#Chapter 11: Inward Reflections

Aurora POV For a brief, fleeting moment, everything stops. The weight of the world, the suffocating pressure of expectation from my family, the reality of my situation… it all fades into the background like it never existed at all in the first place. I can’t remember what I’d been worried about only moments before, what that lingering pressure in my chest that now has turned to something else had been. Dominic is still standing close, his fingers reaching up to brush against my cheek. The warmth of his touch stays far longer than it should, sending a spider web of tingles all the way down to my toes. I don’t move. I hardly even breathe. And then, before I can process what’s happening, he moves. His head dips, his breath ghosting over my skin—my lips—like he’s about to bring us back to our first night together, reminding me of all the ways he took and possessed me. His eyes grow hazy with need as they glance down at my mouth. None of this is calculated. There’s not an oun