ossed his face, his lips curling into a sneer. He saw it

rcasm. "Are you going to hit me with it? Is that the next

, theatrical gasp and huddled closer, f

rage so pure it felt like a fire in her veins. She stared at h

d shooting out to clamp around her wrist like a manacle. The crystal vase slipped from her nervel

forehead, and his face twisted in disg

ld even flinch, he reached up with his free hand.

pen again. A sharp, searing pain made her cry out, a strangled gasp. A fresh line of crimso

e shock in their depths as he saw the raw, und

down. He processed the blood not as proof o

she had ever heard it, a weapon designed to flay her soul. "Good perform

ore than the broken glass, more than his infidelity. They shattere

oom. The room she had designed, had filled with art and books and life. Now it was tainted. Bianca's cashmere shawl was

secration. It broke the

down, her movements jerky and uncoordina

e, her targe

at tore from the depths of her being, she

e, framed portrait f

ment. The portrait, with its image of their two smiling faces, a l

tunned into silence by the

r forehead now dripping onto her cheek. She pointed a trem

rds tearing from her throat. "B

heart merging into a single, unbearable vortex. She was on the v