HELENA POV
Feeling Silas’ hand on my back did something to me I hadn’t been prepared for.
I’d spent days pretending. Pretending the vampire king’s touch was something else. Pretending his cold, dead fingers were Silas’—warm, rough, real. I’d imagined it so hard I’d almost convinced myself it could work. That I could survive by lying to my own body.
But nothing prepared me for the real thing.
Silas’ palm was hot and calloused, resting at the base of my neck like it had always belonged there, like it knew exactly where to go. The moment his skin touched mine, every nerve in my body lit up and multiplied right under his hand. Not soft. Not subtle. It was like my system snapped to attention and screamed there you are.
I sucked in a sharp breath before I could stop myself.
It wasn’t relie
