<h4>Chapter 131: India Arie - Ready For Love</h4>


    He hated how much he missed her. How much he still wanted to kiss her, make love to her. And he hated even more that part of him didn’t trust her reasons anymore.


    He sighed and turned away from the window. He reached for the tie on his dresser and knotted it.


    But just as he fastened thest loop, something pricked at his senses. A heartbeat.


    Familiar.


    Beloved.


    But... faster than usual. And erratic. Almost like—


    He stepped into the hallway, the sound drawing him. It was her heartbeat. Luna’s. But it didn’t sound like the usual calm rhythm he’d memorized. It sounded off—fluttering, wild.


    Was she nervous? Crying? Was she even—


    He steeled his nerve as he walked into the living room—and promptly lost every coherent thought the moment his eyesnded on her.


    There she stood, wearing what had to be the most breathtaking dress he had ever seen her in. Her hair was pinned up loosely, wisps framing her face, her lips painted in the softest hue. And that dress....fuck!


    "Are you ready?" she asked.


    "I am," he replied stiffly, nodding once, formal as if she were just another diplomat he had to escort to a political event. He moved to walk past her. But her hand shot out, delicate fingers curling around his wrist.


    "Don’t," he said. Because that one simple touch—it was too much. Her skin against his, even throughyers of fabric, felt like heat under snow. It could undo every wall he had spent thest two days rebuilding.


    "I’m sorry, Damien," she said. "I’m sorry for everything. But we cannot walk to our own engagement party like we’re enemies. I’m not going to stand there and pretend everything is okay. Smile at everyone else—except you."


    He turned slowly, reluctantly, to face her. The fire in his chest roared to life again.


    "I am a prince," Damien began, the bitterness coating his words. "I have spent my entire life used to people begging for my attention. Courtiers, noble daughters. It made me proud, yes. Arrogant even. But you..."


    His voice faltered, just for a moment.


    "You have axed away at every single shred of self-esteem I have. You look at me like I’m the mistake. The afterthought. The man not worthy of you unless he sacrifices his existence. And I did. I gave you everything and I did it dly. But now I’m just the walking consequence of your guilt."


    Luna wasn’t nning on letting him walk out of that house without fixing things. She could see the emotional wall he had rebuilt brick by bitter brick over thest four days. And if she didn’t say what she needed to say now, she feared it would be toote.


    So she stepped forward, heart pounding. "You being a vampire has always been an issue. Will always be an issue."


    Damien turned, slowly. His eyes met her. She hated the way she saw him shutting down.


    She didn’t let him interrupt. "But Damien," she said, "we have a bond."


    "An artificial one," he spat. "If Morvakar hadn’t meddled, you wouldn’t be my mate."


    "I don’t mean that bond."


    She stepped closer. "You know it. Admit it. Beyond the bond... you feel something for me. It’s real, Damien. It’s the reason you marked me even knowing it would kill you. It’s the reason you chose me over your own people. It’s the reason you want to have a child with me—a child, mind you, that will have a question mark on his existence his entire life. The result of a werewolf and vampire mating."


    "Luna," he said. "What you’re feeling is guilt."


    <subt></subt>


    She opened her mouth to speak, but he raised a hand, gentle but firm.


    "You shouldn’t feel guilt because all of this—everything—began with my father. With my family. With a man that weaponized love and turned it into a curse. You owe me nothing."


    "But I will not have a love that doesn’te from the bottom of your heart," Damien said.


    "How would you know how deep my love for you goes?"


    "I don’t. You just have to prove it. We are runningte for our own engagement party." He said and walked out of the building with her behind.


    *****


    Kyllian would have loved to be anywhere else, anything but here. Standing in the enemy’s garden, at the heart of a vampire stronghold, watching the woman who once curled into his arms now clutch the hand of the prince who took everything from him.


    <subt>fre eweb\(n)ovel(.)co(m)</subt>


    He clenched his fists behind his back and tried not to show how much he was unraveling.


    Luna should have been his. She was his. Once. And now she stood beside Prince Damien, glowing in her engagement dress, his ring sparkling on her finger. The sight was a de twisting slowly in his chest.


    As the herald announced the couple, apuse broke out across the garden. He stood beside Queen Ravena. The Queen herself didn’t look thrilled either.


    Ravena leaned in slightly. "Vampires have no taste in music," she muttered, wrinkling her nose at the haunting violin that echoed across the garden.


    Well, if they could all just hurry up and wed, Kyllian thought, maybe he could finally pretend none of this had ever happened. Maybe he could go back to his life before he fell for the princess who chose a corpse over him.


    *****


    Luna and Damien moved through the garden. Together, they looked untouchable. The nobles bowed and curtsied, the Lords congratted them one by one, and Luna smiled.


    <subt>fre ewe bnove l</subt>


    And then there was Lord Gabriel. Standing with a ss of bloodwine, eyes fixed on them. She didn’t like him.


    Still, she smiled. Gracefully.


    The only absence she truly noted was Seliora. She wasn’t here. Thank the Goddess.


    She whispered to Damien. "Where’s your royal baby mama?"


    "She declined the invitation. Said she wasn’t feeling well."


    "Oh, what a shame," Luna cooed, venomous sweetness in her voice.


    Damien grinned at her. "You’re vicious."


    "Oooh, a smile. I’m d my jealousy amuses you."