Chapter 1 Excerpt

"I knew from the very start you were wrong for me" he murmured softly into her hair.

His words sliced through her like a blade, splitting her heart in two.

"Then why? Why didn't you leave me when you could?" She questioned, tears clouding her eyes.

Arthur cupped her face, lifting it gently, forcing her to meet his gaze. The golden fire in his eyes swirled with something she never thought he was capable of feeling.

"Because I can't stay a day without you" His voice was rough with longing. "I need you"

Myra swallowed back the tears rising in her chest and moved away. "But you can't have me. You know it. I know it"

For some seconds, the sounds of fire crackling in the hearth filled the space between them.

"Don't say that" he said after a throbbing silence.

"Why?" Her voice was a whisper but he heard the word clearly. "Why can't you accept the truth-"

"Because it isn't the truth!" He shouted, and when a pained look flashed in her eyes, he repeated in a mellow tone. "The truth is the passion between us Myra. You can't deny what you feel for me"

She covered her ears. "No. You shouldn't tell me this"

He strode toward her and removed her hands. "I should tell you because I mean it. I could burn the world for you" he admitted. "But would you even stay to watch it burn?"

Myra pulled free of his restraining hands and turned away. "No I wouldn't. I don't need you to burn anything because there's nothing to fight for. What's between us may be pure but fate and probably the whole world is against it. We were doomed from the start Arthur" she said desperately, twisting her hands.

He stubbornly refused to concede it. "I don't believe that for even a second. You're mine Myra, mine. No fate, no prophecy, no curse will ever take you from me"

"Then you are a fool, Arthur" she whispered. "Because it already has"