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“Oh, completely, yes,” I gush because I’ll never forget this moment.

We fall silent and just stare out, the thundering crash of water faintly heard all the way over here. Some moments feel rare, and this is one of them, as I sit and admire the beauty, smiling endlessly.

After a long pause of silence, I glance over at Lian, who’s surprisingly quiet. “Do you and Corvin really hate each other that much? You both looked pretty vicious out in the corridor during your fight.”

He doesn’t answer right away but keeps staring ahead. I almost nudge him, thinking he didn’t hear me, when he says, “He’s a fucking prick, basically, and our families have been at war with each other for centuries. Plus, he once stole a mate of mine.”

“That’s heavy, especially having that kind of inherited hatred.”

“It’s generations of death and backstabbing. Don’t get me wrong, my court gives as good as we get, but don’t think we’re innocent, because we’re not. And this is one of those rare moments, which you’ll never see again, of me working with someone from the Gold Ember Court.”

“If you hate him so much, why do it?”

“When the court demands it, you do it or die. There aren’t many options, really.”

“Sounds harsh. But I’ve seen that kind of hatred back in the village—young children hating someone else because of their parents—yet the kids have no idea why they dislike them.”

“We’re all from the same realm,” he says, running a hand through his hair, his bicep bulging, and of course, I’m staring. “Yet we couldn’t be more different. Corvin has been given everything since he was a child, raised to be a king.” The muscles in his neck throb. “My father doesn’t do soft. He believes in toughening those under his command. I carried a blade from the age of five, and he made me spend years in the dungeons so I’d stop being afraid of anything.”

“Damn. That’s harsh and horrible.” My stomach clenches at the thought of being treated that way by my own father.

He shrugs as though it’s no big deal, but it starts to explain so much about him. “It’s given us a reputation as the most feared in Grimvale because a warrior who fears nothing has little to ever stop him.”

My heart hurts for him because no one is born without fear, and to have that forced out of a child is torture. What would my life have really been like if I’d grown up with my family in Grimvale? Would I have hated Corvin and Lian, wanting them dead too?

I can’t even imagine being that way, because right now I hate everyone who played a hand in hurting Lian as he grew up.

After a moment of silence, I ask, “So, he stole your mate?”

He nods, staring out into the distance. “She was my first real love, someone who looked at me for who I was, not what family I came from, and she cared, initially. Then the bastard Corvin swooped her away from me, and before I knew it, she was dating both of us.” He chuckles, but the sound is hard-edged and brutal. “I almost killed him for it, but then it was revealed that she played us both, funneling secrets out of each court for the Ash Clan, which is where your loverboy, Kazak, is from. Anyway…” He exhales loudly. “In the end, I was the fucking idiot who fell for her charm and believed she cared. And yeah, I know Corvin got played too, but he still dated her when he knew she meant the world to me.” He gives me a cocky grin, and for the first time, I see a vulnerable side to Lian.

Damn him, but that side of him gets to me, and I shouldn’t want to reach over to comfort him, yet my hand is already patting his arm.

“Sounds super complicated.”

“Not really.” He cracks his neck. “He took what was mine and had to pay for it.”

“So this girl still means a lot to you, even now?”

“Fuck no,” he barks and lifts my hand to his mouth, where he kisses my knuckles. I don’t know why I don’t pull my hand back, but there’s something comforting in his affection. “She’s dead, but it’s the fucking principle of Corvin’s actions.”

I draw my hand free from his, and he glances over, leaning in closer. “The sun really brings out the violet in your eyes.” He runs the tips of his fingers down my arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps from how tenderly this monster touches.

It’s impossible to ignore the feelings he’s roused in me or the wild thoughts his presence brings into my mind. What would it be like to be claimed by a monster, claws holding me in place, that huge beast in his pants released? I may not have slept with a man yet, but I have sucked on Kazak’s cock, and I know enough from what the girls used to talk about back in the village. Besides, I’ve experimented with my fingers on myself. Once, I caught a farmer’s daughter and her new husband doing it by a shed late at night. It was rough and primal, and I was embarrassingly so turned on that I came in my pants. Not my finest moment, but right now, the familiar, deep tingling between my thighs awakens.

My nipples harden, and, shit, I clearly can’t control myself, so I scramble up off the ledge. “Well, time to go back.”

“What’s the rush?” He spins his whole body around to face me, planting his feet down on the balcony. He stands, towering over me, and I retreat until my back finds the glass door of a room. I glance over my shoulder, wondering if anyone is there, but it’s empty.

Lian closes the distance between us, chin lifted, a devious grin splitting his lips. “You don’t need to run from me.”

I square my shoulders. “I-I’m not.”

His brow furrows, and he plants a hand on the doorframe at my back. “What will you do in your room? Think about Corvin all naked on his bed? Imagine what it’s like kissing a monster like me?” He leans in closer, inhaling deeply, and I hate it when he does that.

“Why do you always assume the wildest things? I’m just tired.”

“Really?” He’s so close now that his masculine scent pours over me, and I’m clenching my thighs together. It makes me wonder if he has those pheromones too but didn’t tell me. Is that what he’s doing to me? Squirting them out? Because that would explain why I’m suddenly turned on.