BORDER

Chapter Twenty Eight

ANAKIN

    She is the most exquisite woman I have ever laid eyes on. I love her, my Temptation. Tempting me to do things, feel things, that I have been taught are wrong for any fallen to feel for centuries. I do not know why I can not accept what I already know to be true.

    I suck down two cups of wine in hopes that it will wash away the mistakes I have made tonight. Flashes of her at the top of the stairs fills my mind. Her brown hair in loose curls flowing down her back, her plump lips open and sensual, and that look in her eyes that told me that she was just as stunned at my appearance as I was hers.

    I wanted her. Not even a want. A need.

    I needed her.

    And I hated her and that is the most confusing battle of emotions I have ever felt. I have been cast at sea and expected to tell myself which way is home and which way leads to a painful and nasty death. It is why I can't get close to her, it is why my distance is not a want, but a need.

I continue watching her from afar.

    Every touch she has ever granted me is burned into my skin but it is her fingers against my scar that leaves me scorched. I can not describe the hallowing feeling that went through me as she touched my scar. It was like I was that little boy all those years ago. Stuck in a place that brought me misery because he wanted satisfaction. I am not self conscious about my scar, at least I have never been until now. But suddenly the second her fingers skimmed it, I wished it was gone. I wished the memory of what I endured wasn't displayed on my face, evidence for everyone to see and judge and enjoy. What was my reminder to never be weak only moments before, is now the thing that makes me feel weak.

    This wine is not going to cut it. I need something stronger.

My real problem is that I enjoy hurting her. I enjoy seeing the cold glances and the simmering anger that bursts through her face. It is easier to deal with than when she is soft and kind and loving. I liked it when she was angry with me because if she is angry at me then I lose nothing at the end of this. If she is angry at me and hating me then I can not feel anything towards her. If she hates me, if I hate her, we are both safe.

Evangeline crosses the room towards Nerissa and I can't help but to glance at her exposed shoulders. Blank. Nothing.

The birthmark that was supposedly passed through the royal bloodlines is not there. Which can only mean two things, Evangeline is not really royal or Nerissa and I are tied together by strings out of our control.

My mother told me stories when I was a child. Stories about how I am a prince destined to be mated with a risen princess. At that moment, it brought me joy. A thought that comforted me but as the years went on, I realized that my mother was wrong. There was no princess coming to marry me, there was no one coming to love me.

I believed it until Nerissa showed up. Believed it until I took her into my arms on that dance floor but what I felt was undeniable. The feeling in my shoulder, the marks that mirror each other, I can only think of one story from a long time ago about mates and their marks.

There is a reason why I feel so drawn to her. I knew there was, but the realization still rattles me.

    That Nerissa Solely isn't just the Princess of Angels.

She's the next queen to my heir.

    She is my mate.