Page 190 of Theirs to Possess: The Marriage Claim

The bluntness of his admission knocks the strength out of me. Calypso shifts in my lap, kneading once before curling up, purring as if this moment isn’t unmaking me.

My ears are ringing so loud it’s like they’re trying to drown him out, but the words keep threading back in. And his face—paler now, drawn tight around the edges—makes me wonder if telling me this has stripped something out of him.

“It’s my fault she died.”

The way he says it—it isn’t dramatics. It’s a sentence he’s carved into himself so deep I can hear the echo.

I scowl. “How?”

“My lifestyle. The danger.”

He swallows hard, his gaze locked on mine, and I feel it—the moment he decides to hand me the one thing he’s never given anyone else.

“I vowed never to fall in love again.”

My pulse stutters, a sharp, traitorous hitch, but he’s still talking, still laying brick after brick on the wall he thinks will keep him safe.

“And when I married you,” he goes on quietly, “I swore I’d do anything, everything to protect my new, innocent, beautiful wife.”

There’s reverence in his tone, warped into something that stings. My skin goes hot, my chest aching, because I can hear what he’s not saying. That I’m some sacred thing he has to shelter.

“I knew who you were before I walked down the aisle.” Because of my emotion, my voice comes out softer than I intend. “Maybe not the whole extent of it, but I was under no illusions. That’s why my sister ran.”

“I won’t risk you.”

“Again, not your decision.”

His jaw flexes, but he doesn’t argue. And under the heat of my defiance is this awful hollow space—because now I know. He loved Lena with every part of him. And he vowed never again to risk his heart. So where does that leave me?

The silence between us gets heavy, pressing down like the air before a storm.

Finally I find the courage to shatter the tension. “I guess we have nothing more to say.”

Raw emotion flickers across his face—quick, sharp, gone—but it feels like I just slammed a door on something fragile.

He glances at his watch, and the movement is all precision, but his pulse is jumping in his throat. “I have thirty seconds left.” And then his gaze comes back to me, and I feel it—that click inside him, the one that says he’s about to throw something dangerous on the table. For a split moment I think he’ll hold the line and walk out. But then?—

“And then there’s you. With your fire, your determination from the very first moment when I realized your father’s deception.” He looks at me, and I see the intensity in his eyes.

I know what he’s thinking about—that scene right after we saidI do.The memory makes me blush.

“And I fell in love with you.”

“You…?” The air vanishes from my room, leaving the sound of his words vibrating in the space between us.

“I love you, Isla.”

For a heartbeat I can’t even be sure I heard him right. My pulse is loud in my ears, drowning out everything except the echo:I love you.

Until Brennan, no man had ever told me that, not even my father.

But this… This is different. This is Dorian Vale, who swore he’d never give those words to anyone again, handing them to me like they’re the most dangerous weapon in his arsenal.

I want to grab hold of the words and press them into my skin until they’re part of me. “You…?” My throat won’t cooperate, so I can’t finish the sentence on the first try. “You love me?”

“I do.” He doesn’t flinch, doesn’t glance away. “I tried not to. God, Isla, I fought hard. Harder than I’ve ever fought anything. But I lost the battle. I love you so damn much that it hurts. Without you, I can’t breathe. I can’t think…” He lifts a hand, then drops it back at his side.

The ache inside me is so sharp it almost feels like heat. Calypso shifts in my lap, head butting under my chin, and I clutch her a little too tightly, like she’s the only anchor I have.