Chapter 55 – The Fractures of Desire
Adrian staggered through the cathedral's ruined corridor, his chest heaving as if every breath was a battle. The moonlight dripping through the shattered stained glass made the world look like it was burning in crimson. Every shard of color that struck his skin seemed to ignite another pulse from the cursed shard buried within him.
It beat like a second heart.
A heart that did not care for loyalty, love, or hope.
A heart that only knew hunger.
He pressed his palm against the stone wall, nails digging into the mortar. Sweat rolled down his temples, his dark hair sticking to his forehead. "Damn it," he whispered, voice hoarse. "Not now… I can't…"
But the scent reached him. Sweet. Familiar. Unforgiving.
Selene.
She stepped into the corridor as though she had been waiting in the shadows all along. Her presence filled the silence before she spoke, and her voice carried like silk dragged across bare skin.
"You're trembling, Adrian." Her smile curved slowly, deliberately. "Don't tell me it's fear. I know better than that."
He turned to face her, but it was already too late—her aura had wrapped around him like chains. His knees weakened. His throat tightened, though it wasn't pain that choked him.
It was desire.
"Stay away," Adrian hissed, though even as he said it, he felt his body betray him. His pulse quickened, heat pooling low in his gut. Every nerve sang with her nearness.
Selene closed the distance with unhurried steps, as though savoring each heartbeat of his resistance. Her eyes glittered with dark amusement. "You're so cruel to yourself," she whispered. "Always fighting. Always resisting. But every time you resist me…" She leaned close, her breath brushing his ear. "…the shard inside you pulses harder. Louder. Like it's begging for me."
Adrian's breath hitched. He closed his eyes, trying to conjure Cassia's face, her voice, her warmth. Anything that could ground him. But Selene was too near.
She reached out and touched his chest, right above the cursed shard. Heat flared from her fingertips, spreading through him like wildfire. His back slammed against the wall as his body arched to the touch, a groan escaping his lips before he could stop it.
"No…" he gasped. "Don't—"
Selene's smile deepened. "That sound," she purred. "So raw. So honest. Tell me again you don't want this."
Her other hand slid up his throat, not choking, but cradling, forcing him to look into her eyes. There was power in that gaze—ancient, intoxicating, merciless. Adrian's hands trembled as he tried to push her away, but instead of shoving her, his fingers brushed her arm, lingering against her skin longer than they should have.
"See?" she whispered. "Your body knows the truth. It always does."
The shard pulsed violently, flooding him with waves of lust so intense it blurred his vision. His body ached, burned, begged. And for the first time, Adrian's knees buckled, his will faltering.
He sank against the wall, his breath ragged, his face contorted between pain and pleasure. "Why…" His voice cracked. "Why does it feel so good to fall?"
Selene leaned down, her lips brushing dangerously close to his. "Because falling is the only thing you were ever meant to do. To me. With me."
Their lips almost met—almost. Adrian's heart thundered as his hand rose of its own accord, fingers curling into the fabric of her dress as if anchoring himself to her. He could smell her skin, taste her breath, feel the inevitability of surrender.
Then—
"Adrian!"
The voice tore through the haze like lightning splitting the sky.
Cassia.
Her cry shattered the spell just enough for him to wrench his head aside, breaking the near-kiss. He gasped like a drowning man breaching the surface, eyes wide with horror at what he had nearly done.
Selene chuckled, low and victorious. "So close. So very close." She rose, her gaze flicking toward the doorway where Cassia stood, her face pale but her eyes blazing.
Cassia rushed forward, fury and anguish battling in her expression. She grabbed Adrian by the arm, pulling him back with desperate strength. "Don't touch him!" she snarled at Selene.
Selene only laughed, her voice like velvet laced with poison. "Oh, darling Cassia… you have no idea how much he already belongs to me."
Adrian couldn't meet Cassia's eyes. His entire body shook—not just from the shard's hunger, but from shame. His lips still tingled with the ghost of almost-surrender. His heart still raced with a traitorous rhythm that whispered he had wanted it.
He collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest as the shard flared with cruel delight.
Cassia knelt beside him, cradling his face in her hands. "Adrian, look at me. Look only at me!" Her voice cracked with tears she couldn't hold back. "You are stronger than this. You are stronger than her!"
But Selene's laughter echoed around them, wrapping the cathedral in mockery. "Stronger? He was mine the moment he tasted desire. And he tasted it, didn't he?"
Adrian flinched as though struck.
Cassia's grip on him tightened. "Don't listen to her," she begged. "Even if you stumble, even if you fall, I'll pull you back every time. That's what it means to love you."
Her words seared him more deeply than Selene's touch. Tears welled in his eyes as the conflicting tides of lust and loyalty warred inside him. For a breathless moment, it seemed he would break entirely—either collapse into Selene's embrace or tear himself apart trying to resist.
Then Adrian let out a strangled cry, forcing himself to his feet. His entire body shook as he glared at Selene, fury igniting through the haze of desire. "I may fall," he spat, voice raw, "but I will never belong to you."
Selene's smile didn't falter, but her eyes gleamed with dangerous satisfaction. "We'll see. Every time you deny me, the shard will grow stronger. Every time you resist me, your hunger will deepen. And one day…" She leaned into the shadows, her form beginning to dissolve into smoke. "…you won't resist at all."
Her voice lingered in the silence long after her body was gone.
Adrian collapsed again, gasping, his face buried in his hands. Cassia wrapped her arms around him, holding him as though her very embrace could shield him from the corruption gnawing at his soul.
But Adrian knew the truth. Tonight, he hadn't resisted until the end.
Tonight, he had stumbled. Fallen. Almost surrendered.
And the taste of that failure haunted him more than Selene's laughter.