“I mean…” Elias continued, still unaware of his mother’s internal fuming, “Lyra here stumbled into my land.”“At Wentworth castle, of all places…She comes from another world—”Nerisse’s brow lifted.“The only clue about how she got here is a mirror. She touched it and here she is.”Nerisse glanced at Lyra once more.“She’s helped me,” Elias said, more seriously now, “quiet down the scandal with Lirae’s disappearance. And I owe her. So I must do my part and find her a way back. We looked through the volumes of The Great Purge—”“Still intact?” Nerisse interrupted, raising a brow.“Yes ma. I don’t mess with your books. Though I brought the volumes back with me to Windmere Hold.”“Elias…”“I will return them…As I was saying, there’s nothing. No mention of mirror portals. So I thought maybe… you’d have an idea.”Nerisse knew of the mirror, but the information about the mirror came with a lot of secrets.“How about you both rest,” she said carefully. “You’ve come a long way.”Lyra glanced
“Define easy,” she muttered, hoisting up her skirt and stomping after him.*****Twenty minutes later, Lyra was gasping like a fish out of water. Her chest heaved as if she’d just danced a waltz with a bear. “‘It’s quite easy,’ says the idiot.”Elias, annoyingly unbothered and barely breaking a sweat, paused to glance back at her. “I know you’re mad at me, but really. Could you cease with the insults?”“No,” she snapped. “It’s therapeutic. Gives me the energy to walk this damned cursed hill.” She leaned on a tree and pointed at the hill.“Will you let me hold you now?” Elias asked, holding out his hand.“No!” she said, stubbornly, stomping ahead. Her boot snagged on a root and she nearly fell face-first into a bush. “I’m fine!”“Right,” Elias muttered behind her. “Totally fine. Walking like a drunk squirrel.”“Bite me.”“Tempting.”They continued up the trail, the late sun bleeding gold through the trees. Birds chirped lazily overhead.After a few minutes of silence, she asked, a bit
It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard those words before. He was a prince, after all. Women had loved him before they even heard him speak—some before they knew his name. “You’re my destiny, Elias,” they’d say. “My heart beats for you, Elias.”But Lirae—his Lirae—never told him that. Even after years of friendship, months of courtship, and nearly an engagement, she had never once said I love you.And yet, here was Lyra—her mirror, her copy… telling him she loved him after one night that nearly knocked his soul out of his body.He didn’t want to believe it.He couldn’t afford to.Maybe it was the sex. Gods… the sex. He shifted awkwardly, trying not to remember too vividly. But there it was—every movement she made, every breathless whisper, the way she looked at him like he was hers. The way she said his name.“Gods, Elias,” he muttered under his breath. “You are so screwed.”The castle doors creaked open behind him and he turned. When he saw her—hair loose, cheeks flushed, dress slightly aske
“Elias…” she breathed, disbelief painted on her flushed face. She looked down at where they were joined and blinked as if she didn’t trust her senses.Sweat dripped from his skin, his muscles gleaming under the flickering light.Elias grunted, then reached for her thighs and lifted them, holding them wide open as if offering her to the stars. His grip was firm. With her legs hoisted like that, he went deeper, the new angle pulling a long moan from her throat that bordered on a prayer.The moment she spasmed around him, Elias groaned—his voice a raw mix of pleasure and despair. His head dropped to her shoulder, his entire frame tensing. He wanted to stay there, inside her, wrapped in this moment. “No…” he whispered.But it was too late. She clenched around him, dragging him into oblivion. His orgasm tore through him, and he spilled into her with a shudder so powerful the bed creaked beneath them. His body collapsed against hers, breath stolen, heart racing.“I love you,” Lyra said breat
His hand drifted to the door again. Hovered. Then he dropped it.But his feet still didn’t move.If this was her last night… did he really want to spend it apart?Inside the room, Lyra was standing at the foot of her bed, frozen. She hadn’t moved since the door shut. Her throat was tight, her chest heavier than it should be.She didn’t want to go to sleep.She didn’t want to leave.Her last night… her last night… The words echoed like an ominous drumbeat in Lyra’s chest. They rolled around in her mind. Before she could fully grasp what she was doing, her feet were already moving. A reckless, gut-fueled sprint toward the door.She yanked it open only to collide, face-first, with something hard and immovable.Elias turned, slowly. His eyebrows lifted, amused. “Some things never change, uhn?” he said with a grin that stretched wider with every second. “Still as coordinated as a drunk goose.”Lyra grabbed him by his shirt collar and kissed him like he was the last slice of pizza in New Yo
Phillips gave her a knowing smirk and reached casually for some biscuits, slipping one into the inner pocket of his cloak with a subtle pat.He rose, and so did Gideon.“Speaking of the rebellion…” Phillips said, his tone shifting from charming to steel-cut serious. “Do you have any information about them?”Gideon sighed. “Your Grace, I have never seen a group more organised and secretive. I have men in every tavern, post house, and bakery in the capital. Nothing. The only consistent whisper is… there are no noblemen in this group. None. It is… quite intriguing.”Phillips’ brows lifted ever so slightly. “No noblemen, uhn?” he mused, eyes narrowing. “Interesting. Thank you, Marquis. Marchioness.”He turned to Gemma once more and gave her a nod. “I’ll see you around.”Then, with a polite smile, Phillips swept out of the room.*****Lyra was brushing out her hair, already halfway into a dazed trance, when a knock came at her door. She set the brush down on the vanity. Her fingers paused a