Chapter 28 Breaking the Spell
Mia’s POV**
+25 BONUS
The world had narrowed to sensation – Kyle’s lips on mine, his hands tangled in my hair, the heat of Catherine’s potion burning through our veins. Each touch felt magnified, electric, as if the herbs had awakened every nerve ending in my body.
Moonlight spilled through the bedroom windows, painting silver shadows across Kyle’s face as he pulled back slightly, his breathing ragged. His storm–grey eyes were almost black, pupils dated with desire.
“Mia,” he whispered, my name a prayer and a curse on his lips. His fingers traced the curve of my cheek, down my neck, leaving trails of fire in their wake. “Tell me.”
I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t trust my voice when his touch was unraveling every carefully constructed defense. Instead, I pulled him back to me, losing myself in the taste of spice and darkness on hits tongue.
We moved like dancers in a dream, each step bringing us closer to the bed. Kyle’s tie had disappeared somewhere along the way, his shirt half–unbuttoned, revealing tantalizing glimpses of tanned skin. My robe gaped open, the silk warming quickly against my fevered flesh.
His lips found my pulse point, and I gasped at the sensation. “Kyle.”
“I’ve missed you,” he murmured against my skin.
The words sent a different kind of heat through me. How dare he? How dare he speak of missing me when he’d been the one to stay away? When he’d always been the one to leave?
But his hands were moving lower, and coherent thought scattered like autumn leaves in a storm. The potion sang in my blood, demanding more, closer, now. My fingers fumbled with his remaining buttons as his mouth traced paths of fire down my throat.
The cool sheets met my back as we tumbled onto the bed, a tangle of limbs and half–removed clothing. Kyle’s weight above me felt right, familiar yet different in the moonlight. His hands skimmed my sides, leaving goosebumps in their wake despite the heat burning through me.
“Beautiful,” he breathed, pulling back to look at me. The moonlight caught his sharp cheekbones, the strong line of his jaw. For a moment, he looked like something otherworldly.
Then his mouth was on mine again, hungry, desperate. My hands mapped the planes of his chest, feeling his heart thundering against my palm. Each touch built the fire higher, amplifying every sensation until I thought I might burn alive from the inside
out.
His fingers traced patterns on my skin, leaving trails of electricity in their wake. The moonlight painted silver shadows across his face as he pulled back slightly, studying me with an intensity that made my breath catch. Something flickered in his storm- grey eyes – desire, yes, but something else too. Something that looked dangerously like tenderness.
“Incredible,” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion.
I arched up to capture his lips again, desperate to stop thinking, to lose myself in sensation. His hand slid down my arm, fingers intertwining with mine, pressing them into the mattress above my head. The gesture was possessive, claiming.
The silk of my robe had fallen open completely now, and Kyle’s shirt hung loose from his shoulders, revealing the muscled planes of his chest. His free hand traced the curve of my waist, leaving goosebumps in its wake despite the fever burning through me. Each touch felt like a brand, marking me as his.
His lips found that sensitive spot below my ear that always made me gasp. “Mia,” he breathed against my skin, the sound of my name on his lips almost a prayer. “Let me…”
His hand slid higher on my thigh, and suddenly – clarity.
“Stop!” The word tore from my throat, sharp and desperate. I pushed against his chest, breaking the spell. “We can’t… this isn’t…”
1/2
Chapter 28 Breaking the Spell
+25 BONUS
Kyle froze instantly, his body rigid above mine. Slowly, carefully, lifted his weight off me, creating space between us. “Mia?”
“This is wrong.” My voice shook as I sat up, pulling my robe tight around me. The potion still burned in my veins, but the haze had cleared enough for reason to return. “We can’t do this. Not like this.”
“Because of the herbs?” His voice was rough, but he made no move to touch me again.
“Because none of it’s real!” The words burst out, carrying three years of pain with them. “The potion, the marriage, the way you suddenly defend me to my father and praise my work – none of it’s real, Kyle.”
He ran a hand through his disheveled hair, the movement betraying his agitation. “That’s not-
“Isn’t it?” I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold in the hurt. “Tomorrow the potion will wear off, and all we have is pretending this night never happened.”
“Mia–”
The moonlight caught the wetness on my cheeks – when had I started crying? “Just… just go. Please.”
Kyle rose slowly, his movements careful, controlled.
At the door, he paused.
“Go, Kyle.” The word came out like a plea. “Don’t say things you won’t mean in the morning.”
He stood there for a long moment, the moonlight casting his shadow long across the floor. Then, without another word, he left, closing the door softly behind him.
I sank onto the bed, shaking. The potion still burned through my system, making every nerve ending ache for his touch.
I curled around a pillow, letting the tears fall freely now.
