“You drugged me—”
“No.” He bent, kissing her thoroughly before pressing his teeth to her throat in a fleeting bite that had her breath coming up short. “I just made you a little sick so my brother and sister wouldn’t take you out before I was ready for you.” His hand slid to her left hip, holding her in place as he kissed her harder. “And I am,” he added, in a dark voice, “ready for you.”
“But the tea—”
“Wasn’t from me.” His mouth turned down as he looked down at her, his amber eyes gleaming like a crow’s. “It seems to have worn off, though. I can feel your pulse racing.”
She stared at him, weak with shock and something that might have been a twisted relief. Like the stag in her painting, she had been pushed to the very ends of what she could endure. And now she found that—true to his words—all roads really did lead to him.
“Ben tried to touch me.” Tears leaked from her eyes but she didn’t care any longer if it made her looked weak. She suspected Cal didn’t mind. That some depraved part of him might have even liked her a little better that way. “He was going to—with hisgun—”
The hand at her hip tightened. “Was he?”
She shuddered violently. This time, when he gave her arm a tug, she fell against him, unresisting. His skin was warm and firm and familiar beneath her fingers. Reluctant heat swelled inside her belly when he placed her palm over his fly.
“This is what you do to me. You’re mine, little sparrow. Not his.Mine.”
“I thought you were going to kill me,” she sobbed. “I thought youlied.”
“But you’re my sweet little sparrow-bride.” He pressed down on her hand, until she was cupping him fully through his jeans. Grinding his hips against her palm, he said, heavily, “Why would I kill you, Nadine? Why would I destroythis?”
“That’s what your family does,” she whispered. “They kill all their sparrows.”
“Not you.”
He pulled away abruptly and untied his shirt from his hips, working the sleeves over her hands first so she wouldn’t have to raise her arms to put it on. The shirt gaped at the throat, partially unbuttoned and far too broad for her smaller shoulders, but the soft, warm material covered what Ben had ripped away and smelled so much like him that it made her want to cry.
“Not you,” he repeated. “No—I’m going to make you soar.” He cupped her face in his large hands. His forehead rested against hers, their noses brushing. “Those birds at the wedding were a sign, Nadine. Ravens mate for life.”
A sudden crash made them both look up.
“She—is—not—a—fucking—raven!”
Nadine gasped, gripping Cal’s shoulder when he shoved her behind him.
Ben’s eyes were wild and red where he’d tried to rub the dirt from them. One had blood trickling from the corner, where it had been pricked by a splinter or a thorn. The red droplet jagged down his face like a tear.
“Oh, did she try to scratch your eyes out? What did you do to provoke her, I wonder?”
“Get out of the way, Caledon. You can’t protect her any longer. Father has looked the other way but this ends now. She dies tonight. And if you won’t kill her, I will.”
“I don’t think my sparrow wants to go with you.” Cal’s voice hardened, the playfulness draining away. “She belongs to me, Ben. I know it must be hard for you, seeing her come to me so tamely; especially when your sparrow was so eager to be rid of you, she died screaming your sins.”
Ben snarled. “Father agrees with me.”
“Of course he does. He wants us all to be as cold and miserable as he is. Haven’t you noticed how he thrills to our fights? Who do you think left that book out for Noelle to find in the first place?”
What?Nathaniel had been the one to give Noelle the book?
“You’re lying,” Ben spat. But he didn’t sound too sure.
“Father lost his faith in sparrows years ago. You’ve seen how he treats our mother. All he’d like to do is hunt and fuck. It doesn’t really matter if Noelle had accepted you or not, Ben. Father would have found a way to split you apart eventually, just as he never really would have let you have Nadine.”
“You’re fuckinglying.”
It came out like a scream, so full of rage that it didn’t seem possible for a pair of human vocal cords to take such punishing abuse. But it was the look in his eyes that was most terrifying. It was no longer human. Whatever remnants of a soul he possessed had clearly left his body.
“Ask Father,” Cal said. “He’s been grooming you for this your whole life, Benjamin. Every speck of brick. Every drop of blood. All leading to this—ask him what he intends for you.”
