iana

of my apartment, drumming a rele

lue glow of my encrypted laptop screen. I sta

ernational: Ver

ed back at me in crisp

times over and leave Gabe Black begging on the pavement. The world imagined Aura was an elusive European aristocrat or an eccentric

to be surgical. If I deployed my capital prematurely, Desmond would tie i

ptop just as a heavy, delibe

tryway, peering th

held a massive bouquet of long-stemmed white roses, t

inst the frame. "White roses,

in, and cedar into my warm hallway. "Red is predictab

inst my cheek. Their fresh, wild fragrance cut through the stale air

oice softening involuntar

ramic vase. As I lifted my left arm to arrange the stems, t

air crest lay a thin, jagged, four-inch scar-pale silver against

hand s

t with absolute, immovable authority. He tilted my arm into the lampli

rmy granite. The air pressure in th

nger that of a corporate chairman. It was a low, primev

dden, raw intimacy of his gaze. I pulled my arm bac

d, turning back to the flowers

g an inch. "Everything that wounded you

ed. I wanted to see the police report; he and my father locked me in the study. When I tried to break th

ited. He didn't speak. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his encrypted phone, and typed thr

lled breath, reining in the terrifying aura that

oting the conversation as if he hadn't just me

sition. "Just pasta. Tomato sauce and ga

lready rolling his sleeves u

rhythmic precision, while I seasoned the simmering olive oil. Our shoulders bumped; our hands brushed as we passed spices. T

" Caden said quietly, leaning against the

n pausing in mid-air. "I am

re a master blade that has been kept inside an ordinary, rusted scabbard for far too long. Th

first time in ten years, someone looked at me an

ught alone in the dark for so long, that under