ログインChapter 43: Daddy Reads the StoryVERA POVThe lock clicks.I don't remember crossing the flat. I am in my study with the desk drawer open and the letter opener in my fist. Then I am in the hallway, barefoot, back against the wall by the coat hooks. My heart hits my ribs so hard I can hear it. The handle turns. The door swings in.It's Kael.Rain sits on his shoulders and in his hair. Dorian's spare key is in his hand. His eyes are already gold, and they go straight to the blade in my grip, then to my face.I lower it. My arm shakes."Dorian flagged an unknown number tracking your building." He shuts the door behind him and turns the bolt. "I saw the photo before you did. Show me your phone."I give it to him. I don't argue. He reads standing in the dark hall with the screen lighting his face from below. I watch his jaw turn to stone. A muscle in his cheek moves once and stops. He reads the last line twice.Tell Wren the Luna sends her regards."She knows about Mila," I say."She know
Chapter 42: Thirty Thousand Feet of TruthVERAThe cabin is dim. The engines hum, steady and low. My laptop has been open for twenty minutes and I haven't typed a word. The cursor blinks in an empty line, over and over.Kael sits across from me with his jacket off and his sleeves rolled to the elbow. He has a folder on the table. He hasn't opened it. He isn't pretending to work. He is only watching me."Stop staring.""Then stop leaving your bracelet loose."I look down. The thin gold band has slid halfway to my palm. The pale crescent on the inside of my wrist is in plain light. Five years I have kept it covered. I could fix it with one finger.The attendant came through an hour ago with water and left two glasses on the table. Mine is still full. Kael's is empty. He drank it without looking at it, and I noticed, because I have been noticing everything about him since the corridor.I don't.That is the first crack, and we both see it.Kael unbuckles and crosses the aisle. He sits in
Chapter 41: The Mark Never FadesVERAI make it as far as the staff corridor behind the lobby. The door swings shut and the noise cuts off. Concrete walls. A cart of folded towels. A fire extinguisher bolted at shoulder height. The lights hum.Behind me, Lucas is still laughing. It was a joke, he told us, just a joke, look at your faces. Then he walked out through the revolving door with his hands in his pockets, and Kael did not move until I said I needed air.My knees go.I feel the floor coming, and then it doesn't come. Kael is there. One hand flat on the wall beside my head. The other at my waist, steady, not gripping. I smell cedar and rain and the hotel soap on his skin."Step back." My voice cracks on the second word and I hate it. "I don't need you to stand in front of me like I'm made of glass.""I know you're not." He doesn't move. He says it low, close enough that I feel it on my cheek. "I wanted to. There's a difference, Vera. Let me have it."I should push him. My hand i
Chapter 40: The Morning After the StormVERAMy head pounds before my eyes open. The taste of champagne sits on my tongue, sour and flat.Light cuts across the ceiling in one hard white line. The storm is gone. I lie still and take inventory. Black dress, still zipped. One shoe on. The pink diamond rests against my collarbone, warm, as if it has been holding my pulse all night.Last night comes back in pieces. Lightning. Glass breaking. His hand at the small of my back. My own voice saying his name.Then I turn my head.Kael sits in the armchair by the window. His tie hangs loose. His jacket is folded over the armrest, folded, not thrown. His eyes are open and fixed on me, red at the edges. He hasn't slept.The glass from last night is gone from the floor. Someone swept it. The curtains are open exactly one hand's width, enough to let light in and keep the street out. He arranged this room while I slept. He never said a word about it.I sit up too fast. The room tilts. "Why are you st
CHAPTER FREYA POVThe phone hits the mattress hard enough to bounce.One hundred and fourteen calls. I counted. Every one of them went to voicemail after four rings, and every time the same polite recorded voice told me the person I was calling was unavailable. I know he is unavailable. I know where he is.The tablet on the nightstand keeps refreshing. It has not stopped in an hour. The same photographs, over and over. Kael and Vera Ashford coming down the steps of a private jet. His hand hovering at the small of her back, not touching, but close enough that nobody who looks at the picture will believe it does not. The two of them going into a hotel in the rain. The comments underneath are vicious and fast. The Cold Alpha and the Ice Queen. A corporate romance. A possible new Luna.New Luna.I pick up the tablet and turn it face-down on the sheet. My hand is not steady. I put both palms flat on my knees and look at them until they are.I have not changed out of the silk robe. I have
CHAPTER 39FREYA POVThe phone hits the mattress hard enough to bounce.One hundred and fourteen calls. I counted. Every one of them went to voicemail after four rings, and every time the same polite recorded voice told me the person I was calling was unavailable. I know he is unavailable. I know where he is.The tablet on the nightstand keeps refreshing. It has not stopped in an hour. The same photographs, over and over. Kael and Vera Ashford coming down the steps of a private jet. His hand hovering at the small of her back, not touching, but close enough that nobody who looks at the picture will believe it does not. The two of them going into a hotel in the rain. The comments underneath are vicious and fast. The Cold Alpha and the Ice Queen. A corporate romance. A possible new Luna.New Luna.I pick up the tablet and turn it face-down on the sheet. My hand is not steady. I put both palms flat on my knees and look at them until they are.I have not changed out of the silk robe. I hav







