The city lay quiet beneath her terrace, a tapestry of golden lights glittering against the velvet night. Chloe wrapped her arms around herself, the chill in the air nothing compared to the storm inside her chest. Her mind replayed the kiss again and again, the heat of Lucius's mouth on hers, the way she'd shoved him back and fled, the shame that gnawed at her even now.

She pressed her palms against the stone railing, exhaling shakily. "God, what's wrong with me?" she whispered into the ...