Renwell drew back a step. His eyes turned cold and calculating, not unlike his beloved torturer’s. “Has it, Kiera? Or do you now prefer to answer to the man who infiltrated my Den, helped you escape, killed the other Wolf in that alley to protect you, and healed your wounds?”
“How do you know that?” I whispered.
Renwell brandished a jagged smile. “I took the bodies and gave them to Korvin. You know how he likes that sort of thing.”
Memories shivered in a corner of my mind—crusty tables, jagged tools, that glittering whip, and jars of nightmares. If I hadn’t fallen apart with Aiden earlier, I might’ve now. But remembering his whispers, his touches, kept the darkness at bay.
“He told me which one was your kill. The punctured throat, just like I taught you. He was impressed.”
A wave of nausea rocked me back on my heels.
I didn’t care for the man I’d killed, but death felt different after dealing it out in a moment’s decision. After I’d stared into the face of my own. What had that Wolf seen in me when I killed him? Had I been no less of a monster than Korvin?
Renwell watched me, noting every fear and weakness I tried to hide. But he didn’t steady me, didn’t draw me into his arms to comfort me. I used to hope he would, after that night he’d rescued me from a different attacker in another alley. Foolishly, I’d soaked up every glance and every effort he made to protect me, thinking it meant the most dangerous man in Rellmira cared for me.
But he’d never shown any affection to me.
Instead, he loved to scratch and poke at my fears as if hoping they’d bite back.
“But the other body,” he continued. “The other one was interesting, Korvin said. Multiple cuts and a few deeper wounds, delivered by a weak arm. I told him how I found the body, crumpled against a wall, a blood trail smeared down the length of it. Your protector impaled my Wolf’s hand then pinned him to the wall with a blade through his throat. He?—”
“Saved my life, yes,” I rasped. “Why are you telling me this?”
“What’s his name?”
I balked. It was probably the easiest bit of information I could give him, yet even that one word felt like a betrayal.
Renwell’s gloved fist wrapped around his knife hilt. “His name, Kiera.”
“Aiden.”
“Aiden,” he murmured. “Do you feel you owe Aiden your life, your loyalty?”
My heart hid from the truth. “No. I told you. I used the incident to gain his trust and immediately left my mark for you. I owe everything to you, Renwell.”
In many ways, I did. Even though there were times, like now, when I hated owing him so much. But I buried those feelings.
A glimmer of triumph and something else—something darker and uglier—brought life back to Renwell’s gaze. “Yes,” he murmured. “To me.”
He let the heavy words hang in the air between us as we stared at each other.
Unbidden, a memory slithered through my mind. Of a moment I’d tried hard to forget.
Months ago, I’d been changing clothes in my room when Renwell had swept in without knocking. We’d both frozen—me in my breast band and undershorts and him fully clothed. But for one searing moment, his gaze was utterly naked with desire.
Before I could take another breath, he stormed out of my room, and I didn’t see him for two days. We never spoke of it, and he’d never looked at me that way again.
But I’d taken to locking my door, even when I was inside, and sleeping fully clothed.
The memory faded as thumps and amorous cries suddenly rose from the room next to ours.
My stomach churned at the unfortunate timing, but I pointed my chin at the source of the noise. “Why did you choose this tavern as our meeting spot?”
His smile grew into something sinister I’d never seen before. “I needed a place where no one wants to look you in the eye. Nor are they sleeping or listening in.”
“Surely there were other places,” I grumbled. I wanted to move away from the trembling wall, but that would’ve brought me closer to the small, bowed bed. And to Renwell.
“And if you were followed,” he added smoothly, “then they would assume you’re doing nothing more illicit than meeting a lover in the dark.”
