Chapter 257\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
We weren\u2019t trying to play roles anymore. We just were. Despite all of the chaos and danger that followed us, when it was just Nolan and me, things felt peaceful now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard about Claire,\u201d he said quietly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stiffened almost imperceptibly. \u201cCassian told you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he replied. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to alarm me, but\u2026 I could hear that something was wrong, it was in his voice. He told me they\u2019re still looking for her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I exhaled slowly. \u201cI should have seen it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He shook his head. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t have known.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have,\u201d I said again, more firmly. \u201cShe had access to the boys. I trusted her too quickly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t do that,\u201d Nolan said softly. \u201cDon\u2019t punish yourself for trusting. You\u2019re not the one who did something wrong, Ellie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I lifted my hand, pressing my palm flat against his chest, right over his heart. I felt it pounding beneath my touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re safe,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re safe. That\u2019s what matters. And I\u2019ll make sure it stays that way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I met his gaze. \u201cYou can\u2019t carry every threat alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d he said. Then, quieter, \u201cI\u2019m trying not to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The admission felt significant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan was always in control, always had his hand in everything. For him to admit that he was giving up some small amount of that control, that he was trusting others to help protect us, it would have been unthinkable a year\u00a0<\/p>\n
ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was just one more small bit of proof that he really had changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I leaned in without fully thinking it through, resting my forehead against his chest. His arms came around me automatically, strong and sure, as if my body belonged there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it always had.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I inhaled slowly, grounding myself in his scent-pine and steel and something warm that felt like home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not afraid of you anymore,\u201d I said softly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan went very still. His heart beat steadily under my touch. The pulse of it was comforting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to be,\u201d I continued. \u201cNot of what you might do. Of what I felt. Of how much it hurt when I thought I didn\u2019t matter to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His grip tightened slightly. \u201cYou always mattered.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that now,\u201d I said. \u201cBut knowing something and feeling it are different.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He tilted his head, resting his cheek against my hair. \u201cI failed you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d I agreed gently. There was no point in denying it when we both knew it was true. But that was the past. But you\u2019re not failing me now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
(\u00a0<\/p>\n
We stayed like that for a long moment, the night wrapping around us, lantern light casting long shadows across\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chopter 257\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
the garden stones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he kissed me, it was slow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Careful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not a demand. Not an apology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An invitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart skipped at the contact. It was the first kiss since the party in Moonstone. This time, I let myself feel it. I let myself do what felt natural.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I responded just as deliberately, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt as warmth spread through me, familiar and reassuring. The bond flared-not painfully, not insistently-but like a steady flame fed by trust instead of hunger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His hand slid to my waist, anchoring me there. My breath caught, heat blooming deeper now, sharper, but I didn\u2019t pull away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not tonight. Not anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019d both spent so long fighting this. Maybe that was the reason it had become so sharp, so electric. Fighting the bond had only made it more insistent. Letting it be, allowing myself to feel it, had changed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I no longer felt it like lightning striking whenever we touched. Now, I felt it always. A warmth, a steady current beneath my skin that gently led me back to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want it to stop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan\u2019s forehead rested against mine, breath warm against my lips. \u201cEllie,\u201d he murmured, like a question he wasn\u2019t sure he was allowed to ask.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNolan,\u201d I replied softly. I slid my hand up his arm, feeling the firmness of his muscles under my hand. His grip shifted, pulling me insistently closer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we\u2026\u201d he trailed off, and I could feel the tension in him, the struggle to find the words to ask for something he didn\u2019t think he deserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I answered by kissing him again. His breath caught. His lips moved against mine. My heart raced as I looped my arms around his neck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rest of the world faded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 257 Chapter 257\u00a0 +25 Bonus\u00a0 We weren\u2019t trying to play roles anymore. We just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}