His mouth was fire on mine, his hands dragging me back into the storm I swore I wouldn't drown in again. The sheets tangled around our bodies as Adrian pinned me beneath him, the weight of his desire crushing every thought except the way he filled me.
"Adrian…" My voice broke on a gasp as his hips slammed into mine. The raw hunger in his eyes made my chest tighten. It wasn't love, it was need—violent, consuming, dangerous.
"You feel that?" he growled against my ear, his breath hot and ragged. "You're mine, Lyra. No matter what lies outside this room, you'll never escape me."
His words burned, searing themselves into me even as I arched into him, traitorous in my need. His pace was brutal, punishing, and yet every thrust made me cry out for more. My nails raked down his back, dragging red trails into his skin, but he only pressed harder, deeper, until I shattered beneath him.
When he followed, his head buried in my neck, it wasn't tenderness that bound us—it was chaos, a wildfire neither of us could put out.
And then—
The sound of heels. A voice like venom.
"Adrian."
My blood froze. His body tensed over mine before he pushed away, too fast, too sharp.
Clara stood in the doorway, her perfect silhouette framed against the dim light. Her eyes took everything in—the disheveled sheets, my bare skin hastily covered, the sweat still glistening on his chest. Her lips curled, but it wasn't shock I saw there. It was triumph.
"So this is her," she said softly, venom dripping from each word. "The little distraction you couldn't keep your hands off."
My heart slammed against my ribs. I pulled the sheet tighter, every inch of me burning with shame. Adrian rose from the bed, shoulders squared, but his face unreadable.
Clara's gaze flicked to me, then back to him. "Tell me, Adrian. What is she to you?"
The silence stretched, suffocating. I wanted him to say anything—to admit the truth, to defend me, to fight for what we had stolen in the dark.
Instead, his voice was ice.
"She's no one."
The words cut sharper than any blade.
My breath hitched, the sheet slipping from my trembling fingers. I stared at him, at the man who had just claimed me with his body, who had whispered my name like a vow only hours ago—now slicing me apart with three merciless words.
Clara smiled, satisfied, as if she'd won something I hadn't even known I was competing for.
And me?
I felt myself breaking, piece by piece, as Adrian stood there—stone, ruthless, untouchable—pretending I was nothing at all.
"She's no one."
The words echoed, hollow and merciless, until I couldn't breathe.
Clara's smile widened, cruel and satisfied. She stepped further into the room, her heels clicking like a countdown to my humiliation. She looked at me the way a queen looks at a servant caught wearing stolen jewels—like I was unworthy of even existing in her world.
"Did you hear that, darling?" she said sweetly, though her eyes were knives aimed at my heart. "No one. That's what you are."
I gripped the sheet tighter, wishing it would swallow me whole. My chest ached, my throat burned, but no sound would come out.
Clara circled me slowly, like a predator savoring the kill. "Did you really believe you mattered to him? That you could be anything more than a body to warm his bed while he's bored?" She tilted her head, mock sympathy in her tone. "Pathetic."
"Clara—" Adrian's voice was sharp, but she cut him off with a look.
"No, Adrian," she purred, still staring at me. "Let the girl learn her place. You've had your fun, but we both know where your future lies. With me. Not with some… desperate nothing."
Tears burned at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall in front of her. I forced myself to meet Adrian's gaze—his jaw clenched, his eyes dark with something I couldn't name. Regret? Anger? Or just cold indifference?
But he said nothing.
That silence was worse than the cruelty.
Clara leaned close, her perfume suffocating, her words a dagger whispered for me alone. "Walk away now, little girl, before you embarrass yourself even more. Men like him don't choose women like you."
She straightened, slipping her arm through Adrian's as if claiming him. He didn't push her away.
My world cracked, splintered, shattered into dust.
And in that moment, I realized—I had given myself to a man who would never claim me.