Sound of Madness A Dark Royal Romance - Maria Luis Page 0,163

rasp, giving into sweet, fucking temptation by placing my hand next to hers on the altar, “and I’ll let you go. I won’t ever be the man who b-bends you to my will, and I promised that I’d have all of you or none of you at all.”

Defiance lifts her chin. “And if I stay?”

Heat flares inside my veins. “Then I’ll be yours from this day forward, until the air is gone from my lungs and the m-memory of us is forever tattooed on your soul.” My hand slips over hers, temptation be damned, and I skim my palm over her forearm. Gooseflesh teases her skin and a shudder breaks past her lips when I bring my gaze to hers. “I’ll love you, Rowena, like the monster I’ve always been, and I’ll cherish you like the hero I’ll never be to anyone but you.”

“I don’t need a hero,” she whispers, her violet eyes luminous in her face, “I only need you.”

Fucking hell.

My hands tremble as I round the curve of her waist to drag my palms up her spine, past her shoulders, until I’m cradling the base of her skull. Fire burns in my thigh. Sunlight slants across the bridge of Rowena’s nose, the crest of her chin, and I feel its warmth against my throat as I urge her backward across the chapel.

She doesn’t mention my broken gait.

She doesn’t ask where I’m leading her.

The stone floor echoes hollowly under my boots. The pews mock me, taunting me with the promise of resting my aching body. But I’ve not come back from the dead to sit and let the world pass me by, and when Rowena’s spine collides with the glass window, there’s nothing but want and need tangled in my soul.

I lower one hand to the iron latch and push the window open. Dropping my head to hers, I brush my lips over the shell of her ear. “Go or I’ll h-haul you out myself.”

Her fingers dig into my sides, her entire body rising onto her toes. “Do I have a choice?”

“It’s an ultimatum, Miss Carrigan, you’re all out of choices.”

The audible hitch of her breath stirs the want, fuels the need, and I feel her pull away to obey. With her head lowered to avoid the frame, she throws one leg over the windowsill and onto the grass. Does the same with the other, only to stop halfway, her bare foot poised on the sill. Violet eyes find me and, with the touch of her tongue to her bottom lip, she asks, “You plan to chase me?”

I plant one hand on the stone frame. Curl my body inward and let my mouth drift so close to hers that I can nearly fucking taste her. Soon. Feeling her hot breath on my lips, I give her a slow, ruthless smile. “Run.”

Her husky laughter is the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.

Grasping my face, she stamps a hard kiss on my mouth, quipping, “I look forward to being caught, Mr. Godwin,” and then she’s off. The sun hugs her frame as she winds her way through the garden, her fingers flirting with the flowers that have already started to bloom in their beds. Then she throws me a glance over her shoulder and even from here, there’s no mistaking her pure joy. Touching two fingers to her lips, she holds out that hand to me—

A vow, a promise, that together, we are not alone.

I follow her.

My leg throbs and my heart soars, and I may not be free of the chains that Carrigan and Guthram shackled around my wrists but every step through Holly Village’s grounds is a gift that was almost ripped away from me for good. I push the sleeves of my jumper up to my elbows. Then strip it off completely, leaving me in a thin, short-sleeved shirt that allows the breeze to brush against my skin. My boots are abandoned by a small pond.

Bare feet sink into the grass.

Head tipped back, lids slammed closed, I allow sunshine free reign over my face.

And then I track the woman who’s buried herself in my heart.

Listening for the sound of rustling movement, beyond the birds chirping in the trees, I watch for a glimpse of her amidst the ancient sycamores that follow the curve of Swain’s Lane. Instinct drives me left, away from the main street and toward the heart of the estate.

Holly Village’s Gothic façade slips from view. The clustered trees grow scattered as the ground gently slopes toward