Something in his tone made me pause. This wasn’t just courtesy or deflection, there was real fear there. But he hardly knew the girl. “She’s safe. Back at the Syndicate house.”
“With Aeris watching over her,” he said, his voice tight.
“We hear Aeris has been… attentive,” Minerva said carefully.
A commotion at the Vale’s entrance drew our attention.
The guard was arguing with someone, a woman wrapped in a dark cloak. As she turned, the hood fell back, revealing familiar copper locks.
“Thea?” Archer straightened. “What the hell is she doing here?”
Before any of us could move, a group of armed men emerged from the shadows surrounding her. One grabbed her arm, and she lashed out, but there were too many. They dragged her toward the entrance, the guard stepping aside to let them pass.
“Wait,” Minerva hissed as Archer reached for his sword. “Something isn’t right.”
The last thing we saw before they disappeared into the Vale was Thea’s face, and the smile that shouldn’t have been there.
“Well fuck,” Tuck said quietly. “Looks like Alastor’s not the only one setting traps.”
22
Paesha
“You reek of madness,” Alastor said, as if he were accusing me of something within my control. His fingers dug into my jaw as he forced my face up. “Show me what lives in that broken mind of yours so I can bend it.”
But I couldn’t take my eyes off Winter as she circled behind him, her white gown stained crimson, dragging across the stone floor. Snow followed her, dissolving before it touched the ground. She was beautiful in the way only dying things could be, haunting and untouchable, caught between one world and the next.
“He loved me too, you know.” Winter’s voice was like ice cracking. “Or he said he did. Over and over until the words lost all meaning.”
“Words mean nothing,” I whispered, watching as she traced her fingers along Alastor’s shoulders. He couldn’t feel her touch, couldn’t see the way her presence made the air shimmer with frost.
“Oh? And what words have meaning to you, Huntress?” Alastor asked, misunderstanding. His Remnants coiled tighter around my wrists, burning against the binding marks.
Winter laughed. “Tell him how it feels to be bound. To be caged. To behis.”
“I’m not his,” I snarled, straining against the ropes. “I’ll never be his.”
Alastor’s eyes narrowed. “Careful, Huntress. My patience wears thin.”
“I think it’s time,” Winter whispered as Alastor’s Remnants surged forward. They struck like vipers, sinking icy fangs into my flesh. The world dissolved into shadows and snow.
The night air bit my exposed skin as I ran through the garden, moonlight turning the frost covered roses to silver and diamond. My red dress whispered against the dormant plants, catching on thorns that drew blood like tiny kisses.
“Winter!” His voice carried on the wind, playful and warm despite the cold. “You can’t hide from me forever.”
I pressed my back against a marble statue as my heart thundered in my chest with equal parts excitement and fear. This was dangerous. We both knew it. A common soldier and a noblewoman, a love forbidden by birth and station. But I couldn’t forget the day he’d found me on that lonely road, my horse gone lame, the way he’d walked beside me for miles just to see me home safely. There were men that would’ve taken advantage and then there were men like him. Those with honor. Care. Respect.
“Found you.” His breath was warm against my neck as strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind. Even in full gear, he moved like a shadow, silent and graceful.
“Thorne,” I breathed, melting into his embrace. “We shouldn’t…”
“Shouldn’t what?” He turned me to face him, and even in the darkness, his hazel eyes burned. “Shouldn’t love? Shouldn’t live? Shouldn’t take what fate offers?”
“My father?—”
“Doesn’t matter.” He caught my face between his callused palms, his touch gentle despite the strength I knew he possessed. “Nothing matters but this. But us.”
When he kissed me, I tasted freedom on his lips. Tasted the promise of a life where titles and stations meant nothing compared to the way his heart beat in time with mine. And gods, I wanted him. I wanted it to be so fucking easy with him. But I knew it couldn’t be.
