A Vow Of Hate

Her breath whispered over my lips, so fucking close. It was a moment of weakness when I leaned forward. My heart and brain wanted two different things. But in the end, my body won over.

My lips slammed over hers, kissing her into silence. I didn’t want to hear her weak apologies, for they meant absolutely fucking nothing to me anymore.

It was three years too late for apologies.

Julianna gasped once, before quickly falling into the kiss. Almost like she had been waiting for this.

“I fucking hate you, Julianna,” I rasped into her lips.

She whimpered and pressed her mouth harder against mine. Wanting more. Needing more. It took all of my willpower to wrench myself away from the kiss. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, my lips curling bitterly. A smile with no warmth.

Her chin trembled and her eyes welled with tears.

It pained me, but for my own goddamn sanity, I forced myself to walk away from my wife.

That was three days ago. Once I knew her fever was gone, I left her with Rani and Mirai. And we didn’t see each other again. Until tonight.

So, when did she get all her sass back?

Julianna Spencer was once again the poised and sharp-tongued woman that she had been before the masquerade ball.

“You like the dress?” she asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I cut my steak into precise pieces. “White is too pure.”

Her eyes flared. “Oh. What is your favorite color then?”

“Red is the color of extremes, wife,” I said, my voice gravelly calm. I knew what she was doing – trying to remind me of our past. How cruel could she be? “It’s many things. Violence. Passion. Wrath.”

“Lust,” she breathed. “Seduction. Longing.”

“Do you long for something, Princess?”

The term of endearment slipped past my lips before I could think twice of it. Julianna must have caught my slip of tongue, because she granted me one of her rare smiles. A real fucking smile.

But instead of answering, she went back to her food. We didn’t speak for the rest of the dinner and the dining hall was only filled with the unsettling sounds of our cutlery against our plates.

Julianna finished her dinner before me and she dabbed the corner of her mouth with a napkin, delicate and poised.

“I long for salvation,” she crooned slowly, to my utter surprise. “But I’ve realized that salvation can only be found in the arms of the person you love. Salvation is just a pretty word for peace and comfort.”

I clucked my tongue at her. “You’re more clever than I thought, wife.”

“Why, thank you. Such a nice compliment coming from you.”

“Maybe you should just accept the compliment, instead of throwing that sass around,” I deadpanned.

She arched one perfect eyebrow at me. “You seem to quite enjoy my sass, husband.”

“I would rather a docile wife, wife.”

“Liar,” she breathed, the corner of her lips quirking up.

I slammed my fork onto my plate, my veins growing cold, and I shook with rage. “We both know who the liar is in this marriage,” I spat, my hands fisted over the table

Julianna nudged her chin up, not before I caught a flash of grief in her grey eyes, but she quickly masked it away. “I well expect you to throw our past in my face with every opportunity you get.”

“And you’re just going to be a martyr, once again. How very typical of you.”

She let out a soft laugh, both melodious and painful to my ears. “No, this time I’ve come prepared for a battle, husband.”

Oh.

Now that was unexpected. What exactly was she going to do?

Julianna pushed her chair away, standing up. She leaned forward, bringing our faces closer and giving me the perfect view of her cleavage. The neckline was way too low, showing a great deal of her full, enticing breasts. I didn’t know if she did it on purpose or not, but fuck.

My dick twitched in my pants and I swallowed my groan.

“I realized three things when I was sick and you took care of me,” she said, her lips brushing over my ear. “One, I was very wrong for what I did to you. You were right that night. Everything you said to me was the harsh truth I had been refusing to acknowledge for the last three years. Two, I wasn’t chasing redemption. I was only trying to hurt myself. And three, I want to find real salvation. Fight me, Killian. And I’ll fight you back until there’s nothing left for us to fight about.”

My heart thudded and I could only blink. Julianna straightened, her lips curling with a warm smile. I watched her walk away, the dress tight around the curve of her hips and over her ass. Did she just–

I snapped my jaw close, refusing to believe that my wife had just left me speechless.

When I had the opportunity to leave the island, I chose to stay.