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“Why?” I stepped back and let his hands fall from my body. “Why is that so egregious to you?”

He stared at me for a long time before he finally blinked. But he didn’t blink again.

“Why?” I remembered his anger when he’d spoken on the island. How he would enforce my father’s oath if I didn’t comply with his demands. He was so angry it seemed like a personal slight to him.

“Because everyone else who’s ever made a deal has been bound by it. How many have come before and after Talon Rothschild, asking for a pardon for a deal they were delirious enough tomake? How many souls begged for a reprieve and received none? Talon Rothschild not only got what he wanted, but he also got his soul and his life and his family. He’s the only one who ever has, and it’s an insult to all those who weren’t so lucky.” His tenderness evaporated, and a potent anger remained behind. He’d stared at me as his lover a moment ago, but now, as his enemy.

My instinct was to snap back, but the clouds parted in my mind, and I suddenly understood. “You’ve asked for freedom…and were denied.”

“I’ve asked many times. And even when my debt was fulfilled, Bahamut denied my request—and smiled as he did so. Your father was fortunate enough to have his soul guarded by a ferocious dragon that would not let it be taken by the forces of evil. He was fortunate enough to be loved by a woman who would risk her own soul to free his. He was fortunate enough to have earned the friendship of a queen who would risk her life for their friendship. I had none of that. And all those I left behind were led to believe the worst about me…” He inhaled a short breath, and a mist appeared in his eyes. “It’s a weight I’ve carried alone for three hundred and seventy-seven years, and just when I think the weight has lessened, it comes back heavier than before.”

He still didn’t reveal the details of his imprisonment, but the lack of information was somehow worse. I wondered what he had forfeited his soul for. What continued to haunt him hundreds of years later. “Wrath?—”

“Why does Talon Rothschild deserve peace, and I don’t?” he snarled. “Why does he deserve to be pardoned, while the rest of us suffer for all eternity? His request was selfish—mine was sacrificial.”

I stepped toward him. “Wrath?—”

He was gone. Disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I wondered if he was still there, watching me from the shadows, but I didn’t feel his presence. Didn’t feel his invisible shroud of safety that cocooned me wherever I was.

He was gone.

11

LILY

When a week passed and Wrath didn’t visit me, I feared he would never visit me again.

I stayed home every night and hoped he would show. When I prepared dinner, I glanced up more times than I could count and hoped I’d see him standing across the kitchen. My mind constantly reached for his, trying to feel him in every room I stepped into, hoping he was there watching me.

But I never felt him.

I’d done nothing to deserve his silence and distance, but I felt responsible for it anyway. It was the first time he’d shown the weight of his grief—and now I wished I didn't know. His bitterness was like fire to my skin. His pain was like a dagger in my throat. Whenever he hurt, it hurt me too.

For a man who was a temporary addition to my bed, I shouldn’t care so much.

But I cared deeply.

Lily.

I felt Zehemoth’s voice in my mind, felt his concern when all he said was my name.

I’ve felt your sorrow for days. I wanted to respect your privacy, but it’s gone on so long, I don’t think I can.

Having the blood of dragons was an exciting honor, but sometimes it was a pain in the ass. Thoughts and emotions were never entirely your own, not when they were intense like mine must be. Because we weren’t fused, most of my emotions were my own, but apparently this sadness was like a bonfire.I’m okay, Zehemoth.

But you don’t feel okay.

I was inside my villa with sunshine coming through the window. I would normally venture outside and fish for dinner or help out at the winery or head into the village, but for the past week, I’d literally done nothing.

Thud.

I felt the ground shudder from the weight of a dragon. “Dammit”

I want to see you.

I had a glass of wine on the counter beside me, so I downed the rest of it before I walked outside onto the grass, Zehemoth’s midnight-black scales out of place in the lush grass and oak trees. They glistened in the sunlight, and I knew from experience that they were warm to the touch.