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Everyone was here Mirceo's uncles Viktor, Stelian, and Trehan Even Balery Was Elizabeth's expression pensive? Lothaire's red gaze seemed even eerier than usual

Mirceo yelled at Lothaire, "What the fuck have you done?"

Lothaire laughed, a full-throated sound that carried through the court, wrapping around each of them like chains "Whatever I please, boy One of the perks of being a king"

And all the world went red

THIRTY-TWO

Take a job or go crazy Take a job or go crazy

For ahemmed in, Cas's entire life had come down to two options So he'd taken a job

After ten days of work and a successful bounty, he returned to the Red Flag to select his next mission Inside, the usual crowd drank Leyak hummed while he wiped down the bar

Cas crossed to the completed board to pin up his cashed-in bounty, unable to stop hi around the tavern with a tiny spark of hope

No Mirceo The va the shadow life, nailing everything that moved

He'd expected this separation to send his de out of control, but far more than instinct was at work here It seee and aggression had rief

Cas could try topups But he only wanted the va, he'd taken Cas's heart with him

Cas had traced froalow, then reods that the vampire would realize his mistake

Over that ti that he could handle an eternal coht of fucking only Cas for the rest of his life

Then he'd realized Mirceo wasn't co for him And luckily he couldn't find the vampire; else Cas would've stalked after him like a lovelorn fool

He exhaled a defeated breath Take a job or go crazy

Leyak called, "Caspion, a word"

"Yeah" He traced to the bar, hoping the old hunter wouldn't grill hiain about Mirceo The last time, Cas had said only, "The vaer over Mirceo'shad swiftly faded If the two of them hadn't been mates, maybe his resent had led theether

Leyak poured hi in there?"

"Been better" Cas would own his part in his and Mirceo's rift If he had derived any wisdom--or discipline--from all the years he'd lived, he would've disappeared from the vampire's life for ten decades

But Cas had been too weak to leave Instead, he'd laid all of the choice, all of the burden, on such a young male Then Cas had been shocked when Mirceo bolted in a panic?

That , the vae by its beat, Mirceo's heartCas understood that panic--he'd experienced the sa his own execution But at that age, rash had felt right

So it would with Mirceo

Trying not to sound desperate, Cas asked, "I don't suppose he stopped by?"

"As aafter you, wanting your location Searched for you too"

Dae of hope! "And?"

"He was here a couple of days ago, looking haunted-eyed and miserable"

Cas had pictured Mirceo, s partners with abandon Instead, the prince had been miserable? That shouldn't make Cas happy But it did A s back?"

"Dunno He saw so on the bounty wall and hereacted"

"What do you mean?"

Leyak scratched one of his scuffed horns "I mean, he dropped to his knees, roared in pain, and voet out of the floor"

Cas's claws dug into the bar "What did he see?"

"I didn't catch the specific poster, but he didn't take it down or anything Just teleported from here like a bat out of hell"

Cas traced to the board, scanning the bounties His breath left him when a familiar portrait snared his attention He'd once viewed that sae

Mina My sister-by-fate

REWARD:

Missing!

Name: Princess Kosmina

Species: Vampire