The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 454

Chapter 454

Ellie’s POV

His mouth was warm and soft and familiar.

And during those moments that he tilted his lips over mine, desperate and gentle all at once, nothing else

mattered.

Not the world beyond that alley. Not the torn threads in my chest that were still hanging on for dear life. Not the grief I felt over everything and everyone I had lost.

Not even Vivian, sitting in that banquet hall as if she had ever belonged there, wearing a veil to hide a face that was hateful and cruel.

None of it mattered. Not as long as I felt him against me.

When we finally parted for air, our foreheads still brushing, I found I’d sagged against the wall. All the fight had gone out of me, replaced by something I didn’t have a name for just yet.

“Do you believe it now?” His voice was low and rough with desire, lips glistening from the kiss. “Will you stop being stubborn for once and just let me love you?”

Rather than answering, I curled my fingers into the open front of his shirt and tugged him back against me for another kiss. His palms slammed into the wall on either side of my head, and he made a low sound in my mouth that had something igniting in my low belly.

“Yes,” I breathed once that second kiss broke with a wet pull of our lips. “Yes, I believe you.”

He huffed. I didn’t know if it was a laugh.

“I have one more question for you,” he said. His hands found my waist again, smoothing over the embroidery of my jacket. Then my hair, the braid, the ribbons wound through the strands. “Answer it honestly. Okay?”

I nodded.

“Ellie, do you love me?”

My instinct was to lie. To say no, that it wasn’t love, it couldn’t be love, because that ship had sailed a lifetime

“But the thing is,” I said, splaying my fingers wide as if I could feel the half-broken bond that still brought us together threading around the delicate, ashen strands of the one Vivian had tried to create, “every night I lie awake in bed, and I think to myself that even if it kills me for a second time, I just can’t see myself not loving you. It feels foolish, like handing fate over to an executioner, but I just can’t stop. I can’t stop wanting to repeat history in this one way, even if I’ve done my damnedest to stop it from happening in so many others.”

I tilted my head up to look at him. His thumb came up to trace my lower lip, and that contact alone sent a shiver through me.

“Just… promise me,” I said, “if I give you my heart, that you won’t crush it this time around. Promise me that, and I’ll choose to trust you now. Even if it destroys me.”

Dominic was quiet for a moment, studying my face as if trying to map it all anew.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he finally breathed. “Not this time. Not ever again. Your heart is mine, and I’ll take good care of it.” His lips curved. “I promise.”

“Good.” I let out a breath that I didn’t know I’d been holding for so long, and suddenly, I felt so much lighter.” Then I love you, Dominic. I love you, and I can’t bear being without you. I admit it.”

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