Page 51

Remy coils, ruthless and ready to precision-strike. Vhex seethes with the need to turn another lawn into a volcano and kick bodies down the lava chute.

Both of them are mine to unleash.

I love the feeling.

But I hold them back.

I’ve been holding myself back for much longer.

“ I called you . For help. For that .” I jab at the greened-out horizon where spine-tingling energy whines as if the veil between worlds is seconds from shattering.

“You might not care about some backwater border territory, but the Farguard has been out here, holding the line while you’ve been hunting relics and drinking espresso in your garden.

I know I’m not the best person to stand in this position, but at least I wear the badge with pride in something other than myself. Are you capable of that?”

Kevan’s nose pinches. He’s not nearly as aristocratic when his lips pucker like a constipated hole. “Correct. You’re not a leader. If you were a proper Guide, you’d be proud to stand back as a support.”

My ears hum.

I feel like I’m watching myself through a tunnel.

“That’s what you thought of me?” I ask, trying to wet my lips.

Funny.

I don’t remember him complaining when I was keeping the Deathguard from grinding to a halt.

I did his paperwork every time he disappeared to chase some legendary wishbone.

I exhausted myself until my nose bled.

Kevan was always in top condition under my care, his daily life a breeze.

I’ve saved his Sentinels, his life, and his sanity so many fucking times.

I knew Kevan wouldn’t care for me the way I cared for him.

But I never would’ve guessed he was questioning my fucking competency .

“If I’d stood back as your support, I would’ve died a thousand times.” I scan the Deathguard Sentinels as I vibrate. Surprise, surprise. None will meet my eyes. “You never protected me. I protected you.”

My replacement shifts to flash his own badge—the blue emblem of the Deathguard’s Shield Keeper.

It’s the position I was promised after marriage.

Kevan thinks a barely legal kid with dough-hands can do a better job than me?

Go ahead. Ruin the whole legion.

Thank the fucking stars they found each other.

Otherwise, I would’ve let Kevan drag me around forever, thinking I was getting somewhere.

Kevan’s eyes sink back in his skull. “Don’t be immature, Iris. You disappeared before the family could make new arrangements for your future.”

“Iris? She’s that Iris?” Kevan’s Guide asks, wide-eyed and fake as hell. He knows exactly who I am. “Duchess Calliope said she was visiting the seaside to recover from her loss.”

Yeah. Sea of fucking corpses. “Are you helping us fight or not?”

“I’m here to take over the investigation of a potential Kyorgos heritage site. I understand that you feel slighted by the way our contract ended, but we can’t afford to waste time. Now, hand me your badge. We’ll discuss your position after the tomb is secure.”

I let out a bitter puff of air.

Peak Kevan.

He rolls in and takes over as if all my work was his from the start.

“Fine.” I unpin the badge and pause to erase my mental imprint. I never want him touching any part of me again.

When the connection breaks, a surprising sense of loss hollows out my throat.

It’s just a symbol.

Lives are more important.

Fingers trembling, I force myself to toss away the piece of metal. “ Now will you listen?”

My aim is dead on, but the badge never reaches Kevan.

A shadow snatches it midway. Remy steps beside me, reeling the badge into his sharp-clawed hand.

“Yours,” he growls, his eyes and veins pure black.

Godsdamnit.

He’s shattered back to caveman mode that fast?

“Wife.” Vhex wraps me in his hellishly cozy arms and hot-glues himself to my spine.

Kevan frowns. “What did you just call her?”

“ Mine ,” Vhex snarls.

I grab his wrist to stop him from launching a fireball.

Kevan’s Guide ducks behind him and sneers. “What a shameful way to treat the duke.”

“Haven’t you been introduced?” I snort. “Meet my Sentinels. Duke Vhex Trezzoran and Duke Remington Azrid.”

My casual claim of ownership sparks a delicious mix of violence and delight that ripples through their souls.

They must be rubbing off on me.

I want to watch the world burn, too. “Vhex. Remy. This is Kevan Kyorgos. Have I told you he’s my former fiancé?”

Vhex’s sanity falls off a cliff and rockets straight to MURDER.

Remy’s mental stillness is even more frightening.

He always felt like an abyss inside—only now, the abyss is looking back.

I can’t tell if he’s controlling the shadows or if they’re working on their own. The wisps that fucked me so attentively last night reel in my badge and gently pin it back—this time, to my lapel, in full view.

“Yours,” Remy repeats, then grabs my throat. “ Mine .”

I shiver.

Sometimes, the one-word vocab just works .

“Remy.” I grab his throat the same way he holds mine. “What’s my name?”

He lowers his head slowly.

His throat flames. He vibrates with tension. With desire.

His focus drifts to my mouth.

When he wants to, Remy can move faster than I can follow.

Now he moves agonizingly slow. Our lips brush. I taste the heat of his breath—a hint of something dark and rich.

My lips part, craving more.

He sucks my lower lip and teases just enough fang to shake my knees.

I feel him dig my name out of the dark. The clouds part and that north star shifts the entire pattern of his thoughts.

“ Irisssss ,” Remy sighs into my mouth.

In the background, someone clears their throat.

Remy doesn’t give a fuck.

Neither do I.

The kiss presses me hard into Vhex. As I rock to match the gentle motion of his jaw, my ear rubs the velvet of Vhex’s horn. Another kiss with fang scrapes down the column of my throat.

“ Nnh .” A whimper slips. I can’t even be embarrassed.

I’m about to make the sound again.

Remy’s rich Mmmm noises match my energy. When he pulls away, he drags my lip along with his fangs.

My stomach swoops.

I lean forward, following, wanting more.

His shadows stroke my cheek.

“Shall we?” he asks.

“Shall we what?” I murmur.

But Remy isn’t asking me.

“It’s on,” Vhex growls. He tongues the slope of my ear. Hot and wet. When he nips the lobe, my clit jolts. “Save me a piece of his liver. I need it for some devil shit.”

I’m training myself not to blink with them. Even then, the guys are gone before I can react.

There’s a poof and a blaze of heat.

Shadow leg-warmers stop me from tipping as an explosion echoes in the distance. I whirl just in time to watch a Kevan-shaped meteor cratering the abandoned town.

Goodbye, Lomfort.

The Guide whose name I hope to never learn stumbles. He holds a smoking scrap of Kevan’s cape. “What just…?”

A pillar of hellfire turns the sky pink. Icy necromancy ripples out, but it’s quickly shielded by a dark, frosted dome that caps the town and kills our view.

Shockwaves pulse beneath Remy’s shield.

My heart churns.

I should tell them to stop.

But Kevan is sooooo capable.

Why would he need my help?

My replacement bristles. “Call off your dogs!”

Instead of yanking their leashes, I open my palms. “I can’t. I’m not a proper Guide. Maybe you can show me how it’s done?”