The demon groaned and rolled onto all fours. He lifted his head and grinned, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth. “Worth it.”
“A kiss from me?” I let sadness fill my gaze. “Tygrio…”
A dull acceptance of impending doom filled his eyes. Carmine’s rushing attack filled my ears as Tygrio’s head was ripped back, the scales and skin of his neck exposed.
Tygrio’s whispered words filled my ears, too, a moment before his crimson blood sprayed a stinging trail across my face.
“Urz srtet n eti gneofvo.”
I stared as Tygrio’s head bounced and rolled across the floor, and the screams of his mother echoed through the hall.
Urz srtet n eti gneofvo.
Your sister is in the dungeon.
17
The hardest part of Tygrio’s parting stab at Carmine was that I had to pretend I’d never known the truth. Settling on the most believable approach was hard to gauge. Tygrio had really screwed me just now, and not in the nice way he’d offered to.
What did I feel when Adeuto first told me about Tempest?
Ah,yes.
My unblinking gaze was fixed on his severed head, and shock wasn’t hard to feign. Tygrio was dead. His father was dragging his mother out of the hall, probably fearing that she’d be next.
I summoned all the fury and betrayal and denial that I’d first felt when Adeuto had shown me his new tether to my twin.
Then I looked at Carmine.
He was watching me, whether for my reaction to Tygrio’s death or for my reaction to Tygrio’s words. Did he hear them? I had to assume so, though my life would remain exponentially easier if that wasn’t the case.
Should I wait to see if he’d acknowledge the damning words that spoke of his long-held lies? But no, I should confronthim. If I wasn’t here for my own ends, then I wouldn’t hesitate to throw every bit of accusation his way.
Or would I?
The love I’d held for him was dead. He couldn’t hurt a mate-intended who didn’t love him. Perhaps that was the better path. I could mute my reaction to show him how little he meant.
I cleared my expression of shock and betrayal and fury and then smiled. “Congratulations on your honorable win, Carmine.”
Wariness entered his gaze.Yep,he’d heard Tygrio’s parting words, all right. My reaction was not what he’d expected.
“Are you ready to retire for the evening?” I asked.
I was more than ready. Tygrio was dead, and he was dead because he was a moron, but also because of me. Because I had disobeyed Carmine tonight.
This was his punishment. He’d known that Tygrio amused me, and he’d taken that small, meaningless thing away to prove his power and to prove how unpredictable the consequences might be.
“I am not, enamai,” the demon king said in a silken voice. “There are other matches to enjoy.”
Covered in Tygrio’s blood, which must hurt him, Carmine took the larger throne next to mine.
Demons were torn between looking at him, me, and Tygrio’s head.
Tygrio had known my sister, and some of his usual behavior made sense. If not for the risk he’d taken in challenging Carmine by pursuing me, then I could chalk his parting comment down to a last punishment for his executioner. Tygrio must have felt something for Tempest. Nothing else made sense. So much of his behavior was erratic and illogical and had to be based in strong feeling. If freeing Tempest was his goal, then there had been far better ways to secure my help and achieve that.Idiot.
My exhale shook, and Carmine’s gaze seared into the side of my cheek.
“Continue,” he said lazily.
