Then, as if sealing a vow I could not take back, I kissed the darkened flesh there.
His silence was a plea, an unspoken cry for something he did not dare name.
So I kissed him.
What was left of his mouth?
A seal over the bond that had formed between us despite—or because of—the shadows.
I pulled back just enough to look into his eyes, dark whirlpools of agony and disbelief.
“I understand why you hide your true identity,” I said, lifting a hand to cup his cheek and turning his face back toward mine.“But I also know that you’re not a monster, Amir.You have a good heart.”
His gaze searched mine, desperate, uncertain—scouring me for the smallest sign of deception, of disgust.
But he found none.
He shuddered, a breath escaping him like a man who had spent a lifetime drowning and had finally broken the surface.
Then, slowly, he leaned forward.
His forehead pressed against mine—moist with exposed muscle and blood, raw and real.
“Even in this nightmare form… Do you still love me?You still desire me?”His voice trembled like the edge of a blade, poised between longing and disbelief.
I didn’t answer.I didn’t need to.
His body trembled, and then—it changed.
Bones knit together, muscles and sinew stretching, reforming.
A layer of smooth, unbroken skin replaced the tattered remains.
His teeth reformed—perfect, whole, gleaming white.
His thinning hair darkened and thickened, cascading to his shoulders in rich, silken waves.
And in the flickering lamplight, he stood before me whole.
Still him.
Still mine.
“I love you, Amir,” I whispered, my lips grazing his, teasing, taunting.“I desire you.Every part of you.”
His breath hitched, his body tensing as though my words had shattered something inside him.
“You and I,” I murmured, pressing my body flush against his, feeling the hard planes of his chest, the heat radiating from his skin.“We’re fighting the same battle.I know you’re the Black Wraith.And I want to help you destroy my father’s society.”
The admission hung between us, electric, charged.But before he could respond, I claimed his lips, devouring him.
He growled into the kiss, raw, untamed, dangerous.His hands gripped my waist, fingers digging in, pulling me harder, closer, deeper.
I gasped as he pushed me against the nearest wall, pinning me there with his body, his lips traveling down the column of my throat, kissing, biting, claiming.
The world beyond this room ceased to exist.
Only his touch, his taste, the fire between us.
