Bullseye.
He roared, spitting threats about hel and sending me there himself.
Please. Hel was nothing new to me.
A low purr brushed my skull, Killian’s amusement, not a sound but a ripple.Oh, not a vixen,it slid in.Something far more damning.
His grin flared as my eyes caught the flash of diamonds at the tips of his canines. Of course hewore jewelry on his damn fangs.
He stopped in front of me, tilting his head. “You’re calm for someone with an Angel in their head.”
I met his stare, making sure he saw how unimpressed I was. “I’ve had worse in there.”Haveworse. “So be careful, you never know what’s hiding in the murk.”
Giving a humorless laugh, he dipped his chin. “Comforting. You’re not afraid?”
I shrugged, eyes fixed on his. “Should I be? Sorry to disappoint but you’re not exactly unnerving with all that finery.”
There was the thinnest twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Maybe I should try harder then.”
A pulse rippled through my skull, and for a heartbeat I thought he might strike me down. Instead, he said, “You’re interesting. I almost hope you survive all this.”
Darkness rattled against its cage. “That’s the thing, Angel. I’m always the one that survives.”
For a moment, Killian only watched, eyes unreadable. Understanding or warning. Maybe both. He stepped forward, closing any distance left between us. “Then let’s begin.”
I narrowed my stare, picturing what it would be like to drain all the blue from his eyes until they were nothing but dull grey. “By all means,” I said. “See what’s left of me.”
He nodded, as if my words had been permission. “Verena Vale—” Here we go. “Are you a rebel?”
A long, lazy yawn poured from me as I rolled my shoulders, stretching my arms behind me. The shackles shifted with a soft drag of metal that I chose to ignore. Seems I still had full control over myself, even with Killian’s magic seeping through my skull.
Callum’s jaw flexed across the room, his signature neck roll already full of tension.
Killian’s voice came again.Don’t make me look bad, kitten.
“Don’t call me kitten,” I hissed, more serpent than feline.
His mouth twitched but held, I could see the way he bit the inside of his cheek to stop the grin from spreading.
Obrann, however, waved an impatient hand, liquid sloshing in his goblet. “What is the hold up?”
“One more time, Ms. Vale.” Killian stepped closer and the air changed with him, mountain-cold and honey-bitter, enough to sting my throat. “Are. You. A. Rebel?”
Each word dragged out. A few minutes with me and he was hopefully already regretting every decision that led him here.
My head lifted. “No. I. Am. Not.”
The smart thing would’ve been to shrink. But if I was going to die tonight, I’d at least have my fun first.
A goblet slammed against limestone, wine spraying across the pale. Obrann lurched to his feet, fury blotching his face scarlet. “Did you murder my son, you worthless, vile little vermin?!”
Elva didn’t flinch as his cape blew up near her face when he charged by. The only movement from her was the gentle sway of hair across her cheek.
Killian lifted a hand, as if to intervene, but let it fall again, deliberate in his inaction as each clack of Obrann’s boots slammed nearer.
A shutter flashed across my skull, Killian’s hold releasing, not unlike shivers I’ve felt down my nape before.
Seizing me by the hem of my shirt, Obrann jerked, trying to haul me upright. A pathetic attempt. My boots stayed planted to the stone, weight refusing him.
