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“No, I won’t settle, especially not for someone who vowed to kill my brother.” She was almost thankful for his rash words—if not for them, she would do something ruinous like fall completely and utterly for Silt Harea.

Enti parted her lips to say something, then must’ve thought better of it. “Yes, he did. By collecting that bounty, Mirceo crossed a powerful Lorean. I remember the first time I saw Silt’s wanted poster. I had the thought that he would prove a formidable outlaw to meet.”

An outlaw sorcerer.Mina almost groaned. Her taste in males wanted refinement.

And more, her focus needed work. She should be concentrating on survival—not golden-eyed enchanters. “When Xodin explored the realm, did he map his findings?”

“Meticulously. He can show you detailed renderings of the dimension. He’ll rise soon enough.”

“Thank you. I’ll reconvene with you on this”—Mina tapped the papers on the table—“later today.”

Enti raised her brows. “Checking on my progress? You’re lucky I like you, vampire.”

Mina cast her a wink over her shoulder, which made the sorceress chuckle.

Yet as Mina walked away, vibrations shivered beneath her feet. She turned back a last time and found Enti with a studiously benign look on her face. But perspiration dotted her upper lip. . . .

Thirty

“Fuck sand.”Silt exhaled a frustrated breath, returning his new grains to the pouch on his belt.

Enti had gifted him pure quartz the other night, and he’d spent these last three “days”—or whatever this time period might be—alone in his room, training with it like some absurd Sorceri monk.

Training. Almost as if he were leaving.

Which he was not.

So why had he made Enti promise to alert him if Kosmina left? Why would it matter if the princess departed on a whisper?

He had no answers, his mental state worse than when he’d smoked himself into oblivion. Despite practicing with his favorite medium, he hadn’t reconnected to it, unable to think of anything but that vampire.

He’d kept looking at his palm. Replaying the feel of Kosmina. Hertaste.

Silt couldn’t escape her, not even in sleep. Whenever he managed to doze off, he’d been visited by feverish reveries of her feeding from him. More than once, his dreams had turned wet—he’d awakened to his own groans as hot semen had spurted over his torso.

Only one thing to do: convince the princess to stay here with him for a time. He could bed her and get her out of his system. She was a novelty; all novelties lost luster eventually.

He headed to her room, determined. His crude attempt at seduction the other night had only gotten him so far. He was no charmer—unusual for a sorcerer—but females weren’t immune to him. He could close this one. And if she still proved ungettable, he had a card to play.

He raised his hand to knock but hesitated. All was quiet. Was she resting or downstairs among the libertines? Hastening to the stairs, he ignored theongoingorgy on the steps, though they reached for him and moaned his name.

Looks uncomfortable to me.They reminded him of the quicksand traps he used to position on well-trod paths, ever ready to snare the unwary.

He passed the manic gambling in the dens and the decadent spreads of confections. Immortals gobbled up food as if it were about to run out. Gorging, gambling, and orgies—were these the dreams of demons and shifters? He supposed so.

He didn’t find the princess in his search of the castle. A young vampire like her would probably be asleep now, during this “day.” So he meandered to an unoccupied balcony, in no mood for other company. Gazing out over the boiling sea, he prickled with misery.

Sober. Antsy from the smoke that clung to every corner of this place. Halfway hard for a vampire he hadn’t seen in days.

The princess I’m obsessed with, who haunts even my dreams.

Without his usual shroud of dragon’s breath, his thoughts were too piercing, and all of them centered on Kosmina. Time passed—he had no idea how much without a moon, a sun, or stars. Still no sign of her.

Though everything in his demeanor saidback off, Enti and Pearl approached him at the railing. The sorceress looked tired. “We despaired of seeing you again. You and the vampire both cloistered yourselves. Antisocial, if you ask me.”

“She hasn’t been down?”

“No, she’s been taking blood in her room and getting updates on the weapon there.” In a conspiratorial tone, Enti said, “Our princess isn’t a fan of some of the more lascivious scenes on display. That first morning, she questioned our guests about the realm and the Gaolers, but few were sober enough to give her any information. Or they were only interested in sleeping with her, making her promises in exchange for a place in her bed.”