Chapter 104

VALENTINA The walk to the council chamber felt longer than it should have. Andres had been very insistent on walking beside me, his presence a source of comfort, his hand occasionally brushing mine as if to silently reassure me that I was not facing this alone. And these small moments evoke a sense of excitement within me, rather than feelings of nervousness. ‘Butterflies? That’s not what you were feeling last night,’ Kira teased in my mind, her voice dripping with smug amusement. I nearly tripped over my own boots. ‘Not now!’ I snapped at her. She giggled, rolling around. ‘I’m just saying… I’ve never seen him that gentle and that wild in the same breath. No wonder your heart’s racing.’ I raised a brow, ‘as if yours not? You were being nauseating!’ She giggled again, purring happily. Nothing could offend her now; she was in a different zone. But I couldn’t stop the memories from flickering. Andres’s lips against my temple in the early hours, the warmth of his arms around me before dawn