EPILOGUE
Exhaustion had swept over her by the time they reached his manor. When she was upstairs she’d seen the cause of the pain she had felt at Rose’s. Someone had torn Nero’s curtains straight from his window and left them in a pile on the ground. Her fingers twitched to check him, to explore his skin and ensure it was still as perfect and unmarred as before but by the time her body fell onto the bed she slept - for a long time.
She woke a full day later to an empty bed, forcing her to drag herself out of it and slip off to find Nero. Unsurprisingly he was sat at the dining room table, still holding those mysterious papers of his and waiting on her. She fell into her normal seat and picked up the glass of water waiting for her, taking two deep gulps before finishing it off completely.
“We need to talk.”
“I know,” he said, slowly putting the papers down to look at her. “I’m sorry I withheld information from you. I should’ve told you the reason I was following you that night. You should have known I have followed you every night you came into the city, that I felt charged to watch you and ensure your safety because in my head I believed I owned you. But I meant what I told your father; you cannot be owned and I know that now. You are willful, stubborn, strong and beautiful and I wouldn’t change any of those things about you. I cannot guarantee I will always be the man you want me to be, but I will always try to make it up to you.” She held up her hand to stop him as she watched one of the servants come into the room, setting down her usual on the gold charger plate. She eyed the sausages with need before forcing herself to look back up at him.
“I don’t know right now if I love you, if I ever loved you or if I can love you. There’s no doubting though that you misled me into this whole mating thing-”
“I am sorry for that as well.”
“But it’s there now and I know how you feel just as you know how I feel. I can’t tell right now if the reason I feel the way I do about you is because that’s how you feel about me or not. But I’m not going to scrutinize it too much. I just want you to be honest with me about everything from now on, be honest and bare like you promised. And I’m going to try and be honest with you about how I’m feeling. I still have a thousand and one questions about what happened with your father, what we’re going to do about it-”
“Nothing.” He shook his head as if to cement the idea in hers. “We’re going to do nothing about it because we’re going to leave. We have my coven to rebuild, starting with you if you still want to. We’re going to go somewhere away from the city where life might be a little bit harder with fewer food sources, but we’ll be a lot freer. Besides, I believe we owe the werewolves now....” He arched an eyebrow at her with a bemused smirk, “so we’ll give them all the information they need for the city and let them handle it. They’ll be more than happy to do so. I just want to live, for the first time in a long, long time, and hopefully you’ll do it next to me. So, I only have one more question for you.”
Her gut twisted because she knew what was coming and she still didn’t know anymore what her answer would be. So she picked up her fork and focused on her breakfast, turning a deep concentration on the sausages as she stabbed them and brought the first one to her mouth.
“France or Italy?” She turned to look at him sharply in surprise. Blinking back the incredulity she felt was carved on her face.
“Sorry?”
“Would you prefer to live in France or Italy?”
“No, I didn’t need you to repeat the question I just didn’t expect that to be the question.”
“Oh?” he asked with a grin and she only felt confused by her disappointment that he hadn’t asked the obvious question.
“Why haven’t you asked me if you can turn me?”
“Because I thought that perhaps that was a decision and a question you might one day ask me when you were ready. Am I wrong?”
She felt coloured by shades of disbelief and surprise at such a genuinely thoughtful gesture, but neither of those things could outweigh the lingering disappointment. “Yes. I mean - No. No, you’re right. I do prefer that… But,” she paused in thought, “it’s a little late now.”
“Why is that?”
“Because now is the time to ask the question and get the answer you want.”
“Is it?” Nero rose, a devilish grin on his features as he closed the distance between them. She felt her chair pull back as if on its own as he leaned down over her and stared deeply into her eyes. “Will you be my Isabelle, completely?” His lips were so close to hers, teasing her with little brushes but not enough to fill the ache that suddenly pulsed right to her core.
“Yes.” She whispered back breathlessly, her eyes closing as his lips planted against hers. Her body arched toward his and he pushed the chair back more, pulling her body more toward his and balancing her right on the edge carefully.
His mouth swept over her chin down to her jaw and her heart throbbed with one of the last beats it would ever complete as his hand pulled her jeans clean off her body. Cool fingertips drifted over her warm skin until his palm pressed against her heat, cupping it and grinding the heel right into her clit. She moaned in heady pleasure, her body arching for more just as his fangs penetrated in their last deadly kiss.
She cried out as his fangs sunk deep into her flesh and his finger found her core, sending a burning shiver of pleasure and pain through her at the exact same time. It only took a few careful and precise touches to make her come undone in his hands and the world as she knew it went black.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading Desecrated Beauty I hope you enjoyed it. Whether you did or not a review on Amazon or Goodreads would be very appreciated as it is through reviews that most indie authors, such as myself, find new readers.
If you’re interested in more by Kyleigh Castronaro be sure to check out her other series Grace of Gods, now available on Amazon.
#1: Ode to the Queen
#2: Gods Save the Princess
#3: Tyranny of a Prince (Coming Soon)
If you’d like to stay in touch with upcoming titles and other releases please subscribe to Kyleigh’s Newsletter or connect with her via Facebook or Twitter
Be sure to check out her website: http://kyleighcastronaro.com
Look out for the next book in the Twisted Fairy Tale Series… Coming Late 2015
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kyleigh Castronaro is the author of the debut series Grace of Gods. She is a self-published author who tackles many of her projects entirely on her own. She designed the cover of her first novel, self-edited and prepared all formats of the book for publication. Originally from Milton, Ontario, she currently lives in Nottingham, England with her husband and their adorable miniature dachshund Hera.
When not writing Kyleigh enjoys spiritual development, crafting, travelling, spending time in nature, going to the movies, cooking and baking (and then eating), working on self-improvement and spending time with friends and family.
Desecrated Beauty (Twisted Fairy Tales #1) Page 18