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Where Chivalric Duty Collides with the Heart’s Boldest Claim
- Prologue: The Midnight Devotion
The chamber held the lingering scent of roses and beeswax. Moonlight cut a pale blade across the floorboards and touched the edge of the heavy oak table where Elena stood. She wore only a chemise of the finest linen, so thin the light passed through it and traced the darker points of her nipples and the soft shadow between her thighs. The pressed wreath from Federico’s first victory lay open on the table beside her, its petals brittle now, their color faded to the same ivory as the fabric that barely covered her.
The door opened without sound. Federico stepped inside and closed it with the same care he used to draw a sword. His eyes found her at once. He crossed the room in three strides, the leather of his boots whispering against stone, the faint creak of his belt the only other sound. When he reached her he did not speak. He simply took her face between his hands and kissed her as though he had been starving for the taste of her mouth all day.
Elena opened to him at once. Her lips parted, her tongue meeting his with the same slow, deep hunger. One of his hands slid down her back and gathered the thin linen at her waist, pulling it upward until cool air touched the bare skin of her thighs. She shivered, not from cold. His palm was callused from years of sword and rein; the contrast against her softness made her breath catch. He broke the kiss only to press his mouth to the side of her throat, where her pulse beat hard beneath the skin. She felt the scrape of his teeth, the wet heat of his tongue, and the low sound that rose in his chest when she tilted her head to give him more.
He lifted her without effort. The strength in his arms was familiar now, yet it still sent a fresh pulse of heat between her legs. He set her on the edge of the table. The wood was smooth and cool beneath her bare thighs. The wreath shifted beside her hip, a few loose petals falling. Federico’s hands went to the laces at the front of her chemise. He worked them loose with deliberate care, the silk cords sliding through the eyelets one by…