JAY JAY POV
I had managed to slip away from the suffocating heat of the ballroom, needing the cold air to clear the fog in my brain. Jare's words were playing on a loop: "He's ready to burn the world for you."
It didn't make sense. You don't burn the world for someone you use as a pawn for revenge. You don't break the heart of the person you'd go to war for. Or maybe men like Keifer just have a twisted way of showing it.
I was staring out at the dark gardens when it happened. In a blur of movement, someone grabbed my arm and swung me around, pinning me against the cold stone wall of the terrace. My breath hitched in my throat, but before I could scream, a large, warm palm clamped firmly over my mouth.
Slowly, the shadows moved, and Keifer's face came into the dim light. He looked down at me, his eyes dark, burning with an intensity that made my knees weak. His breath was ragged, hitching as our eyes locked in the silence.
"Wifey," he growled, the word finally out in the open, vibrating against my skin. "You're going to be the death of me."
I glared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs, and muffled a protest against his hand, squirming to get free. He watched me for a second, his gaze lingering on my lips, before he slowly pulled his hand away.
"Miss me?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave, sounding dangerously smooth.
"You wish," I shot back, trying to regain my composure despite the fact that he was so close I could feel the heat radiating off his body.
"Still my sharp-tongued queen," Keifer murmured, a ghost of a smirk playing on those lips I used to know so well.
I rolled my eyes, refusing to let him see how much his presence was affecting me. "Let me go, you animal."
He didn't move. Instead, He leaned in closer, his nose brushing against mine, his gaze dropping to my mouth.
"Hmm… but I'm your animal," Keifer said, his voice a low, predatory purr. He bit his lower lip, his eyes darkening to a shade of black that promised trouble. "And this animal is hungry now."
The air between us charged with a tension that felt like electricity.
"Hungry for what, Keifer?" I challenged, my voice whisper-thin. "Another round of revenge? Or did you just run out of people to manipulate?"
His hand slid from the wall to the side of my neck, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw with a tenderness that felt like a lie. "Hungry for the only thing that belongs to me," he whispered. "You."
I should have pushed him. I should have called for Jare. I should have walked away. But as he stood there, smelling of expensive cologne and danger, I couldn't help but wonder if Jare was right. If this idiot really would burn the world for me, was I supposed to be the one to light the match?
He leaned in even closer, the heat from his body making my head light. My back was pressed hard against the cold stone, but all I could feel was his presence surrounding me.
"Keifer..." I whispered. It was supposed to be a warning, a command to stop, but it came out as a shaky breath.
"Oh god," he groaned, burying his face into the crook of my neck. I felt his hot breath against my skin, sending a violent shiver down my spine. "Do you have any idea what you do to me? Driving me insane in this dress... acting like you don't belong to me."
I stayed silent, my hands hovering between pushing him away and grabbing the lapels of his jacket. My brain told me to run, but my body felt like it was rooted to the spot.
"This past week..." He continued, his voice muffled against my skin, his lips grazing my collarbone. "Do you know how much I missed you? Every second felt like a year. I was ready to tear the Philippines apart just to bring you back."
I swallowed hard, my heart racing. "Then why did you let me go, Keifer? Why did you do all those things if I'm so important to you?"
He pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes. The predatory look was still there, but beneath it, I saw a flicker of something raw—something that looked suspiciously like desperation.
"Because I'm a fool who thought I could play a game where you weren't the prize," he rasped. "I thought I wanted revenge. But I realized too late that I'd rather have you hating me than have a world without you in it."
His hand tightened slightly on my neck, not enough to hurt, but enough to show he wasn't letting go again.
I stood paralyzed as he spoke. His hand was a warm, firm weight on my neck, a constant reminder that he wasn't going to let me run this time.
"I'm sorry, Jay," he whispered, his voice cracking in a way I'd never heard before. "I want to explain why I had to do it."
"Keifer—" I started, my voice trembling.
"No, Jay. This is my only chance. I can't lose you again. The elders... they're playing a game I can't control yet, and I refuse to lose you to them."
He took a deep breath, his forehead dropping onto mine. "The plan to get back at Aries... it was real. We started it to make you fall in love with me, to use you to get back at him."
I felt a sharp stab in my chest, my eyes instantly filling with tears. Hearing him admit it—hearing him confirm my worst fears—felt like being back in that abandoned house from my nightmares. I tried to pull away, but he held me firm.
"But I dropped that plan a long time ago!" he hissed, his eyes searching mine with a desperate intensity. "That fucking plan was dead the moment I actually looked at you. I dropped it months ago."
"Then why say you used me?" I sobbed, the tears finally overflowing. "Why say those horrible things to my face in the Philippines? Why break me like that?"
"Because of the inheritance, Jay," he explained, his own voice breaking. "Everyone was targeting you. The elders, the rival families—they knew you were my weakness. They were going to use you to stop me from getting what belongs to me. I had to make them believe you meant nothing to me. I had to make the world believe I'd cast you aside so they'd stop looking at you as a target."
He let out a jagged breath, and to my absolute shock, a tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek. The King of Serpents was crying.
"I can't lose that inheritance because it's the only thing my mother died protecting," he rasped, his grip on me softening into a plea. "And I can't lose you, Jay. I can't. You're the only person who has ever truly loved me since she died."
He looked completely broken. The power, the title, the "King" persona—it all fell away, leaving just a man terrified of being alone again.
Seeing his tears made mine fall faster. My heart was a mess of conflicting emotions. I wanted to hate him for the lie, for the pain he put me through, but looking at his face, I realized he had been carrying a different kind of hell. He had chosen to be the villain in my life just to keep me breathing.
"You're an idiot," I whispered through my sobs, my hands finally coming up to rest on his chest, feeling his heart thudding wildly against his ribs. "You're such a stupid, arrogant idiot, Keifer."
"I know," he whispered, leaning in until our lips were inches apart. "I'm a monster, Jay. But I'm your monster. Please... don't leave me in the dark again."
I looked at him, and for the first time in a week, the coldness in my heart started to melt.
I clutched the lapels of his jacket, pulling him closer until there was no space left between us. The anger that had been keeping me upright for the last week finally dissolved into a desperate need for the only person who made me feel like I was alive, even if he was the one who nearly destroyed me.
"I won't, Keifer. I won't leave you again," I whispered, my voice thick with tears. "Just promise me... promise me you won't leave me again. Don't push me away to 'protect' me. Don't lie to me."
Keifer let out a breath that sounded like a prayer, a beautiful, genuine smile breaking across his face—the kind of smile he only ever saved for me. "I promise, Jay. I'll go to war before I let you go again."
He leaned forward, his eyes searching mine for one last second before he closed the gap. When his lips met mine, it wasn't like the cold, calculating kisses from before. This was raw. This was a man reclaiming his soul.
I kissed him back with everything I had, my hands moving up to his hair. The taste of salt from our combined tears was there, but so was the spark that had ignited the moment we first met. In his arms, the nightmares about the old house and the voices in the bathroom faded into the background. For the first time in forever, the static in my head went quiet.
He pulled me flush against him, his arms wrapping around my waist as if he were trying to merge our bodies into one. We stood there on that dark balcony, oblivious to the music inside, the dangerous elders, or the fact that Jare was probably looking for us with a gun in his hand.
In that moment, he wasn't the King of Serpents, and I wasn't a girl with a broken memory. We were just two people clinging to each other in a world that wanted to pull us apart.
Keifer pulled back just an inch, his thumb brushing over my swollen lip. "From this moment on, Jay... you are the Queen. And God help anyone who tries to take your crown."
I leaned my head against his chest, listening to the steady, powerful thud of his heart.
I felt my knees go weak as he pulled me back toward him, his grip possessive and firm. He didn't just want me near; he wanted me as close as humanly possible.
"I love you, Jay. Until scientists find the end of the universe," Keifer whispered against my lips, repeating the phrase that had become ours.
A small, watery smile broke across my face. It was the most "Keifer" thing in the world to say—logical, yet somehow infinitely romantic. "I love you too, Keifer."
Hearing me say those words seemed to snap the last bit of restraint he had. He didn't wait. He crashed his lips onto mine again, but this time it was different. It was desperate, hungry, and heavy with a week's worth of repressed longing. It was as if he couldn't stand even the microscopic distance between our skin.
I melted into him, my arms winding tightly around his neck, pulling him down. When his tongue searched for entrance, I opened for him instantly. He explored my mouth with a demanding rhythm, deep and rhythmic, claiming every inch of me as if he held every right in the world to do so.
And in that moment, in the shadows of the balcony, I realized he did. He had my heart, my loyalty, and my soul.
His hands slid down from my waist to the small of my back, pressing me hard against his frame so I could feel every line of his body. The world inside the gala—the socialites, the business deals, the dangerous elders—ceased to exist. There was only the taste of him, the scent of his cologne, and the way he growled low in his throat when I ran my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.
He pulled back for a fraction of a second, his forehead resting against mine as we both panted for air. His eyes were dark, dilated, and filled with a fierce protection that made me feel safer than I ever had in my life.
"Mine," he rasped, his thumb tracing my lower lip which was now red and swollen from his kiss. "Never let anyone tell you otherwise, Jay-Jay. You are mine."
I leaned into his hand, closing my eyes. "Always."