The Tarot Lady Saw the Duke's Death and Would Not Leave novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Last Night

He left the lamp burning.

She noticed it when he shut the bedroom door behind them.

The lamp stood on the table by the bed with its flame turned high.

"You usually put it out," said Liora.

"Tonight I want to see you."

He crossed the room and stood in front of her, tall and quiet.

The firelight lay on one side of his face and the lamp on the other.

"All of you. In the light. In case it is the last time."

"It is not the last time."

"Then it is an ordinary time," said Bastien, "and I would like to see it anyway."

She laughed, and her eyes stung, and she reached up and began to undo his collar.

They undressed each other without hurry.

Her fingers found the old scar across his ribs, and she kissed it.

His hands found the ink stains on her fingertips, and he kissed those.

He drew the pins from her hair one at a time and set them on the table in a row.

Her hair fell down her back in heavy copper waves.

"Forty clocks," he said, "and nothing in any of them is as beautiful as that."

"Don't be silly."

"I'm never silly. I'm accurate."

Heat climbed her throat, and he saw it, and smiled.

He laid her on the great bed with the curtains pushed all the way back.

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend