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Geryon was deeply disappointed as he made his way back inside the ballroom to take his place next to Bradwick. He couldn’t leave him unprotected in case more of their vile kind appeared.

“What did you want with her?” Bradwick asked, eyeing him cautiously.

“I noticed the Witch grabbed her,” he answered, leaning his head down to hush their conversation. “Wanted to know why.”

“Oh.” Bradwick’s suspicious eye fell as he frowned. “Well?”

“She thinks he wanted to use her against us as a shield or a bargaining chip.”

He raised his brow at Geryon. “Would it have worked?”

“No.” It was the truth.

Even if Cecily had been in direct danger and he didn’t want to risk her, she was a human. Her life was fleeting in comparison to his own, and he wouldn’t allow a Witch to kill Bradwick or roam free.

Bradwick clenched his fist in anger. “Although one of my ladies was put at risk, you have proven to me I should not have been worried, nor doubted you.”

Geryon folded his arms with a nod of his head. Usually, he would grin at the king admitting to his idiocy. Instead, his sour mood refused to lift.

He wasn’t happy that she was targeted.I wished to be with Cecily this eve.

Uncaring of who saw her, Valerie fled.

He killed Eldaeric.She continued to run, her heart pounding so heavily, she worried it would give out.

No matter where I went in the palace, he was able to find me.He could sense where she was, track her,smellwhere she had gone.

Her breaths were short as she climbed the stairs to her apartment, almost stumbling up them. Valerie could barely breathe, her knees wobbling like they would buckle at any moment.

He told me he could tell when I was aroused.He’d told her it was because he could see it in her flushed chest. He’d even blatantly told her she desired him.

He wasn’t from these lands. He was a soldier from an unknown place, with unknown origins.

He could smell Baron Daerk on me.

Once she made it to her rooms and closed the door behind her, she fell to her knees. Her blood ran cold. Her hands were trembling when she placed them both against her mouth.

Valerie finally understood.

She understood why he could find her, could sense things others couldn’t.He is a Dragon.

Barely muffled by her hands, a loud sob fell from her lips. The man she had been kissing, had been touching, had spent a wonderful night being intimate with, was actually a creature.

One that obviously wants my kind dead.She had been bedding her worst fears.I am on his hunting grounds. Now that she had seen him kill, and he had known what Eldaeric was when a mere human couldn’t have, she knew.

That predatory look he always wore was because he was the apex creature of this world. He told her to think of him on par with King Bradwick, that his status was the same.

Technically, he was above them all.He could rip this palace apart with claw and fire.

I need to escape before he figures out what I am.She couldn’t do that without finding her sister.

Valerie’s eyes widened, her heart spasming.If I find her, he will hunt for me.He would think she tricked him, had tried to use him.He will seek revenge.

I had someone inside me who would have killed me if they knew I was a Witch.Would still try to kill her if he found out.Geryon does not know.She wouldn’t be alive if he did.

The spell she had cast on Vermont would have blinded him if he tried to sense it, unless his magic was stronger than hers. The real Cecily’s blood was hiding her scent, her magic, everything that made her a Witch.

Now that she was aware of what he was, she understood what she had to do.I must control myself; he will be able to scent my fear.He would know something was amiss with her.