Chapter 2.1

His hand was larger and warmer than it looked. The fact that his hand felt masculine from the solid maturity of his bones was just a bonus.

Even though she herself had pressed his hand to her chest, Rosaline still flinched when his fingertips brushed the bare skin just above her dress line.

Synox, who almost always wore gloves, for some reason had bare hands today. She hadn’t noticed when she first grasped his hand.

What am I doing? This… this is something only a woman who sells her body would do… And here I was?

Internally, Rosaline screamed. And yet, beyond her shame, she couldn’t ignore the thrill of his touch. Her face flushed, burning.

Synox said nothing. He only stared at her as she trembled from the weight of what she’d initiated.

His piercing blue eyes felt as cold as an ice wall. If not for the flicker of emotion she caught within them, she might have mistaken those eyes for the depths of a vast ocean.

Such a clear tilt of emotion could only mean contempt. Rosaline was sure of it. She thought he’d pull away, that he’d let go of her hand.

But that day, the man of unblemished virtue chose not to turn away from the woman who desired her sister’s man, but to lower his head.

“Close your eyes,” he ordered, and their lips met the instant he spoke.

Rosaline shut her eyes tightly. Something hot and wet slipped between their mouths, deepening the kiss.

A kiss she hadn’t been able to long for even in dreams. The mere thought of it had always set her body aflame.

“Mmh…”

When his tongue slowly explored her mouth, she couldn’t hold back the sound. Their lips, slick with saliva, parted and met again. The sounds were wet and indecent, but Synox didn’t care. He only grew bolder, delving deeper.

He bit her soft lower lip, tugged it between his teeth, and skillfully seized her tongue, stiff and awkward from inexperience. For a fleeting moment, the kiss was so passionate it almost made her believe he truly desired her, not Aria.

Her eyes, still tightly shut, began to water. One tear slipped down her cheek.

This kiss was something she hadn’t been able to long for, but it felt so divine that it chilled her to the core.

The ecstasy was so staggering that her stomach turned cold, warning her of the tragedy to come. The sting reached her heart. It hurt.

Even as her body burned hot, her heart ached unbearably.

That day, Rosaline swallowed her humiliation during her first kiss with the man she loved.

* * *

…Yes. That’s how it was. I felt that misery that day, too. I remember.

Rosaline blinked against the sting in her eyes.

Darkness. No light. A cramped little room. She was lying on a cold wooden floor.

There wasn’t even a scrap of cloth between her and the wooden floor, so the chill seeped straight into her skin.

Cold. She curled into herself, shivering violently from the damp, bone-deep cold.

Why am I here? What day is it?

She searched her memory, and then it came to her.

Today’s a happy day for Aria. No, for the entire Rensier family. The day word arrived that Aria, the kind eldest daughter, might finally be cured.

The good news had arrived on wings. Literally.

Though not alive, a magical bluebird created of Synox’s sorcery, flew straight into the glass greenhouse where the sisters had been chatting together. It was beautiful beyond any living creature.

It dropped a letter at Aria’s feet with pinpoint accuracy, like a master who never once mistook his charges.

“To Lady Aria Rensier.”

Aria opened the letter and began to read it aloud. Even as Rosaline knew her sister was sharing the message out of kindness, her mind wandered elsewhere. I wish he’d send something to me. Just once… a letter with feeling, addressed to me…

“This has to be the last time.”

The last words Synox had said to her came rushing back. No matter how many times she replayed them, they still made face go stiff and her heart sink.

He had turned away shortly after saying them, leaving her behind, unable even to call out after him.

Was that his way of saying goodbye? Had he already decided to end things? She had asked herself these questions over and over.

And even if the answer was yes, what could she change? Synox wasn’t the type to reverse a decision once made, no matter who begged.