Caine glanced at Tammi. “We’ll meet you on the island. Aurora knows the way.”

Tammi pointed at him, scowling. “You make sure Little Ho Peep comes back in one piece.” She turned and hurried down the hall.

Caine approached Rosalind, standing so close she could feel the heat coming off his skin. He brushed his knuckles against her cheek, studying her face. “You’re brave for a noble-born girl, but please stay in the house. You have a tendency to screw everything up by making stupid decisions. I’m even firmer in that belief now that I’ve heard about the slutty sheep costume.”

She tightened her fist around the knife hilt. “You need to stop talking or I’ll stab you with one of your own weapons.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. Would you heal me again?”

A deep, rumbling noise resonated through the house, shaking the walls and rattling the windowpanes.

“He’s outside,” Caine said. “I’m going. Please stay in here.” He wrapped his fingers around her knife-holding hand. “If he gets past me somehow, use this.”

He turned, stalking down the hall, moving silently as the wind through the trees.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and trying not to think of her nightmares. I can’t dwell on my worst fears.

She stepped into the hall and peered out the window, staring at the moonlit street outside Caine’s house. Mounted on an ivory horse—just like in her dream—Bileth strode into a streetlight. Tendrils of his red aura curled off his skin like smoke. His steed’s eyes blazed red, hooves clopping slowly over the pavement. He carried a scythe slung over his enormous, bare back. Curling tattoos covered his pale, muscular body, and horns swooped back from his forehead. She almost thought she heard the low rumble of a drum…

At the sight of him, fear stole her breath.

Caine pushed open the front door and strode toward the high demon. Bileth halted and dismounted, nostrils flaring. When the demon’s feet landed on the pavement, the ground trembled, and shock waves shuddered through the earth.

Caine held up his hands, as if trying to placate Bileth, but the high demon pulled his scythe from his back before charging. Bileth swung, but Caine lifted his forearm, blocking the attack. In a blur of movement— so fast Rosalind’s eyes could barely track it—Caine maneuvered behind Bileth, pinning the demon’s arm behind his back. As Caine pushed Bileth’s neck down, forcing him lower, the high demon lost his grip on the scythe. Caine leaned into him, whispering in his ear, no doubt trying to placate him with promises of submissive courtesans.

But Rosalind knew what the high demon really wanted. He wanted her.

Bileth’s body vibrated with fury, skin blazing bright red with his aura. When he flung out his arms, he threw Caine back in a blast of magic. The incubus landed hard on the pavement; in the next instant, he was on his feet again, his silvery aura whirling around him.