Alec shoved me hard. My feet tangled with the body on the ground—her body—and I fell, wrist twisting under my weight as I collapsed against her. My mother. Burned, gone, the last light in her eyes finally fading away, leaving behind a hollow stare. I let out a raw, guttural scream that tore through me like shrapnel.
“Tell me what to do, Alec!” I begged, voice hoarse, hands shaking as I pressed them into the dirt. “Please, I’ll do it right this time. I promise!”
He crouched, bringing his face level with mine. His expression softened, not with compassion, but with a twisted kind of pity that made me want to vomit. His smirk curved like he was about to tell a joke.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I believe you, Em,” he said, voice low, taunting, almost playful. “But you already fucked up our plan. How am I supposed to trust you won’t deviate again?”
“I won’t,” I swore, tears streaking hot across my cheeks. “I swear it.”
“Swear?” His smile widened. “Promises are dangerous little things, sister.”
Another sob racked me, and I dropped my gaze, unable to withstand the sharp light of his cruelty. But Alec wasn’t finished. He hooked two fingers under my chin and forced my face up until our eyes locked. His grip was bruising under his power.
“Then promise me this and only this, Emersyn Spade,” he murmured, voice velvet over steel. “You will be the downfall of the Knights of Lovelen after tonight. I want them erased. Wipedfrom the earth…or rotting in a cell until they choke on their own breath.”
His fingers dug deeper, forcing me to nod, though every part of me screamed in terror.
“Can you do that for me?” he asked, deadly calm.
And in that moment—broken and blood-soaked, the ashes of my mother at my knees and my brother’s demand like a knife at my throat—I didn’t have a choice.
I whispered, “Yes.”
Even though the word tasted like betrayal.
“We were to be married,” I blurted out, the words spilling from my lips without thinking. Kaius lowered his cigarette, his eyes examining me as I fidgeted under his stare.
“Yes.” His voice cut through the room, clipped and void of warmth, as though he’d rehearsed detachment for centuries. He leaned back in his chair, casual but dangerous. “Your brother insisted that I marry you to ensure you were kept safe, but from what I can see, you have taken care of yourself quite well, Emersyn Spade.”
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped at him. “That girl died on the day you murdered my brother.”
“I never murdered your brother.” Kaius tilted his head, a predator scenting weakness.
I took a step back, desperate to put space between us, but his hand shot out, impossibly fast, gripping the back of my thighs. The heat of his touch burned through the denim. My body went rigid. “Not so fast, kitten.”
“I saw you kill him,” I spat, though my voice wavered. The memory clawed at me—the sound of the gun, the hollow ache in my chest, the world collapsing. “Ifeltit. The shot ripped through me too.”
His thumb moved lazily against my thigh, featherlight, maddening. “Did you?” Kaius’s voice was softer now, almostcruel in its calmness. “Or were you hallucinating? When you lit up your family home, did you even know what was behind those doors? What lived in your walls? It wasn’t insulation, I can tell you that much.”
“No,” I breathed out.
Kaius stood, unfolding his tall frame until it towered over mine. The air around him seemed to shift, grow heavier, denser, as though the weight of his presence alone might crush me. His hand dipped behind his back, and I knew what was coming. I closed my eyes, bracing myself, and refusing him the satisfaction of seeing fear in me. Cold metal pressed against my temple. A shudder ripped down my spine, my breath becoming shallow and ragged.
“Look at me, Acelynn.” His voice was velvet over steel, soft but commanding.
Against my will, my eyes flew open, colliding with the storm of his green gaze. They weren’t cruel the way they should’ve been. They were fractured, wounded. A devastating sadness flickered there, a mirror of my own. “There was Muze in your home, and when you lit that damn place up, the entire place became a biohazard. There was no way you didn’t get a contact high being that close to the fire. I didn’t kill your brother that night. I simply put him out of his misery.”
“That doesn’t change anything.” My teeth ground together.
His gaze drifted above my head, as though the weight of what he carried was too heavy to meet me. Rage, grief, and exhaustion swirled together on his face. I slammed my hands against his chest, forcing him to see me, to hear me.
“No, you don’t get to feel sad for anything in this situation. My family is dead because of the Knights. What? I wasn’t a good enough power play for you?”
“I wasn’t marrying you for power.” Kaius’s gaze snapped back to me.
I rolled my eyes, my fury rising. The barrel of the gun dug harder into my skull, making stars burst in my vision. “But you, coming into this bar, into my club with the sole intention of fucking us over, cannot be left unpunished.”
“Then punish me, oh powerful King of Lovelen,” I hissed out at him. “If it weren’t for today, you would have never known who I was.”
