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“Burn the villages. Slaughter the towns. Seize lands in the cruelest ways.”

I parted my lips. “What?”

“She was angry.”

“But. . .she tells him to kill innocent people?”

“Lots of them. If she cannot be happy, then she would rather many die.”

“Oh damn.”

The hands crawled higher, up over his ribs. Those dark fingers spread across his chest.

And God help me, my body stayed hot.

He was telling me about burning villages and slaughtered families, and the ache in my pussy only deepened as the space at the back of my neck throbbed.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Maybe the heat only cared about him. Or maybe the part of me that had been cursed for love understood her a little too well.

"And while the shogun did her bidding, she fed on him. Slowly. Every morning, he woke thinner. Grayer around the lips. His physicians bled him, prayed over him, burned herbs at his bedside." He shook his head. "And every night, he still reached for her and smiled."

My mouth went dry.

Then, the water around us began to glow. Faint at first. A soft gold rising from his skin beneath the surface, lighting the black hands from underneath.

I twisted in his arms to look at him.

His eyes had gone gold-orange.

Bright.

Slitted.

Ancient.

When he spoke again, his voice came out softer.

Lighter.

Feminine.

"There were two bloodlines I hated most."

Every hair on my arms rose.

That’s her.

I shivered.

She smiled with his mouth. I didn’t know how I knew this to be true, but it was her smiling beneath Yoichi’s face.

I swallowed. “What bloodlines were there?”

"The Sato line. And the Matsumoto. Privileged little, weak humans." She formed Yoichi’s face into a scowl. “Both were favored by the gods just because their ancestors had fought demons. Even though the mission had been done, they continued to carry spiritual power in their blood. And. . .”

“What?”