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Logan’s laugh bounced through the darkened room. “Fight? Is that all, Fane?” He tsked. “And you haven’t noticed how sexy that creature is even with all the blood and grime covering her? I’dfightwith her any day.”
Heat scuttled up my throat, and I held my breath, waiting on Fane’s response.
Curses flew from my lips. Why did I care what the demon shifter thought? Doing anything but punching him should disgust me. And yet… it didn’t.
Maybe it was the bite.
My subconscious laughed at me because this guy had made me unsteady from the moment our eyes connected in the demon club.
A low growl brewed within Fane. “Don’t start, Logan.”
“I’m just pointing out the obvious.” He gave a long whistle. “And there was some serious energy when you bit her.”
Fane snatched the bottle of whiskey and refilled his tumbler. “She killed my brother. The enchanted bloodstone I’ve been wearing for the past two years went off when I saw her in Wrath & Ruin.” He tugged at the silver chain and withdrew a green stone flecked with crimson from beneath his shirt. “Teague has the scars on her side right where the witch said they’d be, and the little ravenadmittedit.”
“I just don’t believe she killed your brother in cold blood.” Logan brushed strands of hair out of his face as some of his humor faded. “She could have safely fled this world with the amulet if she hadn’t saved that little girl. Tate would have died for it too if not for the Infernal Sol and you.”
Fane picked up his glass and scrutinized the liquor. “I’ve been searching for two years for Warin’s killer, but I never suspected a raven. Warin wouldn’t do anything to land him on their radar. And the vision from Diama showed a vicious murder. His fucking head had been hacked off by some barbarian with a piece of rusty metal.”
Sickness roiled in my gut at the memories trying to break free of the grave I kept forcing them back into. Ihadbeen a beast that night, but so had the demon. Nothing had existed in his cold black eyes except death.
According to Fane, though, his brother wasn’t an evil monster. Maybe he didn’t know the guy as much as he thought. People rarely revealed the darkness behind their pretty masks until it was too late.
“Diama never actually showed you how the whole thing went down. The witch couldn’t provide an image of his killer.” Logan ran his finger over his bottom lip as he stared into the fire, the flames tinting his irises orange. “She could only give you bits and pieces. You don’t know what led up to the event. You have no idea what caused Tate to kill Warin.”
The demon shifter’s tattooed fingers tightened around the glass, moments from shattering it. “She brutally slaughtered him. I saw that much.”
“Maybe Tate wasn’t even a raven novice when she killed Warin. Maybe that’s how she found out about this world. She was only recently initiated and given The Calling spell.” Logan slid to the edge of the cushions and pinned Fane with a somber look. “Did you ever think that Warin could have fallen into the wrong crowd or gotten involved in something he shouldn’t have?”
“No.” Fane’s answer was resolute and unyielding. He’d never believe his brother deserved to die. He’d never think I’d killed a monster that night.
I choked back the bout of sickness trying to overcome me. That demon had viciously murdered four teens and an innocent little girl. Jayla didn’t deserve to die scared and alone while a beast stole her soul. She didn’t deserve to die at all.
But Warin did.
A long, tired sigh drifted out of Logan, and he leaned back into the couch again. “Well, you can’t lay a harmful hand on Tate while the Infernal Sol is fused with her, but after you break her connection with it, you might come to see—”
Fane’s head suddenly snapped in my direction, his attention zeroing in on the spot I stood as if he could see me.
Oh, shit.
A jolt hit my chest like a lightning bolt, and I slammed back into my body so violently the bed rattled.
What the hell? I grabbed the sheets to ensure I was real instead of some incorporeal ghost.
Did that really happen? Did I slip out of my body and listen to their conversation?
The door crashed open, and I jerked against the pillows. Fane marched into the room, his shoulders swelling as he delivered a scathing sneer in my direction.
“Were you just out there eavesdropping?”
“No.” I pulled the covers up to my chin to hide my pounding heart, but he could most definitely hear it. “I’ve been in here sleeping the whole time.”
He scoffed. “Then why is your pulse racing?”
I flicked my hand at him. “Because you just stormed in here and startled me awake! Being woken up by a mad man tends to cause someone’s pulse to rise.”
The muscles in Fane’s jaw ticked as the heavy silence stretched. My blood heated within my veins, and the tattoo on my neck tingled the longer his attention remained on me. He had me frozen, trapped within his gaze.
