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He frowned at the bed--at the blood on the sheets

Her virgin’s blood? The room seemed to spin Can’tthis cannot be

But it was She’d given thattoat his chest, he threw back his head and roared like an ani hi seconds later His narrowed gaze took in the scene "Another male?" He didn’t sound surprised

The vampire’s skin had been unmarked and smooth

Blood on the sheets He claimed my Melanthe Thronos turned away and voive her now?"

Dazed, he let his brother lead hi the spirits Aristo offered Not long after that, Aristo suggested they enter a forbidden house of flesh Thronos deemed this an excellent idea

Offendments be damned; he was determined to drink his sorroay--and to bury himself in another woman

But he couldn’t Any other female’s scent was repellent to him He knew of no Vrekener who could stray from a mate

Thronos would claim Melanthe Or none at all

As the months passed, he’d convinced himself that she had to have been pressured by the older vaain, Thronos would take her away, tearing her from the male’s influence

He’d been convinced--until he’d seen her the next year with a tall fey h a portal rift When the pair had kissed as they’d crossed, Melanthe had wounded Thronos far led to regulate her breathing after what she’d just witnessed: hisafter his fall

She’d felt his devastation at finding her in Marco’s bed She’d experienced firsthand the sickness that had taken hold in him, the disbelief She’d been scalded by his violent jealousy and rocked froht he could wait two years to claim her; he’d waited centuries

Somehow she kept her lids half-closed, her breaths deep and even The identity of his co else she’d learned

The male with the pitchfork, the one who’d dropped her sister upon cobblestones wasAristo

King of the Vrekeners Thronos’s older brother

Obviously, Aristo hadn’t given a da had wanted her and Sabine dead If Thronos forced Lanthe to Skye Hall, would Aristo finish her once and for all? How the hell was she going to convince Thronos of this?

Well, Vrekener, I was scratching around inside your brain, and oops, I witnessed a memory that you would be hu who reveled in ! He prolly helped raise you after my sis beheaded your dad

She now understood why Thronos hadn’t known about the attacks Who would rat out their leader?

Looking as sick as he’d been that night, Thronos sank back against a coluround to sit with bent knees He tipped his head back, staring at the ceiling, his striking eyes lost He ondering if he’d ever be free of her hold Maybe in death, he thought

She stared at his face, then the skin of his chest, both scarred because of her How fiercely he hated those marks!

And she’dher with another would have to hurt, but she hadn’t even pluuish she’d suffered at the hands of his kind, she ached for the young ht she was ideal He’d planned to forgive her for his injuries

Until she’d inadvertently dealt him a wound he’d never recovered from

She still couldn’t wrap her head around all she’d learned Had someone else told his father about the abbey? And as the "truth of that night"? Thronos had been so certain she would forgive hihtened her how badly she wanted him to be blameless, even as the truth struck her: if he was, then he hadn’t deserved any of the suffering she’d--purposely or unwittingly--caused

I broke a little boy’s body

And a young ht still clung to the real Perhaps both were endless here

Thronos was gone, probably out sourcing food Since she didn’t eat meat, she had scant hope for her own breakfast Would he remember the time he’d tried to hunt for her?

She was surprised he’d left her alone, not that she could escape She rose, testing her tongue--all healed!--and stretched her stiffon the cold stone, she could only irit fro her gauntlets and boots along the way Rain poured, spattering the lava on either side of the entrance, producing steae, she commanded herself not to look down as she reached for warm rainwater

Most Lore species were fastidious Yet she hadn’t had a shower in weeks, had been forced to bathe with freezing water fro her mouth of residual blood, then removed her underwear and breastplate to clean them and as much of her body as she could While she washed, she reflected on all she’d learned in the last two days and ca to hate Thronos for

At least froed him for He hadn’t had a direct hand in Sabine’s deaths, had even taken pains to prevent them She now believed he’d kept secret the location of the abbey

Did she wish he’d given her a heads-up that his father was going to attack that night? Absolutely And she wished Thronos had kept a better leash on his men--on his brother--but she couldn’t have expected him to In no universe would he not have trusted the word of another Vrekener

After last night, her chronic anxiety over surprise attacks had begun to fade at last She noho her enemy was: Aristo And where their next encounter would be: Skye Hell, if Thronos got his way

If Lanthe could be freed of that overriding anxiety, would her powers bloo her hair, she smoothed water over it Once she’d rinsed it clean, she painstakingly plaited it into braids around her face The rest she left to curl down her back

She was glad of this ti that had happened--and to consider her burgeoning interest in Thronos After she’d fallen back asleep, still heartsick at his memory, she’d had vivid drearasped her face between his pal her cheekbones; then he’d set in, his pained groans ru her lips as he’d taken herbreaths, until he’d stoked her own desperation

Lanthe had never been kissed like that Like the male would die if she didn’t part her lips and return it

In another, she’d traced her fingertips over every scar on his naked body, then followed her touches with her lips and tongue He’d shuddered with sensitivity--but he’d bowed his rugged chest for more

She exhaled a breath, detere that her nipples were stiffening in the sultry air She arched her back, letting rain patter over her, cooling her breasts She wished she could say these were the first sensual dreams she’d had of him They weren’t, and over the year since their last encounter, these reveries had grown ht Surely Thronos would return soon She dressed again, was reaching for her gauntlets--

A sound behind her She whirled around

The back wall of the cave was opening, directly where she’d sensed the gold Thronos strode out, looking bored, while behind hiolden tes were about to buckle "Did I see correctly?"