His eyes find mine, and it’s just us—his dominance, my surrender, and the undeniable truth between us.

“Mine,” he says again, the single word threaded with promise. “Always.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Lucian

The emeralds in the delicate silver necklace catch the afternoon light, sparkling like tiny fragments of captured forest. They’re the exact shade of Astra’s eyes—that deep, rich green—which sparkle when she laughs.

When she used to laugh.

“An excellent choice, sir,” the jeweler says, carefully lifting the necklace from its velvet display. “This is one of our finest pieces.”

He’s right. The stones are flawless, the silver work exquisite. I imagine how it will look against her throat, how...