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She took her words and twisted them into his flesh like a sharpened knife. “You. Savage fucking High Prince, the thing of Elysian nightmares, you’re a killer. Just like your father. My parents aregone. Cities burned to the ground led byyou. Faeries tortured in front of your father’s throne because you’re too weak to pierce his heart. And I’m still supposed to believe that you won’t hurt me because you say so? Because you had a change of … what exactly?Heart? Do you even have one?”

No one breathed.

Garrik …flinched. The boiling expression on his face numbed and eyes settled wide as he drew a sharp, strangled breath.

Some part of her knew she’d gone too far. Some part caged deep inside and surrounded by Kaine’s wicked words knew that she struck him too deep. But she was trapped in the in-between of knowing who was real and who wasn’t. Couldn’t make out deception from truth.

She’d let Kaine control her once again. Spewing venom that was never truly meant for Garrik, mercilessly attacking the selfless being who sought to help her, repeatedly, without expecting anything in return.

Now, my love.Kaine’s wicked voice caressed her like it did so many years ago.Take the knife, sink it deep, and come back to where you belong. Come home to me.

The Savage Prince had asked her two unanswered questions. One in her tent earlier. One now. Striking the final, deadly blow, Alora shot at his heart with impeccable aim.

“Yes… and I dohateyou for it.”

Garrik froze.

The entire realm froze.

Something fractured in his face.

Alora saw it—felt it—not entirely sure if she imagined it. Imagined the distinctive crack in her chest and the unmistakable shudder of the floorboards beneath them.

And before he could say another word, she wrenched open the tavern door, disappearing onto the street. Leaving only the steaming amber glow of the iron doorknob and unbearablesilencebehind.

Shadows leapt across gilt-edged cobblestones, dancing from the street torches that lined Alynthia’s lavish, upper-class avenues.

No one followed her from the tavern. Nothing but her cruel shadow stalking her every step. Alora pulled at her aching fingertips, rippling with anxiety with only one thing on her mind.

Kaine.

He’d wedged his way in. Only this time, he won … and she’d come pathetically undone.

Oh, stars… Garrik’s face. His …chest.

It wasn’t Kaine that she’d thrown her fiery palms into. It was Garrik.

Starsdamnit.It was Garrik. Alora’s eyes welled with tears, and her throat constricted. “What did I do?” She breathed a pained whisper. An ache sank deep in her heart, and she pulled at her painful fingertips.What did I do?

Throwing her arms around her torso and hugging tight, she wasn’t certain that her legs could continue. The blood had suddenly fled from them. Each step on the cobblestones was unsteadier than the last. With every unworthy breath she counted, she begged herself to turn back and find him. To apologize. Make him understand. While he would hesitate to speak to her about his demons, she isolated hers. Bottled them up and let it fester into a wound so deep that it allowed Kaine to tear yet another hole in her heart and fill it until she ignited.

Burning Garrik…

A soft whimper cracked her throat. Cracked just like her heart.

Kaineruinedher. He ruined her a long time ago.

Would she ever be free of him?

A splitting headache had her stopping to lean against the railing of a long staircase that she didn’t dare look up for fear that Kaine would be standing there. Across the street, a flower shop with wooden barrels of lush reds and hues of pink flowers sat on either side of a crystal and iron door. The crystal sparkled from the iron lanterns outside, hanging on the whitewashed wooden storefront.

Flowers.A shudder tore through her body.

If she apologized to Garrik now, would he see it like she saw red roses? A mundane, lifeless apology that meant nothing, knowing this could happen again. If she looked him in the eyes, would she see her hateful eyes staring back, just as Kaine did?

She didn’t deserve to look at him … or the flowers. Not something so beautiful.

Alora tore her eyes away from the building and hugged her torso tighter before she forced herself to continue. As she passed each storefront—as she looked into the crystal glass—every reflection mirrored how she felt.