“Not so high-and-mighty today, are you, princess?”

His green eyes glittered with a fury she had seen once before, on the day she’d left him. And this was no homecoming. Not the kind she’d imagined all these years. This was vengeance. “You destroyed me, Amalia. I promised you that if you ever gave me the opportunity, I would return the favor. And here you are.”

“Joaquin.” She tried again, though it seemed that every time she spoke his name, his grip on her tightened. Just enough to remind her. Of how commanding he was. How...bossy. How he had set the terms of their trysts and then executed them and she had melted, and burned, and happily done as he pleased.

Because it was what she pleased, too.

He tipped her chin up, his eyes a green fire. And yet even if he hated her now, her body couldn’t tell the difference. This fire was still a fire, and she burned for him the way she always had.