Page 236 of The Throne Seeker

She had never seen him look so desperate.

So scared.

She didn’t even know he could be scared.

“I don’t care what you believe. I’m not my brothers. I will never put myself in a position to lose you.” He came closer. “Do you honestly think I wouldn’t come after you?”

She couldn’t find her voice as—just a few millimeters and her lips would collide with his.

“Why can’t you talk to me like that?” Roman asked.

She blinked, her eyes lifting from his lips. “What?”

“With Xavier. Why can you be honest about your feelings with him but not me?”

“He just caught me when I was having a moment. Besides… you were busy with Beth tonight anyway,” she couldn’t help but add, her voice bitter with jealousy.

His eyes narrowed. “I owed Beth an explanation. I made her promises I didn’t keep and I was trying to fix it. Nothing more.”

“Do you still have feelings for her?” she asked, hating herself for being so insecure.

Roman scoffed. “If you eventhinkI could prefer her over you, you knownothingof how I feel about you. Can you say the same?”

She paused at the question, her brows drawing together.

“I heard Xavier admit he kissed you,” he seethed. “Is that true?”

She opened and closed her mouth stupidly. She wouldn’t lie to him. “It happened while I was in the stables.”

Roman’s face darkened, his palms forming into fists again.

“He didn’t know,” she said quickly before his thoughts could spiral. “He thought I’d married Tristan, but when I explained I hadn’t, he kissed me before I could tell him about you.”

Roman pushed himself off the wall, his hands aggressively rubbing the back of his neck. “And you let him? Now that he’s back, do you wish for him instead?”

“Of course not!” she said at once.

“Let’s get this out in the open right now.” His hard eyes barreled straight into hers. “We’d be fools to ignore the fact you’ve had a history with both of my brothers. A long history. You’ve loved them both, and I knew that going into this. I’m not holding it against you. But I told you, I’m selfish. I want you to be with me because you chose to be… and you need to tell me right here, right now, if you think you made the wrong choice.”

Rose gaped in disbelief.

She came in so close she should’ve felt his breath on her face, but she didn’t—because hewasn’tbreathing.

She cradled his jaw in her hands. “It’s you, Roman,” she whispered, stroking his cheek with her thumb. “Without a doubt in my mind, it’s you. I know because when I’m with you, I’m torn in the best way possible. I feel as though one half of me is burning, filled with a crazed desire to constantly be near you, to consume you until there is no more you and I, only us. The other half is perfectly calm, so safe and perfectly content I’m confident no one else could make me feel both simultaneously. There is no one in Vallor I’d rather visit Eristan with. No one’s voice I’d rather hear read to me. No one else I’d swim along that cave with.” She gave him a faint, reminiscent smile. “No one else I’d rather spend my life with.”

At last, he breathed. The fire in his eyes receded into unadulterated relief.

He intertwined his calloused fingers with her soft ones. It felt as though a hot iron had been pressed into her palms. It was different with him, her siren’s desire. It wanted him more than any other human she’d laid eyes on.

His golden eyes slipped down to her lips, and the subtle gesture nearly broke her willpower. Her siren clawed for freedom, clawed like it never had before, tearing her skin apart as it tried to shed her restraint?—

His lips had just brushed hers when she put a hand on his chest, stopping him as she ducked under his arms, escaping his grasp.

Roman turned with her. “What is it? Talk to me,” he practically begged.

She stepped back. “I… I just need time to understand more before I… before I…”

“Before what?”