Chapter 70: The Kiss he never saw

His face was so close.

His eyes were raw with desire.

He wanted more than to kiss her right now, for his brain couldn’t make any more rational thoughts at the moment.

All he could see was her face, those big, innocent amber eyes and those full, pink lips that were probably warm.

He seriously wanted to kiss her.

And maybe...maybe Della wanted him to.

Maybe she wanted to be kissed by someone who didn’t have a single aorta of spite for her. Maybe she wanted to know what it felt like to be cherished on the lips wholeheartedly.

Cassian would have been the perfect mate, not Malachi. Not a man still plagued by the nightmares of his past and using against her every minute of the day.

"Yes," Della breathed in reply, "I probably... wouldn’t hate you tomorrow,"

Cassian’s nose gently brushed against hers, and she felt the remaining breath leave her lungs, quietly waiting for his lips to touch hers.

Waiting for that familiar heat to wrap around her.

Malachi’s. His lips, his eyes, his touch.

And then, Della realised. Even with Cassian so close to her, all she could think of was Malachi. Her thoughts revolved around him every time, and the frightening part about it all was...she wasn’t sure if it was still the mate bond’s doing.

Cassian’s lips had only brushed softly over hers when she quickly turned her head away, "I won’t hate you, but I’d hate myself even more,"

Cassian froze.

She gently took two steps away from him, still leaving him in the same leaned position, his hand now caressing nothing but air.

"Goodnight, Alpha," She bowed once again, her voice tight with pain, then she turned around and walked away.

.

.

.

She’d been gone for far too long, Malachi almost believed she had escaped despite the guards he had placed around her.

It was way past midnight, and he didn’t know her to ever spend so much time outside when it was nighttime, except if she was planning to escape.

Malachi closed his eyes, trying to force sleep into his body. Even if she did escape, that’d probably be better for her. She had better find a far, secluded place to live the rest of her life, or else he was going to find her.

No, if she did run...he would run after her.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to tune out the thoughts. But after hours of tossing and turning around on the bed that still carried so much of her intoxicating scent, he couldn’t bear it anymore.

His eyes snapped open, staring up at the darkness that surrounded him. It was almost the kind that now resided in his heart — the one that had flooded his veins and heart the moment that knife had went into his daughter’s neck, and her warm blood had rolled down on his hands as her face collapsed into pain.

Katherine.

He’d never loved before.

And when he loved her, he’d loved her hard.

Too hard. And that...has cost him everything that night.

Della had the same hair as her — as though that was some kind of indication that they were both rotbloods.

She also had her eyes — which made staring into them always feel like he was looking into the devil’s soul. The only thing blocking it...was the innocence she radiated like a furnace.

One his mind couldn’t settle in.

He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to believe anymore.

She had confessed that she was the one who planted Moonfire beneath the altar, and that she had also tampered with the banner and traded Moonfire with the assassin.

But many things weren’t adding up.

Why does it feel like Beatrice was hiding something? And if Della worked with the assassin, why did he attempt to kill her the other day?!

The worst of his doubts...was Della herself.

There was always that look in her eyes, that thought of hers, that emotion that always slipped into the mate bond that always made him want to pull his hair out, that made him want to go back on every decision he’s ever made about her.

If only...

If only she wasn’t a rotblood.

"Fuck it!" Malachi raged, snapping his eyes at the door, "Where the hell is she?!"

He threw the covers off him and left his room in haste.

It didn’t take too long to find her.

She was walking beside Cassian, and both of them were... weirdly silent.

Cassian seemed to be in deep thought about something, glancing at Della’s face every two seconds while she didn’t even notice anything happening.

Malachi remained far away from them, concealing his presence completely. It was very easy to do so without Gideon’s aura spiralling everywhere, and he lingered in the corner watching them.

They came to part, and he kept watching them from afar.

Della thanked him, and they laughed about something.

She barely laughed so freely like that around him.

She turned to leave when he called her again, then he closed in and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

Malachi’s hands tightened against the wall, sending webs of cracks rippling through his stones with his bare strength. Jealousy surged through him with enough power to rip off the wall from the ground, but he dug deep into himself and caught whatever little restraint he had.

And then, the jealousy got even worse when he heard Cassian lean closer to her face and ask her, "If I kiss you now, will you hate me tomorrow?"

Malachi’s eyes flashed red.

"If you kiss me...I won’t hate you,"

His lips curved into a twisted, bitter smile.

He knew it!

He always knew it.

She wasn’t as innocent as she looked.

All rotbloods were fucked up somewhere in the back of their head.

And Cassian...that fucker!

He watched Cassian lean even closer, and Malachi wasn’t sure if he could keep controlling his temper if he stayed any longer to witness all this. If he did, someone’s head was going to come off this night, and it wasn’t going to be his.

Mustering every ounce of self-control that had slipped off his fingers, he tore his eyes off them, hands shaking furiously.

Then he walked away.

Pretty sure their tongues were all up against each other right now.

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