Sweet Hatred Chapter 334: Fireworks

ARIA

The sky exploded.

I startled against him, my head jerking up just in ti to catch a cascade of colors spilling across the night. The sea lit up beneath us, every ripple glimring like liquid fire as more bursts of red and gold followed, crackling high above.

For a mont, I forgot to breathe.

"Fireworks?" I whispered, like saying it out loud would make sense of it. "In the middle of the sea?"

I turned to him, already knowing. Of course. Kael Roman didn’t do coincidences.

His lips curved, infuriatingly calm, though his eyes still burned with that hunger he hadn’t quite tad. "What can I say? I like my timing dramatic."

I shook my head, a laugh slipping out despite the ache in my chest. "Of course you do."

He didn’t answer, not directly. He just looked at , like the fireworks were nothing compared to . And that was worse. My stomach twisted, my throat tightened, because how could a man like him, dangerous and unhinged and maddening, plan all this just for ?

I tilted my head back to the sky, letting the colors wash over . It was surreal. A yacht in the middle of the sea. A dinner set like sothing out of a dream. Fireworks exploding above. And Kael, Kael with his quiet confessions, his insane threats, and his promise to ruin when I recovered.

He didn’t even know what I was recovering from.

And yet, despite everything, despite the heaviness I carried like a stone inside , I couldn’t shake it, the thought that maybe, just maybe, I was lucky.

Lucky to be here. Lucky to be with him. Lucky that sohow, against every odd stacked against us, we’d found our way back to each other.

I glanced back at him. He was still watching , still studying every twitch of my face like I was more fascinating than the fireworks painting the sky. And for the first ti in a long ti, I didn’t feel cursed.

I felt chosen.

Then Kael’s arm slid around . Strong, steady, inescapable. He pulled in until his lips brushed the edge of my ear, his voice low and deliberate, drowning out even the thunder of the sky.

"Do you know what terrifies most, Aria?" he murmured. "Not death. Not betrayal. Not even a bloody war." His breath ghosted hot against my skin, every word carving straight through . "It’s the thought of waking one day and finding the world still spinning, but you not in it. Because if you’re not mine, then nothing is worth surviving."

The fireworks cracked again, red light painting his face when I dared to glance at him, and it hit how terrifyingly sincere he was. Kael Roman, who had lived with knives pressed to his throat and blood on his hands, sounded like a man confessing his last prayer.

I tried to laugh, to shake it off, but instead my chest cracked wide open. Tears stung hot at the corners of my eyes, shaful and stubborn, and I turned my face quickly so he wouldn’t see.

Because Kael wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t gentle by nature, wasn’t safe by any stretch of the word. But he was trying. God, he was always trying, clawing his way out of the hell that raised him, desperate to be more, to be better. Even for the people who didn’t deserve it. Even for .

And I was grateful. Grateful in a way that terrified .

Grateful that sohow, despite all the chaos, I got to love and be loved by Kael Roman.

So I leaned into him, let the thunder of the fireworks and the warmth of his chest drown , and decided, just for tonight, I wouldn’t fight it. I wouldn’t hide. I would let myself be his. Completely.

Kael’s thumb had just brushed the edge of my cheek when the tears threatened to betray , and before he could say anything, I blurted out the first wild thing that ca to mind.

"Let’s dance."

He blinked, head tilting as if I’d just spoken in another language. "Dance?"

"Yes. Dance. You know, two people, moving together, preferably to music."

The look he gave was priceless, equal parts suspicious, unamused, and horrified. I smirked, pouncing. "Don’t tell ... you can’t dance?"

"I prefer watching," he muttered, calm as ever, though the faint twitch at his jaw betrayed him.

"Translation: you can’t," I said sweetly. "God, this is going to be fun."

He opened his mouth to argue, but I was already turning, spotting a familiar figure at the edge of the deck. "Niko!"

Kael actually stiffened. "Aria, "

"Niko," I cut him off, grinning like the devil himself, "can you get us so music? Sothing we can waltz to."

Poor Niko looked like he’d been caught trespassing in the wrong house. He glanced desperately at Kael, clearly begging for rescue.

But I leaned forward, lowering my voice in a mock-conspiratorial whisper. "Ignore him. He might be your boss, but I’m the one giving orders now."

Kael’s brow arched dangerously, but Niko, to his credit, or terror, actually obeyed. He swallowed hard, fumbled with a small speaker, and within monts, a soft lody drifted across the deck.

I turned back to Kael, triumphant. "See? Easy."

"You’re insane," he muttered.

"Maybe. But you’re stuck with ." I held out my hand, daring him.

And of course, Kael Roman, cold, terrifying, unshakable... actually took it. Slowly. As if I’d just backed him into a corner.

My triumph lasted approximately ten seconds. Because the mont we started moving, I realized one tiny flaw in my brilliant plan.

I sucked at dancing.

Like, really sucked.

I stumbled on the first turn, nearly tripped on my own foot the second, and by the third, Kael’s mouth was twitching in a way that made want to strangle him.

"You planned this whole dramatic ambush," he murmured, his voice low and smug, "and you can’t even dance."

"I can too," I snapped, refusing to back down. "You just need to follow my lead."