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Once dinner finished, my parents promised they would see us off in the morning, and we retired to our room.

It was the first time I regretted sharing a bedroom with Adrian.

“Let’s hear it,” he said as soon as the bedroom door clicked shut behind us. His full attention narrowing on me.

I tugged at the skirt of my dress in frustration. “What do you want from me?” I hissed. “Leo deserves better. From the both of us.”

Adrian didn’t hold back. “I don’t want anything from you.” He stood an arm’s length away, crossing his arms over his chest. “I just want you.”

All my witty retorts vanished from my head.

That wasn’t what I’d been expecting him to say.

He moved closer. “I’ve decided this version of you is even more enticing to be around than the last. Unfortunately for you, I’ve lost control over my ability to stay away from you.” My heartbeat fluttered when his stomach touched my chest, both his hands reaching out to hold my face. “If I’m being honest, even if you were a vile beast this time around, I’d still yearn for you.”

“Adrian.” I placed my hands against his chest but didn’t move to push him away. “We can’t. I belong to Leo.”

“You belong to no one,” he said in the deepest voice I’d ever heard. His words were laced with sorrow. “You are not his. You are not mine. You are your own.” He grabbed my left hand, bringing it to his lips. “You’ve made no vow. There’s no ring that marks you as his.”

The phantom feeling of my chest on a string tugged toward Adrian.

There wasn’t a bind to him, not in a literal sense like with Leo, but my body bent toward him anyway.

After everything with Leo, Adrian still felt . . . right. Still felt familiar.

I shook my head. “You told me I loved Leo before, and that you were my best friend . . .”

Adrian dipped his head, brushing his nose against my hair.

I shivered. “Best friends don’t do this⁠—”

“You keep saying that,” he whispered in my ear, “but you are my best friend, and you haven’t told me to stop yet.”

He kissed my temple, then down along my jaw, eliciting a soft whimper from me.

Why did he have to feel so good?

I allowed my hands to travel down the length of his hard stomach. Sucking in air between my teeth as he kissed my neck.

He felt like my dream. Better than it.

I thought about the woman from Five. The way she’d looked at him after the council meeting. How Adrian had touched her in my dream. “What about the woman on the council?”

He pulled back with a look of surprise. “Cynthia?” He laughed. “Not a chance.”

He teased the small of my back, then dipped his hand lower.

“Adrian . . .”

“Tell me to stop, Bryn . . .” He trailed his mouth across my lips, winding a fist through my hair at the base of my skull.

“No,” I blurted, not wanting him to stop.

One minute I was standing with him, slowly bursting open at the seams; the next, I was straddled on top of him, Adrian sitting casually on the edge of the bed.

He brought his lips to mine, but didn’t kiss me, instead hovered patiently, waiting for me to make the first move.

I grabbed his shirt, pressing my mouth to his.