บททั้งหมดของ You Left, I Could Have Fixed Us: บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

Chapter Forty Maya’s POV The day had barely begun when Ethan left me with nothing but the ghost of his warmth against my skin. The sheets still carried his scent, and for a fleeting moment, I let myself bury my face into them, breathing him in as though I could hold the comfort of him a little longer. Comfort was a fragile thing in this place, a dream that always seemed to dissolve before I could cling to it. I rose slowly, letting the cool air wrap around my bare legs, and dressed with deliberate slowness. My fingers lingered on the fabric of my dress as though the act of preparing for the day might steady me, though deep inside my chest still ached with all the things unsaid. Work was waiting. My duties, my role, the mask I wore to keep myself moving. If I let myself stand still too long, I feared I would shatter. So I pushed myself forward. The corridors were quiet that morning, hushed as though the stone itself carried the weight of secrets. My footsteps echoed faintly, eac

Chapter Forty-Two Maya’s POV The corridor swallowed me whole as soon as I stepped out of the kitchens. The noise and warmth of clattering dishes and whispered gossip fell away, replaced by a silence that stretched too far, too sharp. My footsteps echoed along the stone floor, each one a sound that betrayed me. Each one was a reminder that I wasn’t walking of my own will. The messenger didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. His presence at my side was enough, a shadow in Alvarez’s colours, carrying the weight of command in his very stillness. I kept my eyes lowered, fixed on the ground, but I could feel his glance flick toward me every so often, as though making sure I did not falter, did not stray. I wanted to run. My legs, trembling beneath me, ached to flee. But the command had been given. Summoned. Not invited. Not asked. Summoned. And the closer we drew to the great hall, the heavier it became inside me. The walls seemed narrower here, the air tighter, as though the castle itself

Chapter Forty-FourMaya’s POVThe great hall stretched wide before me, vast and merciless, its stone pillars rising like sentinels that had borne witness to a thousand stories of triumph and ruin.Light poured through the high windows, sharp and pale, spilling across the marble floor until it glared too brightly to look at. My steps echoed, soft but treacherous, carrying me deeper into his world, deeper into the space he had chosen for me to break.Alvarez waited at the centre.His posture was careless, a man too certain of his dominion to feign restraint. The fall of his cloak cut a dark slash against the brightness, his eyes steady, fixed, consuming every breath I dared to take.My body remembered before my mind did. The press of his hand at my waist. The ghost of his mouth hovered just short of mine. The gravity of his pull that no denial could sever.I hated him.I hated the certainty carved into the line of his jaw, the curve of his mouth that told me he already knew I would come

Chapter Forty-SixMaya’s POVThe great hall was too vast, too open, and yet it felt like a prison the moment his body closed the space between us.The air carried the chill of stone, but none of it reached me. His heat wrapped around me instead, his shadow swallowing mine as his frame pressed me back against the cold pillar. I could still hear the echo of my own words, words I wished I could take back, words that had sealed me here.I hated him for being right.I hated myself more for wanting him to prove it.Alvarez’s mouth claimed mine before I could gather another thought, his lips fierce, punishing, devouring. The kiss was not a question; it was a possession. His tongue pushed past my lips, tasting me, stealing the air from my lungs. I should have turned away. I should have fought. Instead, my mouth opened wider, greedy for him, my body arching helplessly into his.His hands moved with ruthless certainty, sliding down my sides, gripping my hips as though he meant to brand me. The

Chapter Forty-Eight Maya’s POV The corridor swallowed me whole. The doors of the great hall shut behind me with a thud that resounded through stone and bone alike, and the silence that followed was worse than the echoes of my cries inside. My steps faltered, my skirts still clinging damply to my thighs. Heat pooled low and traitorous between my legs, slick where his fingers had been, and every step made the fabric whisper against me, a wet reminder of my body’s betrayal. The torchlight flickered down the passage, making the shadows lurch and stretch. I kept my gaze fixed ahead, refusing to glance back, refusing to let myself imagine him still standing there in the centre of the hall, waiting, watching, certain. I should have gone to my chamber. I should have locked myself away, torn the gown from my body, scrubbed my skin until no trace of him lingered. But instead, my feet carried me toward the work waiting in the outer offices, where lists and ledgers might steady me, where