"Careful, Reaper," Vex said, his smile turning hungry. "We wouldn't want any accidents. You know how... fragile mortals can be."
"We're done here." Dante's voice was flat, final. "Brynn. We're leaving."
She started to rise, but Vex moved faster.
His hand closed around her wrist before she could pull away, his grip burning hot against her skin. He yanked her back, spinning her to face him, and his other hand came up to cup her jaw, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"Such a waste," he breathed, his thumb stroking across her cheekbone. "All that power sleeping in your blood, and he keeps you ignorant. Keeps you dependent. Don't you want to know what you really are?"
She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. His touch felt foreign, draining, like he was trying to drink the warmth from her through the contact.
"Ask him about your bloodline," Vex whispered, his lips close enough that she could smell that sickly-sweet rot on his breath. "Ask him how long he's known. Ask him why he hasn't?—"
The shadows slammed into Vex.
One moment, his hands were on her face, his body too close, his words crawling under her skin. Next, he was across the room, slamming against the crystal wall so hard the entire structure cracked. Dante's shadows wrapped around his throat, his chest, his limbs. Pinning him, while frost exploded across every surface in the chamber.
Dante stood between them now, and she couldn't see his face, but she could see his shoulders heaving. The shadows pouring off him were violent, writhing, hungry.
"You touched her." He advanced on Vex. "You put your hands on her."
Vex wheezed against the pressure on his throat, but somehow he was still smiling. "Struck a nerve, did I?"
The shadows tightened. The crystal behind Vex's head cracked further, spiderwebbing outward.
"Dante." Her voice came out steadier than she felt. Her wrist was still burning where Vex had grabbed her, and her jaw ached from his grip. "Let's go."
He didn't move. The shadows kept tightening.
"If you kill him, there will be consequences," she said, hating that she had to be the reasonable one when every part of her wanted to watch Dante tear him apart. "Political consequences. For you. For your realm."
A long moment passed. The shadows trembled.
Then Dante's hand found the small of her back, and he pulled her against his side, positioning his body between her and Vex even as the shadows slowly, reluctantly loosened.
Vex slid down the wall, gasping, but his gaze found hers over Dante's shoulder. "Ask him," he rasped.
Dante's shadows swept around them both, pulling them into transport magic before Vex could say anything else.
LII.
BRYNN
Solid ground hit her feet and Brynn's knees nearly buckled.
The familiar chill of twilight felt like a sanctuary after Vex's false paradise. But her skin still crawled where he'd touched her. His hands on her wrist, her jaw. His breath against her face. All of it repulsive, like poison seeping through her skin.
Dante dismissed the servants with a gesture before they could speak. Then he turned to her, and the rawness in his expression made her breath catch.
"Come," he said quietly, extending his hand.
She stared at his palm. Such a simple offer. But after everything Vex had said, after the questions now circling in her mind…
She tentatively placed her hand in his.
His gloved fingers closed around hers, and relief flooded his features so intensely it made her throat tighten. This touch felt right. Warm where Vex's had burned. Safe, where Vex's had felt like a violation.
That was the problem, wasn't it? He always felt safe.
