Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
No. It wasn’t. And she knew it wouldn’t be. The realization sat heavily on us. But then again, I was the fucking King. My words were law. I would find one way or another to bring it all down. Whether I had to create more enemies along the way, I didn’t care.
Maria’s gentle touch on my cheeks brought my attention back to her. “Lyov. I don’t want you to end this because you think it will bring me peace or make me happy…because you think this is what I want. I need you to stop this because it is right to do so. Because you truly believe in giving freedom to all those trapped souls and saving any other future victims of this cruel game.”
I cupped her jaw firmly. “I am a selfish man, Maria. I think about myself, without considering the consequences of my actions. I do things for my benefit. And The Royalist is the outcome of that. I never thought of what happened behind the scenes. Fuck, I barely attend the auctions or any of the events. It is run by Valentin, and I only know about the money that ends up in my bank account. To me, nothing else mattered. I chose to stay blind to everything else. But Angel, I can’t stay blind anymore. Not now, when you are in my life. And especially not when I am hoping to keep you with me, by my side…for the rest of my fucking existence.”
Her lips parted, and she breathed, a silent gasp escaping past her throat. “But…”
“You are right. I’m doing this so I can give you peace. But I am also doing this because there should never be another Maria or Sophia affiliated with the name of my Empire.”
At the mention of Sophia, Maria flinched, and her expression became pained. Her nails dug into my shoulders, and she looked down. The crestfallen look on her face had me shaking her slightly. I nudged her face up and held her there.
“Don’t look away from me. Don’t hide.”
“I killed her…” she whispered. A fragile soul. A vulnerable heart. A broken Angel.
“You liberated her.”
Her eyes widened, and she choked back a sob, shaking her head—refusing to accept my words. “No. I killed her. She would have been alive if I didn’t…”
“She would have been a slave. She would have been…dead. Not living. Maria, think about it. Really think of what would have become of her if she were alive. If those men had thrown her into that cage, just like you were. You saved her, goddamn it!” I snapped when she kept shaking her head.
“Stop thinking of it from your perspective. Think of it from hers. Damn it. She is probably thanking you from the fucking heavens above.”
Maria lurched forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face there. She sobbed loudly, without any care. “It hurts, Lyov. It hurts so much. I miss her. I miss my little princess. All I can see is her blood. Her neck…oh my God. I can’t stop seeing it. Over…and over again in my head.”
I held her while shaking with fury again. But Maria didn’t need me to think of a bloodbath right now. She didn’t need me to think of how to turn the soils of the abbey a deep red with those men’s insides wrenched open and laid on the ground, right where Sophia took her last breath. I was going to hang each and every one of them by their fucking intestines.
That would come later.
When her sobs turned into exhausted hiccups and small, breathy sighs, she pulled away. Her eyes were glassy, and I saw the look in them. A desperate need. Not lust. No, not that. It was something deeper. Something so much more.
Right now, my Angel needed me to hold her and take her pain away. Erase every bad memory and replace them with new ones. Our memories. The good ones. The happy ones. Maria deserved nothing less.
“Make me forget, Master. Make it all go away. Please.”
“Maria,” I started, but she cut me off.
“Please.”
Our lips found each other again, and she rocked against me. I could feel my length hardening, and she gasped against my lips before moaning when I pressed against the juncture of her thighs, right where she needed me.
My fingers wrapped around her neck, holding her in my grip. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she surrendered to my touch. My thumb stroked down the edge of her collarbone, and I explored the delicate lines of her throat. When my lips found their way to the throbbing vein there, she threw her head back and sighed in both pleasure and relief.
My other hand was ghosting over her bare arm, her back, caressing her. “Your skin is like silk. I can’t stop touching you.”