” he added, his voice a notch lower, hesitant.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to just yet…” She kissed him softly on the chest, her fingers dancing lightly around his nipples. His body shuddered beneath her touch and she could feel him relaxing as she slowly coaxed him over.

He was about to open up to her finally, she realized. And once he did, she knew that their marriage would change forever…

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Hours had passed. Outside, a formidable storm unleashed its full fury against the sturdy walls of the castle. Thunder roared with an ancient wrath, while rain lashed relentlessly at the stone, each droplet a miniature assault. Lightning sliced through the darkness, illuminating the library with stark, fleeting flashes of white light that danced across the room before plunging it back into shadow.

Yet, within these walls, the chaos seemed a world away to Sebastian.

“It is not a story I am… accustomed to sharing,” he confessed, his voice barely above a whisper, though reaching Virtue’s ears over the storm for how nestled in she was to his chest. “Ever.”

“I believe we have moved beyond the need for secrets, no?” Virtue gently chided.

“Every heart guards its own mysteries,” he mused with a wistful sigh. “Without them, what are we except barren fields and hollow shells? What secrets could we barter for insights into those we love? What tales could we share with those we cherish?”

“Surprisingly poetic,” she responded with a playful glimmer in her eyes.

“It is an adage my mother often recited to me.”

Virtue sighed. “Well, I imagine I wouldn’t mind. Perhaps it would compel you to reveal your true thoughts more often,” her voice lilted with a teasing challenge.

Sebastian turned to face her, a smirk playing across his lips. He held her stare for a moment longer until he broke into a grin. “I suppose you are right.”

“I almost always am.”

“But you must promise me one thing.” Again he looked at her, only this time he made sure to don a somber expression. As much as he enjoyed joking and teasing Virtue, not everything could be treated as a game.

“Anything.”

“Promise me that no matter what secrets I share…” He took a deep breath as he felt his chest tighten, “Or what stories I tell ofmy past, you will remember the man I am with you now. Not the shadows of who…whatI once was.”