Chapter 64 Aria

• “You have ten minutes, no more…” I declare as Alexander sits on the couch and I take the armchair. I keep a safe distance because I cannot allow myself to be as close to him as I was with Caelum.
• With Caelum, morality prevails—he is a king, and he is married. But with Alexander? Any touch, any inch of his body near mine, and I know I won’t resist. I know that if my lips meet his again, I’ll be forever surrendered to the love I thought I had chained away.
• Alexander then tells me the truth. He is a duke, a spy, and Caelum’s cousin. He explains his absences, describing the paths he’s walked over the past five years, each word steeped in a sorrow that hits me like cold waves.