Page 95 of Vicious Kingdom

“No, but she wasn’t honest then,” I mouthed to myself.And likely isn’t being truthful now.

Liars didn’t change.

Her father stepped forward to greet her before she reached me. He lifted her veil and leaned in for a kiss. I snatched her wrist and tugged her away. The single rose I’d asked her to carry bent in our joined hands.

Alfred glared at me but wisely retreated to his seat.

“That was rude,” Annaliese hissed.

“He’s acting. Did you actually want him to hand you off?” There was a slight sneer to my whisper as the pastor began to officiate.

Annaliese pursed her lips. “Sometimes, it’s nice to pretend things are as they should be.”

I snorted. It was exactly the kind of answer a liar would give. Somewhere, probably in my imagination, thunder rumbled.

The ceremony was short. I tuned out the majority of the religious text, but when it came time for the vows, the words the pastor asked me to repeat didn’t fit.

I raised my hand, stopping the pastor mid-sentence. “I have my own vows.”

A murmur rippled through the congregation. Annaliese’s eyes widened, surprise flickering across her features. She hadn’t expected this. Good. I wanted her off-balance, wanted to see the truth beneath the mask she wore so perfectly.

“Annaliese,” I began, my voice carrying through the hushed cathedral. “From the moment you reappeared in my life, you’ve been an exquisite disruption. A temptation I neither wanted nor could resist.”

Her pulse quickened beneath my fingertips where I still held her wrist. I loosened my grip but didn’t release her.

“I stand here knowing full well that I am under your spell. You’ve bewitched me with those blue eyes that see too much, with that fierce mind that challenges everything I thought I knew.”

Sliding my touch down, I clasped both her hands, feeling the slight tremble of her fingers against my palms. The rose stem pressed between us, its thorn pricking my skin—a reminder of the beautiful danger I was embracing.

“From this day forward, you are mine—body and soul. Death will be the only force strong enough to tear us apart. But I will spend every single day keeping him at bay. I will protect you with my body. Serve you with my hands.”Cherish you from afar.“You have nothing to fear. I’m bound to you, your constant companion as we walk the road called life.”

The pastor’s brows shot up, but when I gave him a nod to continue, he turned to the bride.

“Have you also prepared something, Annaliese?” he murmured, rolling with the change in plans.

I watched her. This wasn’t rehearsed, but as always, she rose to the challenge.

Her lips parted, and for a moment, no sound emerged. Then Annaliese squeezed my hands, the rose stem pressing deeper between our palms.

“Leonard,” she began, her voice soft yet clear, carrying to every corner of the cathedral. “I’ve been yours since that first day, when I was just a girl with stars in her eyes and dreams too big for her heart.”

A hush fell over the crowd as she continued, her words flowing with an unexpected rawness. It was as if the very stones of the church waited to hear her next words.

“I’ve carried you with me through every city, every failure, every triumph. You were the ghost that haunted my dreams, the shadow that fell across my days. I tried to forget you—lord, how I tried—but you were always there, etched into the very fabric of my being.”

Her eyes glistened with emotion, but her voice remained steady. “I’ve heard a thousand love stories, but none compare to what we’ve been through. And I stand here today, swearing before heaven and earth, that I will be yours.”

A raw mixture of emotions pounded in my chest. Fear crackled down my spine, but it was weak compared to the surge of something electric in my veins.

I took a deep breath. “Hurry up and get to the part where we kiss,” I growled to the officiant.

The pastor cleared his throat, caught off guard by my impatience. “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” He barely finished before I pulled Annaliese toward me, one hand cupping the back of her neck. “You may kiss—” he stammered, but his words were lost as my mouth claimed hers. I didn’t need the prelate’s permission to take what was now mine—mine in every sense of the word.

The kiss was possessive, desperate—a declaration and a warning all at once. My fingers tangled in her hair, careful not to disturb the delicate arrangement but unable to resist anchoring her to me. The congregation erupted into applause, but it sounded distant, as if we were underwater, in our own world separate from reality.

Her lips were soft and warm against mine, a contrast to the fierce way her fingers gripped my body. She clung to me as if her life depended on it, as if she were drowning and I was the only thing keeping her afloat. That small detail—the desperation of her touch—turned me savage. It awakened something feral within me and erased everything else from my mind. The world fell away, the crowd vanished, and there was only Annaliese and the terrible, beautiful need that flashed between us. I deepened the kiss, claiming her with an intensity that bordered on brutal, bruising her lips as hunger consumed me. I pulled her tighter, pressing her to me with a force that was almost punishing in its ardor. Time seemed to stop, each second stretching into eternity as I lost myself in the promise of her. I tasted the future on her lips, a mingling of sweetness and danger that stole my breath away and overwhelmed everything but the raw impulse of desire.

When we broke apart, Annaliese’s eyes were dazed, her lips slightly swollen. A single tear escaped, tracking down her cheek. I caught it with my thumb, wiping it away.