Thousands of stars greeted me. For a moment, I felt so lost in them. I wondered which direction Horrin lay at this time of night, during this time of the season when the days were beginning to warm. I thought of my savings. I thought of all the permits I needed to apply for, all the transport depots I would need to navigate, all the stern-eyed beings I would need to face just to reach my father.
I felt so incredibly tired. Lost. Lonely.
It had been four months since Father had died. AndstillI wasn’t used to these feelings.
Three Kylorr were flying toward RaanaDyaanin the distance, coming from the South. I watched as they zoomed over Stellara Forest, the great flaps of their wings almost in sync with one another. Males, I knew, when their thick horns became silhouetted against the night sky.
Blowing out a breath, I looked over Stellara Forest again. I scraped the pad of my fingertip over the piece of bark prodding into my back. The forest was pitch black this time of night. Most Kylorr didn’t venture inside Stellara. Superstition, I’d determined—something about an ancient war, though my long walks beneath her trees were nothing short of a peaceful reprieve.
A breeze kicked up, blowing back my hair. For a moment, I closed my eyes, savoring it, drawing in another deep breath, scenting the breeze of the nearest sea. We weren’t that far from the ports. It was why we’d come here. Becauseshehad lived near the sea.Shehad lived in Erzos. This was where they’d fallen in love.
Boom.
When the three Kylorr males landed on the cobbled stone that spread out like a fan from RaanaDyaan’s front entrance, I nearly gasped in surprise, my eyelids popping open.
“I don’t think I even need to feed,” came a gruff voice. “I just want someloreand some brew.”
Twin blue eyes were watching me in the darkness, reflecting off the golden light pouring out from the window of the lounge.
Stunned, my breath whistled out of my lungs, my back straightening against the bleeding tree.
The Kylorr male’s black wings were still stretched wide from his flight. Sharp curved talons made peaks on both, like spikes over his broad shoulders. His horns were arced, hugging closer to his skull than most Kylorr I’d seen but no less deadly. His ears were pointed, jutting beyond his black hair, which he kept short and trim, neat.
His pants looked perfectly pressed, and every silver latch on his intricate vest was bone straight. The long-sleeved tunic he wore underneath it was skin tight, molding to his thick arms and broad shoulders. The light gray skin that was exposed—his large hands, his wide neck, his beautiful, beautiful face—gleamed in the warm light.
Then there were his eyes.
Hard and glinting, his eyes reminded me of a winter sea: harsh, brutal, merciless.
A sapphire sea I could drown in.
Kythel of House Kaalium.
High Lord of Erzos.
I recognized him as easily as his beautiful, spired, gothic keep jutting beyond Stellara’s borders to the south.
He frowned as he studied me. Then the sharp cut of his square jawline slashed away like a blade when he turned to regard the first male who’d spoken, a male I couldn’t see beyond the corner of RaanaDyaan.
“You’re more than welcome to return to the keep, Kaldur,” came Kythel’s voice. “But stay far away from my own stores ofloreand my cellars.”
“Stay away from his keepers too,” came a third voice, a husky laugh accompanying it. “Didn’t you fuck one when you were last here?”
“Enough,” Kythel said sharply. My breath turned to ice in my throat when he turned his gaze toward me again. I watched his brow furrow briefly.
I should greet them. Smile. Lead them to Lesana, who was waiting eagerly just inside the door. Instead, I was frozen solid in place, pinned by that gaze.
Kythel finally turned away. To his companions, he said, “Come. I need to feed, and we already have so much to discuss tonight.”
Then he strode from sight. Their heavy footsteps retreated. A few moments later, I heard Lesana’s calm and confident voice as she greeted, “Kyzaires. We are delighted that you can join us tonight.”
When I was alone once more, my body sagged against the bleeding tree like I’d been a puppet…and he’d been controlling my fraying strings.
CHAPTER2
KYTHEL
The Kylorr female’s brief flash of nerves sparked at me from across the room the moment I stepped inside. I’d fed from her before. I couldn’t remember her name, though Lesana had remembered that I’d liked the taste of her blood last time.
