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Color filled his cheeks. “Can you blame a male?”

I crossed the threshold, a laugh spilling from my lips. But when I caught sight of the inside of Vale’s suite, that laugh died.

From the door, I could see into the bathroom. My eyebrows pinched together. It was a mess with towels on the ground, along with the soap and other bottles filledwith personal care potions, balms, elixirs and the like. I’d been the last one in there and most certainly had not thrown anything on the ground . . .

“Vale,” I whispered as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “Someone has been inside your rooms.”

“What? That’s impossible.”

But it wasn’t. Heart hammering, I dashed down the short hallway leading into his open bedchamber, and when I reached the bedroom and laid eyes on the floor, I gasped.

Broken glass glinted on the floor, shimmering in two pools of blood.

Chapter 11

NEVE

“No.” The strangled word burst from my lips. “No, no,no!”

I rushed forward, not even bothering to be careful about the glass or the pooled blood on the ground and flung open the drawer I’d hidden the vials inside.

Someone had tossed it. A few others too, judging by how clothing littered the floor or hung partially out of the drawers. And whoever had done so had been looking for the vials filled with Roar’s and my blood.

They’d found them too. Destroyed them.

“Bleeding skies!” I slammed the drawer shut and my fists formed into tight, furious balls.

“Neve? What’s going on? Did they take something?” Vale rushed after me. “How—” He stopped at the edge of the room; his eyes caught on the ground. “Is that yourblood?”

I didn’t reply. Couldn’t. I couldn’t even think straight. I was so furious that even my wings burned with anger.

Someone had been in here, someone, no doubt, sent by Roar. He’d known that in his escape from the city, he left behind the vial of my blood. He’d also correctly assumed that I’d taken it. And he’d hired someone to destroy them, thus destroying our deal—or what had been left of it, anyway.

More importantly, if it turned out to be true that he left for no good reason, there was no way I could ever demand he pay for what he’d done. The dangerhe’dput me in. I could no longer drink the blood that sealed our magical deal.

Not that I’d everwantedto drink it. Given my past as a blood slave, the idea disgusted me. However, knowing that it had been an optionwascomforting in a messed-up sort of way.

He’d taken that from me. Roar turned his back on me and broke our deal.

On the nightstand lay my stack of books that the servants had brought from the Lisika suite, along with my clothing and other meager belongings. I grabbed the top one from the pile, spun on my heel, and hurled it at the opposite wall.

“Neve! What’s going on?”

A snarl burst out of me as I hurled another book at the wall, but before I grabbed for a third, the prince’s powerful arms wrapped around me.

“Tell me,” he whispered, pulling me close to his chest. “Tell me what happened here. Besides the obvious . . . why are you so upset? You’re not bleeding, are you?”

“No,” I murmured, my heart still thundering, my limbs trembling. “No, I’m . . . I—Stars, it’s awful!”

I fell apart, tears cascading down my cheeks.

Vale scooped me up in his arms and strode across the room, glass crunching beneath his boots. Gently, he set me on the bed and sat next to me.

“Please”—he took my hand in his and the warmth of his skin comforted me—“tell me what happened. I can help.”

“Y-y-you can’t,” I whispered. “There’s no way.”

“Maybe I can surprise you.”