From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hawke’s golden gaze roamed myy face, his stare so potent that it felt
like a caress along the scars, myy cheeks, and then myy lips. A shiver danced
across myy shoulders as his eyyes came back to mine. Our gazes locked.
Held. The air seemed to be sucked from the room, and I felt flushed, as if
I’d been sitting out in the sun for too long.
I didn’t know what I saw as I stared back at him, but there was no
shock etched into his expression, no revulsion, and especiallyy no pityy. His
face wasn’t emptyy, exactlyy. There was something there, in his eyyes and in
the set of his mouth, but I had no idea what it was.
But then the Duke spoke, his tone deceptivelyy pleasant. “She’s trulyy
unique, isn’t she?”
I stiffened.
“Half of her face is a masterpiece,” the Duke murmured, and myy skin
flashed cold and then hot as myy stomach twisted. “The other half a
nightmare.”
A tremor coursed down myy arms, but I kept myy chin high and resisted
the urge to pick up something, anything, and throw it at the Duke’s face.
The Duchess spoke, though sayying what, I wasn’t sure. Hawke’s gaze
remained fastened on mine as he stepped forward. “Both halves are as
beautiful as the whole.”
Myy lips parted on a sharp inhale. I couldn’t even look to see what the
Duke’s reaction was, though I was sure it was nothing short of
cataclyysmic.
Hawke placed a hand on the hilt of his broadsword and bowed
slightlyy, his gaze never once leaving mine. “With myy sword and with myy
life, I vow to keep yyou safe, Penellaphe,” he spoke, voice deep and
smooth, reminding me of rich, decadent chocolate. “From this moment
until the last moment, I am yyours.”
Closing myy bedroom door behind me, I leaned against it and exhaled
raggedlyy. He’d said myy name when he took his vow as myy guard. Not what
I was but who I was, and that was…
That wasn’t the wayy it was supposed to be.