Page 77 of Revels on an Angel’s Grave

Lola snorted a laugh. “They think we’re at the pleasure house down the street. Spirits know they won’t be bothering us.”

“I didn’t need that image in my mind, Lola,” Roremar groaned, tipping his head back against the wall. Emmeline snickered, and now he was picturing her at the pleasure house, laid out on silk sheets with some other man’s head between her legs.

Jealousy seared his chest like a brand, and Emmeline squirmed, cheeks flushed. Much like they had the night in the apartment, when he’d watched her come and couldn’t lay a damn hand on her⁠—

“Regardless,” Lola continued, breaking through that image, “we have time.”

“They better be the best guards the Chancellor has to offer,” Roremar grumbled, trying not to think about how hard his fucking cock was at the memory of Emmeline.

“They’re adequate,” Emmeline said. “I think I’ll still be able to sneak out.”

“Which she won’t be doing alone anymore,” Lola warned, and that tone had all his lust evaporating.

“Why not?” Roremar asked. Emmeline glared at his sister.

Lola shrugged. “They have to know.”

“A bunch of tattletales,” Emmeline muttered.

Roremar turned to her. “Why not, Huntress?”

Emmeline sighed. “A few nights ago, someone attacked me.”

Desmond cursed, Myrella gasped, and it was all Roremar could do not to explode.

“What?” He fisted his hands to keep from reaching for her.

“I’m fine,” Emmeline insisted. “They tried to drug me with the same florals from the murders on Lyra, but I fought them off. It was the night before the Opening Ceremonies, and then we had the duel and you and the Presentation, and everyone is demanding my time and attention.” She shook her head, her voice strained in a way he’d never heard from her—a way that cried for help without knowing how to ask for it. “It’s all been such a whirlwind, I haven’t even been able to visit the scene again.” Emmeline finally looked at him, assurance hardening her hazel eyes. “I’m okay, though.”

Some part of her probably thought she was, but Roremar could tell from the pitch of her voice that she wasn’t okay and it tore him up. “Someone attacked you, Emmeline. What if⁠—”

No.

Horror choked him as he forced out, “What if it’s whoever broke into your dormitory at the Academy?” He stood, pacing the roof and dragging his ringed fingers through his hair, the metal snagging on the tangles. The night breeze beat against his cheeks. “We never figured out who that was, but it couldn’t have been Dryvius using me. I was at Fated Ink with Nico and Des at the time. What if there’s someone else who’s trying to take you out or scare you? You said it was the same florals…”

The pieces. He had to gather the pieces. Line them up in his mind as if he was looking at another victim or an assignment in a war camp.

“It’s okay, Roremar.” Emmeline’s voice pierced his panic. Then, she was before him, grabbing his hands and pulling them from his hair, her touch the thing he’d been longing for. “It’s okay. Breathe.”

Roremar dropped his forehead to hers and inhaled deeply. With the wind picking up to wrap around them, he whispered, “Nothing can happen to you, Huntress. I can’t handle it.”

“It won’t.”

“Don’t say that to placate me. Please,” he begged. “I know you’re going to keep sneaking out. I know you’re going to look for what you need, and I’m not asking you to stop. Please, just be careful.”

She nodded against him.

Unable to look at her when he said his next words, his eyes slipped closed. “I know you said we aren’t good—this isn’t good—but please, allow me to want you enough to protect you. It’s all I know how to do.”

He felt her sharp inhale more than heard it. Embraced the soft exhale against his lips as she whispered, “Okay.”

A part of him withered right there. He’d hoped she’d deny what he’d claimed, say she wanted him, too. He could hear unspoken thoughts racing through her mind, but for once he couldn’t tell what they were.

He should have known better than to expect Emmeline DeLeoste to give up her secrets so easily.

Good thing it was his most rewarding challenge to figure them out.

Breaking the spell, Emmeline dropped his hands and turned back toward the group. Roremar’s spirit roared in dismay at the distance, but he let her go. He would only ruin her.