Seraphina tossed her robe over a chair—the morning sun already hot against her bare skin, the palace humming with anticipation in every heartbeat. She slipped into Lucian's arms without a word, their bodies fitting together like a secret. His hand found her waist, fingers splaying across her runes, and all the worries of thrones and prophecies vanished. There was nothing here but touches and heat and the ache that curled low in her belly, begging for more.
He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, lingering, coaxing her to lean into him—and she did, head falling back, hair tumbling like molten gold. Lucian's mouth traced the curve of her throat, his breath setting every inch of her alight. "You're a menace," he whispered, voice dark with hunger. "You make me forget who I'm supposed to be."
She spun in his arms, threading her fingers through his hair—and his grip tightened, half desperate and wholly devoted, pulling her flush against the hard lines of his body. Their mouths met, slow at first, then hungrily, every unsaid promise and wound melting into the kiss.
Seraphina broke away first, lips swollen, eyes shining. "We have too much to do today," she teased, but her hands wandered—a wandering with purpose, tracing scars, muscles, the place where his heart pounded for her.
Lucian grinned, feral and beautiful, and swept her up—lifting her onto the edge of the bed with effortless strength. His mouth followed the runes along her stomach, devotion and desire tangled with every breath. There, in the growing sunlight, she opened to him, fearless and wanting, daring fate to try and steal a single second of their joy.
Afterward, tangled in sheets and sweat, Lucian drew lazy circles on Seraphina's knee. "We should probably get dressed before your twin tries to break down the door."
She laughed, rolling atop him, pinning him with a wicked glint in her eye. "Let them knock. I have a kingdom to rule—and a lover to ruin with kisses before breakfast."
Somewhere outside, the city roared and worried, but inside this room there was only love: fierce, raw, sometimes reckless, always real. For Seraphina, that was more than enough—at least until the next secret, the next battle, the next chance to fight for more.