Page 92

So when I had finally registered Arianna’s voice booming, my whole body snapped awake. I bolted upright, head lifting from where it had rested on Bomani’s warm fur, heart pounding. I blinked hard, disoriented. The small living room was empty, except for me and the hyena, still lying peacefully beside me.

My gaze shot toward the door. The oak barrier had been lodged wide open, cool air pouring in, prickling against my skin. “Get your ass up!” Arianna barked from outside, her voice cold as ice. “If you burn me one more time, I swear to God I’ll fuck you up. I don’t care whose damn parent you think you are!”

Without thought, I rose to my feet and shook Bomani’s side to wake him up. His massive head rolled side to side before he stirred, then slowly pushed up onto all fours. My head motioned in the direction of the argument and he nodded. Still half-asleep, the two of us crept through the living room and out the cottage door.

The morning sun hit me like a slap. Even through the overcast, its brilliance contrasted with the pillowy weather. Rubbing my eyes, I struggled to adjust to the harsh hum of light. The snow was reflecting an impossibly pure white, flaring like glass under the low golden rays. My eyes stung at the contact; like they’d grown more sensitive with each sunrise. I blinked hard, forcing them to adjust.

That’s when I saw him.

Mark stood in the middle of the clearing, his hands thrust out in front of him, flames blazing along his palms. Orange and red fire spiraled outward, curling up his arms in elegant, furious waves, like fiery ballerinas spinning around his wrists. The light cast his frame in an amber glow. His face twisted in a mix of panic and threat;, beautiful and dangerous. He was the picture of panic. Not like a man ready to attack, but like one who believed he had to.

Surrounding him in a loose half-circle stood my mother, Valentina, Lord Draco, and Kleitos. His back was to the carriage. There was nowhere for him to go. Each of their eyes locked on him in warning. If he even so much as stepped the wrong way, they’d strike. Part of me could grasp the fear in everyone’s eyes. Everything he had done was reckless, possibly even irreversible for the forest. I even understood how trapped he must have felt in that moment, every eye landing on him for accountability.

Still, it was jarring to see it like this, his power burning out of him, raw and untamed.

“Don’t touch me again!” Mark roared, flames licking higher with his fury. The embers flared orange against his pale skin, shading every feature in heat. His eyes went liquid against the flames.

Arianna stood at the center of it all, her frame radiating pure dominance. A shadowy mist poured from her feet, crawling upward until it swallowed her lower half. Her shadowed-covered palms had white-hot vapor licking from the center to her finger-tips, lightning coiled and condensed. The pressure of her energy pushed back the loose curls framing her face, and her coal-colored cloak fanned out around her like a wave of living shadow.

Both she and Mark were locked in a silent standoff, their expressions taut and mirrored; brows drawn, jaws clenched, twin snarls brimming with challenge.

Mark didn’t know what was best for him.

Flames or not, he couldn’t take her.

Even thinking about it made my chest tighten. Sparing with Arianna had shown me what she was capable of. She didn’t just fight like a warrior; she fought like someone who’d lived a thousand battles. Her full force would be nothing short of fatal. I had never even seen her will this kind of power before. If she dared it now, it would be worse than death.

Only a second passed before instinct took over.

I sprinted across the clearing, boots pounding through the snow, and flung myself between them before anything could escalate. Whatever Mark had done, however badly he’d messed up, we weren’t going to solve it by killing him. He could be erratic, sharp-edged, even reckless… but he wasn’t a monster. Not yet.

My hands pressed between their chests, pushing them apart, carefully avoiding the blaze curling from Mark’s hands. Heat rolled over me in tight, biting waves, searing my palms with tension even before contact. “What the hell is going on?” I demanded, barely keeping my voice from tipping into a scream as my gaze flickered between them.

“Oh, you’ll love this,” Arianna scoffed, coughing out a dark, bitter laugh straight from her chest as her eyes raked over me. “You wouldn’t believe the night we had chasing after this one.” Arianna’s features twisted from annoyance into undeniable hatred. Her voice shifted suddenly, the humor gone like a snapped string. Cool and flat, she spoke directly to Mark, not at him, but through him. Her gaze bored into him with unblinking precision, like she was reading the rot underneath his skin.

My gaze focused directly on him, but the expression on his face hadn’t changed. If anything, it had deepened. Rage clung to him like a mask, twisting his features into something grotesque, aged, worn, unrecognizable. His anger had carved lines into his otherwise youthful face, dragging perfection into something almost sinister. The sight of it made my stomach crawl, like a child bracing for a slap.

“You want to tell him how you dragged me through the city like a hog?” Mark bit out, his voice low and edged with cold defiance. “Or about how you killed all those people in that club?” The words hit me like a hammer.

My stomach dropped, heavy and hot, flipping like wet laundry in a dryer as nausea spread through my core and into every nerve ending. For a moment I couldn’t breathe. My eyes darted from Mark to Arianna, then to Valentina, desperate for any explanation. The mention of innocent people... of death... tangled every moral thread in me, yanking tight. Still, I shoved it down. I swallowed the bile and steadied my voice, drowning the panic to stay present.

“What is he talking about?” I demanded, my voice sharp with authority. I didn’t care who answered, only that someone did.

Valentina’s eyes flashed with unease as mine locked onto hers. Her expression was tangled in guilt, held together by a shaky resolve. Her chin was raised and her gaze remained calm, but the way she bit her bottom lip reeked of culpability. I narrowed my eyes, waiting for her to speak, and I saw her body shift beneath the weight of it.

“Tell me,” I said slowly, my voice calmer now, but no less pointed. This time, the demand was for her.

Her lips twitched again before she spoke. “I would rather tell you that in private.” Valentina’s tone was laced with remorse, as if hoping I’d offer her grace. I wanted to snap, but something in her voice softened the blow. It coaxed me like a drug signaling for me to back down. It was nearly impossible not to comply. That alone should be studied.

Shaking my head, I forced the sharpness out of my tone and turned toward Arianna instead. “You tell me then. Please?” I asked more gently now, though authority still hung in the air like frost.

Her eyes met mine briefly, then flicked behind me, toward Mark. “He conveniently left out how we found him in the first place,” she began, voice edged like steel. “Remember your orders?” Her gaze cut back to me, sharp enough to wound. “You wanted us to find your dear Elguto father. I let your mother take the reins. She led us to the first man, a hostile vampire who thought he found a plaything in Martha.”

The words detonated inside me. My blood began to simmer, hot and tight against my veins. I had to fight the sudden urge to run, run somewhere, anywhere. Somewhere I could make this right. I raked my fingers through my hair, trying to calm the fury beginning to boil inside me. “What?” I almost shouted, but it caught in my throat, strangled and choked.

Arianna glanced toward my mother briefly, a flicker of sympathy crossing her face before returning to me. “I handled the issue, at first,” she said, her voice steady. “But that same man… thought it wise to spit in Valentina’s face.” My heart dropped. Rage wasn’t even the right word for what boiled inside me. I felt my heart darken, just a fraction, and my eyes narrowed to slits. Someone putting their hands on what was mine flipped a switch I didn’t even know existed. It felt almost violating how easily violence had risen to the surface. She turned slightly, lightning dancing around her hand as she lifted it, pointing straight at Mark. “So we tracked him. And that led us to him.”

My whole body turned toward him.