Heavy footsteps in the hallway made me pause mid-word. I stuffed the cloth in my pocket and shoved the parchment and charcoal under my pillow right as the door swung open.
“Selena.” Scarven smirked as he shut the door with his heel. The soft, deliberate click felt like a key locking. “You’re still awake.”
That same scent of rancid wine floated around me. I swungmy legs off the bed, trying to calm my racing pulse. I felt the paper heat with a message beneath the pillow, but I didn’t dare react. “I didn’t expect to see you again tonight, my lord.”
He stalked toward me with a hungry gleam in his eyes. “We have unfinished business.” He stood between my legs, his large frame towering over me, so tall I had to crane my neck to meet his gaze.
Something felt different this time. Darker. His eyes were a wild frenzy of lust, control, and anger all in one. A terrified weight sank in my stomach when his hand came out to clutch the back of my neck.
“Has anyone ever told you how beautiful your hair is, Selena?” he whispered, my false name coming out as a hiss. He yanked my head back even further. “Like the blood of a fresh kill.”
He captured my mouth, barely giving me time to breathe. His lips were rougher than usual. Demanding. Threatening. I gasped for breath, my fingers grappling on the sheets, struggling to keep up with him.
When he shoved my back down onto the bed, my blood froze.
He unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt and rolled them up to his elbow. “You look good on your back, Miss Nyte,” he said with a chuckle. “Almost as good as you’d look on your knees.”
I slowed my breaths, matching them to the rhythm of my heart as I kept my gaze on the ceiling just beyond his head. I could feel my shadows writhing beneath my skin. Every instinct told me to use them. To fight back. To run.
But I would be endangering so many more people if I blew this cover. I couldn’t let him find the Keep. I couldn’t let him get to Nox.
His hands went to his waist and pulled at the belt buckle. He whipped it off in one smooth motion, then leaned back down to wrap it around my wrists. I sucked in a breath when he yanked them tight above my head.
Something hot flared next to my thigh.
Scarven’s brow furrowed. He looked at the pillow, and my stomach dropped.
The parchment.
I couldn't breathe.
He lifted the pillow, his eyes locking onto the paper with what I knew would be another message from Nox.
“Well, well, well,” he murmured, his voice icy. “It seems the lamb might not be so innocent after all.” He flashed the parchment at me.
Devora, if you don’t respond in five minutes, I’m coming to get you.
Crumpling it, he tossed it off the bed and gripped my throat in his large hand. “And who is this knight in shining armor,Devora?” he asked, drawing out my real name. He studied me coldly as he cocked his head. “Might it be my dear younger brother?”
“My lord, I—” My words ended in a choke as he tightened his hold.
“Let’s see what else you’ve been lying about, shall we?”
Before I knew what he was doing, I felt a sharp prick on my arm.
I let out a yell as my magic instantly reacted. It thrashed and beat against every cell of my body until it burst from my skin in a billowing cloud of shadows, twisting around both of us.
He snarled, “Shadow Wielder.”
He pressed me deeper into the bed by my throat, cutting off my circulation. I tried to kick, but the full weight of his bottom half was on top of me. With his other hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and sharp.
Another needle.
“Did you think you could trick me, love?” he hissed. “Play me for a fool?” He rested the tip of the second needle against my neck. “I’ve known what you were up to since you left your cloak at my stables, reeking of dragon filth.”
I jerked my head. I willed my shadows to curl at my fingers, shoving against his hold, but he wasstronger.
With a growl, he said, “Now we’ll see how my brother’s plaything looks strung up on my wall and screaming my name.”
