Page 54 of Thorns of Blood

Liana shot him a glare. “I do.”

Turning to Romeo, I retrieved two rings. Eternity diamonds sprinkled around a yellow-gold wedding band and a simple band to match, sans diamonds. I took Lia’s graceful hand into mine and slipped the ring onto her finger. I placed the other ring in her palm, then watched her slide it onto my finger.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the priest said. “You may kiss the bride.”

I turned to Lia and a look of slight terror shuttered her expression. Holding her gaze, I cupped her cheek gently, ignoring her tremors, and I pressed my warm lips to her cold ones.

Softly. Reassuringly. Tenderly.

My lips molded against hers, growing demanding, and she shivered just slightly before yanking her hand back and slapping me.

My eyes snapped open, and I pulled away from her.Barely.

We stood there, glaring at each other, but I couldn’t help reveling in the fact that she’d touched me. She. Fucking. Touched. Me.Willingly.

And fuck, it made me kind of stupidly giddy. Shechoseto touchme.

TWENTY

LIANA

My mind had been replaying the kiss for hours, my lips tingling even now. Giovanni’s mouth had been warm and gentle, unlike the experiences I’d had in the past.

Romeo had been doing most of the talking since the priest left, and I was starting to get a serious headache.

The three of us were seated around the lounge table, sharing a celebratory dinner. It was intimate, and so different from my first wedding. Not that I wanted a repeat of that disaster.

White daffodils filled the space, and the sunset cast orange, red, and yellow hues over origami of all shapes and sizes that were scattered around the table. I was torn on how to feel about it, but I was mostly shocked that Giovanni managed to… surprise me. Maybe even impress me.

Nobody had ever gone to such lengths for me. My eyes stung with tears I knew wouldn’t come. They burned, hot and relentless, as if my body were trying to force something out, but I couldn’t release it—couldn’t find the way. My chin quivered, a trembling that I couldn’t control, my breath hitching in shallow,frantic gasps. Everything felt too close, too tight. I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t breathe.

Without thinking, I shot to my feet. The chair tipped backward with a violent thud that sounded far too loud, as if the world itself were falling apart in that instant. My heart pounded in my chest, the rapid thump reverberating in my ears, drowning out everything else.

“I’m going to bed.” Giovanni’s mouth twitched and I quickly added, “Alone.”

He didn’t seem disheartened. Instead, he took my hand in his and raised it to his lips very slowly, his eyes never leaving my face, and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the pulse-point on my wrist. My limbs felt shaky, like they weren’t mine.

“Have a good night… wife.”

I looked from him to his brother, then turned on my heel and ran, needing to hide from my own emotional turmoil that threatened to rear its ugly head. This man was an illusion. Hope was an illusion. Panic clawed its way up my throat, a bitter taste filling my mouth. I reached for something, anything, but my hands were unsteady, useless.

I couldn’t trust him. I couldn’t trust anyone.

Yes, maybe this was stupid. Unwarranted. Yet I couldn’t stop it any more than a human could stop an avalanche from happening. I couldn’t move far enough or fast enough to escape whatever this was, whatever was eating me alive from the inside out. Everything I’d been holding inside me for days, weeks, months, years, came crashing down, and I stumbled with the force of it.

My hand reached out, grabbing the rail.

A bolt of lightning flashed, tearing through the dark skies. Just like this pain inside me.

I needed to retreat into my own mind, where only darkness and peace resided. For the first time in years, tears stained myface. My breaths got short and heavy, my chest even heavier. I was falling deeper into the darkness, desperate to stop feeling.

I didn’t want to hurt. I didn’t want to be consumed.

Gripping the cold metal of the rail, I tried to seek comfort in the moon reflecting off the ocean’s dark surface. Instead, I saw the distorted image of my nightmares, my sins and hopes staring back at me, mocking me.

I hurt. I hurt so fucking much, but I didn’t know how to heal. I didn’t know how to move on. I didn’t know how to fix the mistakes I’d made. I didn’t know anything.

I lifted my face to the sky, inhaled a deep breath, and then Iscreamed.All my pain and fury poured out of my soul.