pte

ia

crowd in waves, muffled, lik

y I knew that beneath this veil, a single whispe

unbidden. One lamp lit in the study. He slid this dagg

. Don't drag your family down with

ad written my last words for me in advance-because the

Alpha this powerful fail to see th

of my bouquet, the cold hilt biting

ctually leaned

s the lightest kiss to my lips through the veil-and in the next breat

I'm not going to kill

tarted a countd

hrough the veil, I watched his profile go dark in an ins

hall of hundreds fell so silent I cou

lked, his cloak sweeping down the altar

ist" me. Their fingers hooked into the crooks of my e

red through the side corridor and deliv

ck of the lock was soft-and louder

paces away, his shadow stretched long by the fire

flared where the pins ripped from my hair,

of fog betwee

still held a flicker of mocking warmth. Now there was only the cold of a blad

a step

aughed-a short sound far more terrifying than no

awled not going to kill you yet, and the one stand

t it. This one wa

t a cold calm sett

loses over your head, it doesn't matter how much deeper it goes. And maybe

ight of his presence,

in that half second, my fingers dove in

with a rush, breaking across our feet. I stoo

yes. But he didn't step back.

hat rose in its place was derision-the look a predator

And la

and offered it to him. With my other hand

ng you want." My voice came out steadier than I had any right to expect. "I don't

at the hilt held

the last thin

e it. His tone was flat, like a man

fr

he heads stacked like trophies on his battlefields. I thought

, as if the last card I had-the one I'd staked my lif

g. He actually leaned back, settling against

rom the blade up to my face. "And you still walke

as a dissection. He was weig

protect," I said, "there's n

rned my wrist and set the

. No hes

in seared up my arm. I saw his body shift-his hand ac

stood there, wa

moothed over-within a few breaths, all that remained on my forearm was a smear of blood. One swi

l there. The woun

nt but for the crack

inch by inch. What replaced it sent a chill crawling up my

flowers in a single str

ging again and again across the unbroken skin-as if he could dig out a

from mine, his voice dredged

are

pa

wi