The barbed wire tightened again, a sharp, shooting pain striking his lungs, slaying his next breath. He placed Nola in front of a rocky wall and pressed against her shoulders, urging her to sit. He remained on his feet.

Deep in his throat, the beast ignited embers. When enough embers had formed, he angled his head and unleashed a stream of fire, flames licking the torches he’d anchored to the walls. Amber light chased away the darkness and bathed Nola, paying tribute to her delicate features.

Ignore her allure. Do not harden again. Do not—

Too late. He hardened again, overcome by ravenous hunger.

“You sprayed fire,” she said, her eyes as wide as saucers. “You sprayed fire from your mouth.”

“I did, yes.” He crouched in front of her and spread his wings to block out the rest of the cavern. For this conversation, Bane intended to be her sole focus. “Do you. Know what. You are?”

She met his gaze. Her pupils were blown, her starry irises glazed and wild. The pulse at the base of her neck thumped in time to his as she wrung her fingers together.

“I’m an other-worlder,” she said, breathless.

“You are. And you will never be able to tell anyone but other Adwaewethians. We are blessed with a natural-born instinct that prevents us from discussing our secrets with outsiders.”

She nodded, eager. “I’ve experienced such an instinct.”

Concentrate. Stop staring at her mouth. With the fuller upper lip, and heart-shaped slant in the center. “Centuries ago, my queen discovered your world, and sent a contingent of breeders to mate with the inhabitants. It’s a crime punishable by death for every Adwaewethian. Including you. But Aveline did it, anyway.” He couldn’t mask his rage, his hate or his bitterness, so he didn’t even try. “She sent me here with two objectives. Win the All War, and destroy the evidence of her misdeeds.”

Nola gave her lips a nervous swipe with her tongue. Damn it! He hadn’t stopped staring. “Kill the breeders, or their children?” She gulped. “Or both?”

“Only a handful of the children. The ones who would grow to be queen of all hybrids.”

Realization dawned on her features, right along with dismay. “D-did you kill babies, then?”

“No.” He held her gaze, not daring to blink. “Before I found a single royal, I was frozen in the arctic. Centuries passed, more and more hybrids born, the line diluted. But I never gave up hope. I often sensed a royal’s birth and death, but never a true connection. Until one fateful day. I felt her, and she felt me. I knew she would find me.”

Her jaw dropped. She searched his gaze. “And did she? Find you, I mean?”

He framed her exquisite face with his big, calloused hands, the contrast between their skin tones mesmerizing. Gold against snow-white. “She did.”