Page 174 of The Silent War

“You don’t have to be afraid, baby.” Luca kissed mytemple, slow, reverent. “You don’t have to carry it alone. We’ll hold it. We’ll hold you.”

My breath came sharp, uneven. My family had made me believe silence was duty, that drowning alone was honor. Bloodline first. Love wasn’t an option.

And here they were, pressing their mouths to me, carving devotion into my body like a vow.

I hated them for it. I needed them for it.

“Look at me,” Luca said softly. His thumb stroked my jaw until I obeyed, turning my face toward him. His eyes burned. “Everything you wear, every where you breathe, we’ve been there. You’ve been ours, even when you thought you were alone.”

Bastion’s mouth pressed higher still, brushing so close it made my stomach twist. My hands shook as I tried to push at his shoulders, but he caught my wrists and kissed the inside of one, slow.

“Not a cage,” he whispered against my skin. “A crown.”

Something inside me cracked.

I dropped my head until my forehead rested against Luca’s shoulder, sobs breaking silently into him. They let me believe for years I was alone. Drowning.

He pulled me closer, holding me while Bastion kissed worship into my thighs like he was praying me back to life.

“You’ve worn our names,” Luca whispered into my hair. “Now we want you to wear them where no one can ever pretend not to see.”

Bastion’s hands gripped my thighs, rough. His lips pressed higher on my leg, reverent and hungry both. “We never let go, baby. We just had to hold you differently.”

I wanted to scream at them for keeping it from me. Instead I was trained to smile. Tell them it was okay. It wasn’t okay.

“You can’t just—You can’t rewrite everything. You can’t tell me this now.”

Bastion lifted his head. His eyes burned, dark and almost desperate. “We’re not rewriting. We’re showing you what was already there.”

His fingers slid my panties the rest of the way down, slow, careful, until the waistband slipped free of my ankles.

“You marked everything,” I said, staring at him.

Luca kissed the side of my face, soft. “Not everything. Just you. Just what touched you.”

My chest heaved. My mind spun, but my body didn’t move. Bastion’s mouth pressed lower again, slow, like every kiss was an apology and a vow.

“You’ve worn our names,” Luca murmured, his lips brushing my cheek, my jaw, the corner of my mouth. “Now it’s time we wear yours.”

I froze. “What?”

His hand cupped my face, steady. “Tattooed. Shoulder to shoulder.” His eyes locked into mine.“So it matches what’s been on our hearts since we were nineteen.”

Bastion’s lips paused against my thigh, then pressed harder.

“You’d—” My voice broke. “You’d put my name on you?”

“Not put.” Luca kissed me then, slow, deep, anchoring. “Tattoo. Keep. Forever.”

“So no one ever pretends not to see it.” Bastion’s voice came rough against my skin.

My hands shook as I clutched at Luca’s shirt, pulling him closer, even as Bastion’s mouth burned lower, slower, worship marking every inch of me.

Only they would mention tattooing and carving my name into their skin, as if it was nothing.

“Please,” Bastion whispered. His teeth grazed the inside of my thigh, gentle. “Let us show you.”

“This isn’t?—”