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Several long minutes ticked past before he finally answered. “Sivanah was a faerie. A sympath.”

Shock slammed through her.Stay cool, Alex. She released his arm and cleared her throat. “Faerie? You never mentioned it.” How naïve of her to assume she was the first.

“I was young and stupid.” The words came out cold and laden with disgust. “One touch was all it took for her to have me in her thrall. She manipulated my emotions, made me believe she was my soul mate.”

Alex crossed her arms and dug her nails into her flesh. Was this the demon Liam spoke of? The one he expected her to slay?

“Soul mate?”

“When a vampire falls in love, and their souls connect, their hearts beat in sync.Duo corda, amor unus. Two hearts beating as one. Though my heart didn’t beat for her, Sivanah convinced me it was only a matter of time. That she was my soul mate.”

“Why would she do that?” What good was love if it wasn’t genuine?

He exhaled a laugh, a self-deprecating sound. “I was a means to an end. She insisted I turn her.”

“Turn her?” She frowned. “Into a vampire?”

“The transition is difficult. Most die during the attempt. For those who survive, their strengths multiply a hundred times over.”

“She’d have the power of a queen.” Alex pressed her hand to her mouth, speaking through her fingers. “Holy shit. I had no idea that was even possible.”

“Most faeries are unaware. The Council guards the information. It’s certainly not something they want the underworld to know.”

“So, did you? Turn her?”

He strode to the window. An opening in the draperies bathed his troubled profile in moonlight. With vacant eyes, he stared into the night as though he saw his past beyond the glass. “There was an abandoned shelter deep in the woods. Sivanah would meet me there. She claimed she wanted me to change her so she could be my Bride, to be with me for eternity. It’s a ritual that can only be shared between vampires. Somehow, I managed to resist her request, fearing she wouldn’t survive.”

He dropped the curtain, somber lines etching his countenance. “Late one evening, I arrived at the shelter to find Sivanah already waiting for me. She’d slit her wrists to force my hand. The only hope I had of saving her was to give her what she wanted. Make her a vampire.”

He paced, prowling like a caged jungle cat. “For two days, I watched as she writhed in agony, her body wracked with pain. When she survived, I held her, sobbing as my relief was so great.”

Jericho’s pain splintered Alex’s nerve endings. She offered no resistance to the deluge of emotion, needing to share his burden.

He turned to face her. “She used her newfound strength against me, took control of my mind and made her escape.”

His conscience darkened with guilt. “While I was her first victim, I wasn’t the last. In her quest for power, Sivanah tested her new capabilities on a king. Commanded his devotion and filled him with hate for his wife and children. He beheaded his family and made her his queen.”

“That’s awful,” Alex whispered.

“When I discovered what she’d done, I hunted her, crept into her room while she slept and severed her head. Delivered her justice for her many crimes.”

And he’d been dealing justice to criminals ever since. “No wonder you hate all faeries. Hell,Ihate us after hearing that.”

Despite Sivanah’s sins, Alex sensed no satisfaction when he described killing the faerie. He blamed himself for turning Sivanah into a monster, for not seeing what she was doing to him.

If there was one thing Alex understood, it was guilt. She’d had enough of it to last a lifetime. Guilt for being the cause of her mother’s murder. Guilt for not saving her father. Guilt for not protecting Liam.

But there was only so much guilt you could hold onto before moving on with your life. And this man had had centuries of it.

Enough was enough.

With slow, cautious movements, she closed the distance between them. At her approach, a nervous cast entered his eyes. He watched her warily, like a fearsome predator with a giant thorn stuck in his paw.

Hard muscle flexed beneath the hand she placed on his chest. While obviously ill at ease, he didn’t pull away.

For a moment, she hesitated. In the chaos of his emotions was an undercurrent of fear. But fear of what?

Did she dare to use her ability—invade his privacy? The suspicion that even Jericho didn’t know the source eased her conscience. She closed her eyes and blew out a breath, delving a bit deeper. Her heart gave a painful jolt.