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Once Memnon finishes dressing, he steps up to me and tilts my chin up. All thoughts of indifference vanish at that touch and the look in his eyes.

It’s impossible to be indifferent about Memnon.

“One last thing, Empress.”

“What?” I say, my gaze drifting down to his lips before I jerk my attention back to his eyes.

“Don’t share what we’ve been talking about with anyone else,” he says solemnly.

I think he’s not just referring to the murders but the spell circles too.

I stiffen. “I’m going to have to. I’m meeting with the lycanthropes tonight to discuss what I know.”

His eyebrows rise, the action tugging at his scar. “You have a meeting with them?”

The local pack offered me their friendship and protection after you framed me for murder.

Ah.Memnon has the grace to look a little uncomfortable.

Just be careful, he cautions, his expression growing hard.The Fortunas have eyes in a lot of places. If any of them discover that you are trying to pry their secrets free, I will have to butcher a lot more people to keep them from coming after you. I trust you don’t want all those…needless deaths.

I barely breathe. The sorcerer would do it too—he’s already killed entire armies. A few spies and criminals would be nothingto him, though they’d mean something to me. Those deaths would be on my head.

I could order you to not kill anyone, I say.

Memnon’s eyes begin to glow, a sure sign that I’ve touched a nerve.Do that and you’ll make me desperate to keep you safe. And,est amage, you don’t want me desperate, he warns.

I suppress a shiver. Beneath the surface of my soul mate lives a monster, one who loves me and little else. If Memnon believes he can’t kill those who are a threat to me, he might simply torture them endlessly or break their minds or bodies so completely death won’t matter. Or he might pick another tactic, one that forces my hand in some way.

I won’t leave you vulnerable,Memnon says, only driving his point home further.I cannot bear another Bosporus.

That final battle, he means. The one that began with a betrayal by his oldest friend and his closest aide.

The sorcerer leans in, then hesitates, waiting for me to command him to stop. When I don’t, I see a shadow of a smile a split second before his lips brush mine.

Last night will happen again,he vows. The words are spoken in Sarmatian, and I don’t think they were meant for me. They sound far too distant and quiet to be deliberate.Only next time, you’ll be mine in earnest.

His kiss deepens then, the action echoing his silent sentiment.

When Memnon pulls away, his eyes search my face. “Call to me whenever you need me next, Empress,” he says. “I’ll be around.”

He presses a final, chaste kiss to my lips, then leaves the room.

I sit down hard on my bed, just as the tree outside rustles. The next moment, Nero hops through the window, looking thoroughly disgruntled.

“Hey, have you been out there this whole time?” Shoot, now I feel a little bad.

His tail twitches as he leaps onto my bed.

“I wouldn’t lie there if I were you.” Those sheets are a biohazard at this point.

My familiar takes one whiff of them and dives back off the mattress. He stalks over to his own bed and plops down, giving me a mean look.

“What?” I say defensively. “I warned you that I would have boys over.”

His tail gives an agitated thump.

I open my mouth—why am I defending myself to an overgrown cat?—when my phone buzzes from where it must’ve fallen on the floor at some point last night.