Page 1

PROLOGUE
PRESENT DAY
The air tasted like death.
Five solemn faces stood on a stage at the front of the large room, glaring down at everyone, violence in their eyes.
Even though the room was cool, richly decorated with golden furniture and dotted with colorful exotic plants, the power emanating from their combined presence made the room oppressive. Suffocating and stifling.
I took in even, shallow breaths to contain my apprehension. I was here to show my allegiance, nothing more.
One of them began to speak, I wasn’t paying attention who; I kept my back straight, concentration focused ahead to watch them…my gaze landing on one man.
The same man, each time, no matter how hard I tried to suppress the need clawing inside me.
It always came back tohim.
He'd been my whole world as a child, and now, he stood apart from me, up with the Kings of this city, his natural place in this world.
The old King had just been killed by one of them, and now things would be different for the people of the City of Sin.
Except for me.
Everything would always stay the same in my world.
Always yearning for something I couldn't have.
Always hating the man I’d once trusted the most.
And, always betraying the man I also loved the most.
The men in the front of the room shifted, each one pledging their allegiance to the new Don of the city, accompanied by either the woman they loved, or the Don’s wife. As they continued, one by one, Knight shifted.
As always, I noticed everything the man did, no matter where he was in the room.
His face tilted, his gaze roaming the room, and I felt it the moment his soft brown eyes landed on me.
There was a hundred men and women standing between us, but, just like me, he also knew whereIwas in the room, no matter what.
I knew from experience that those eyes were the indescribable color of a river. Clear like a shallow creek bed, littered with brown river rock, worn smooth by the water and the passage of time. Just the thought of them on me sent a chill crawling up my back and goosebumps fluttering across my skin.
I forced myself to remain calm.
I wouldn’t show weakness. Not here, not ever, and especially,not in front of him.
Instead of focusing on the ceremony, like he should because his goddamn life depended on it, his gaze met mine.
He stared at me like a man on a mission. Determined to destroy me.
I met his gaze with a hardened one of my own.
There was a time in my life when I would do anything this man asked of me. Just one look from him, and I would crawl on hands and knees, through fire or broken glass, for him.
Not anymore.
I allowed the anger constantly throbbing inside me to billow in my chest and throat. Allowed myself tofeelmy rage, sohewould feel it too. So he would know by a look, without saying a word, how I felt about him.
No one else knew it, but we were sworn enemies. The words had never left our lips, and yet, we both recognized it. Felt it, breathed it, lived it.