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Though he’d wanted Melanthe to acknowledge his pain—to corew uncomfortable with her appraisal He was about to stop her when she traced the worst one, the one that had nearly taken his life

That shard of glass had pierced hi hi fro all the gods to spare her youngest son

Wrath He grasped Melanthe’s wrists

She blinked up at hiret what you did to ainst his wing “Sorceri disdain regret We consider it the equivalent of an offend her tells Whenever she lied, sos twitch Plus, she always leaned back from him, as if she wanted to put distance between theer “Untruth, Melanthe”

“Is that a Vrekener way of saying bullshit?”

“So you do feel guilt” She was capable of it “You must have heard I feel pain when I fly It seeladdened”

She crossed her arms over her chest “Do Vrekeners not have healers for their young?”

“Of course we do! My bones were set true, and healed strong”

“Then what happened?”

“I pushed the torn s and leg” As well asMy neck and shoulders “I did this up to the point when I froze into ”

“You had to know the pain you were courting”

“What do you think would make me do that, Melanthe? I was on your trail before I was thirteen”

“So you overused your wings, and I overused hts, and noe’re both screwed Blaain, I can do this all day, deether For all these years, he’d never iitiuilt if you stopped treatingold’s sake, enough with trying to shame me about my sexual past—just because you’ve never been with anyone”

As ed

“So you haven’t been,” she said in a quieter tone

He couldn’t read her expression, and that frustrated the hell out of hi him! “Unlike your kind, Vrekeners mate for life So, no, I haven’t enjoyed a horde of other lovers, as you’ve done”

Another flashing blue glare

“It seemed you ith every male but the one fate intended for you From me, you ran”

“What did you expect me to do whenever I saw you? Skip into your ar a pitchfork? I didn’t have any reason whatsoever not to run from you”

He had no answer for that He wasn’t her mate She’d told him that she had just lived her life

Without me As if he’d never existed for her

Maybe that hat angered hiotten hihts of her

TWENTY-ONE

Lanthe actually did feel the seeds of guilt

Seeing that memory of his had softened her toward his she’d once blamed him for, she found it difficult to hold on to the worst of her hatred

In fact, she could al, except for four things

He now hated her for his injuries He hated her for the loss of “years and children” He treated her like a war prize And he had a pathological level of jealousy and distrust

She would never convince hiirl She’d never convince hiht-skirt, and she had zero tolerance for his slut-shaer better; didn’tan intense attraction to Thronos? Like right noith his face set with deter her, and his scarred skin sheening with sweat

Those scars erous as he’d become Which she foundsexy

And when she’d explored the s about his body she hadn’t before

How smooth the unmarked areas of his tanned skin were How sensitive his flesh was to her touch How his ers

His breeches had ridden low on his hips, and she’d realized he didn’t have a tan line She’d always heard that Vrekeners frowned on nudity in any circu to iuing

He’d said he’d had dreaht of her as the sun kissed his rugged body? Her breaths shallowed as she i himself to fantasies of her

When she adjusted her position on his legs, he grated, “Melanthe, we need tonot to stare at her dalanced down, saw hi If she scooched a couple of inches closer, she’d be able to feel his swelling erection against her hip “I’ she feared nant by a Vrekener Thronos was clever and unexpectedly sexy If he ever ive this ure out her weaknesses

So she attempted to concentrate, to sense a portal aer and thirst old senses were pinging like crazy She swiped her palone Could she still be sensing that te?”

She did feel the tiniest vibration of portal power, like an echo “Maybe I don’t know”

“Try—harder”

She glared at hiretted it i so adversarial with him? She wasn’t the type of feo around provoking er, not with her history witha dick? It wasn’t like she was going to keep hirand understanding She just needed to beguile hiuiled hih, he’d take her directly there!