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Gun.

Knife.

Nyssa.

The three thoughts struck in that order. I dropped the files onto the bed. The watch hit the dresser with a sharp crack. My hand reached for the pistol beneath the bedside table before I realized I’d moved. The knife followed. Cold steel settled into my palm. The faint scent of pear followed.

My head turned toward the hallway.

Nyssa.

Where was she?

Every instinct screamed to go to her. To make sure she was still there. Still breathing. Still mine to protect.

I took one step.

Then another.

The curtain moved again.

This time…

I heard breathing.

Not mine.

Not hers.

Someone else’s.

A voice broke the silence. “Don’t.”

Everything inside me went still. Still, I forced myself to move. I turned…

Cassian Vale stood in the shadows.

Ancient eyes found mine.

I glanced at the window as that savage part of me rose.

“You called for me, remember.”

That was it. A cold, stark reminder.

Once you send for the Devil… there’s no going back.

“I remember.”

He stepped out of the shadows. They clung to him as though reluctant to let him go. He was thinner than I remembered. Less man. More ruin.

One breath was all it took.

Slow.

Steady.

Enough.