Bella lay sprawled and breathless, chest heaving, thighs slick and trembling.
The torch flame flickered lower, casting long shadows that danced across sweat-sheened skin.
Ross's release seeped steadily from her body, warm and unmistakable, marking the furs beneath her.
Across the chamber, Sebastian remained standing—eyes dark, intense, burning with an anger that had only grown sharper through the long performance.
His breathing was ragged now, though he hadn't moved from his spot against the wall.
Sebastian stood in the shadows of the inner chamber night after night, a silent witness to his own slow unraveling.
At first, he had told himself it was duty. Love, even. Bella's affliction—the wicked curse that had taken root in her blood after Ross gave her the medicine to save her life before… flared without warning, turning her veins to rivers of fire and her mind to smoke.
