My Favourite Sin

"Why the hell won't you look at me, damn it?"

"Because if I do," he snaps suddenly. "I won't be able to look away."

The intensity of his gaze makes my breath catch.

"I hate you," he says.

The words land like a punch.

"I hate your logic. I hate the way you try to be good, and the way you keep looking for the good in me."

His chest rises and falls sharply.

"I hate the way you've been treated your entire life and still refuse to become someone like me. I hate how perfect you are in every fucking way, and I hate how badly I want you," he continues quietly.

The room feels smaller.

Hotter.

"I hate the way I want you to fight beside me." His jaw clenches. "And I hate the way you see through it and refuse to become that person. I hate the fact that you're the heir to the kingdom that destroyed my life. The fact that this is forbidden. I can't have you."

A bitter laugh escapes him.

"I can't touch you the way I want to touch you." His gaze flickers briefly to my lips.

My breath catches.

"And most of all... I hate the way I know you want it too."

-----

Seraphina lost everything at an early age. Her family, her home, and the life she was meant to have. Left with nothing but grief and unanswered questions, she was taken in by North Vale and shaped into their heir, trained to become the very thing her kingdom needed.

She was told exactly who to blame. Exactly who destroyed her life. And so, she built herself around that truth, around revenge, purpose, and the promise that one day, she would make him pay.

But when Seraphina is captured and brought into South Vale, face to face with the man she has spent her entire life preparing to destroy, everything begins to unravel. The more time she spends in his world, the more cracks begin to form in the story she was told.

What if the one person she was meant to hate... isn't the one she should fear most?