Arrogant prick. “And what exactly happened to you? What went so terribly wrong that my parents cast you off into the streets? You obviously lost your mind. Did you kill someone?”

Caine’s body went still, and his eyes darkened to deep, black pools, as deep and vast as the cosmos. Shadows swirled around him.

At the sight of his pitch-black eyes, panic hit her like a fist. Caine wasn’t just a mage. He was a demon, and she’d just pushed him into attack mode. Dread clenched her heart, and for a moment, she thought she saw the ghost of dark wings unfolding behind him. His predatory, midnight glare whispered into the darkest parts of her mind, run.

A moment later, his eyes cleared, and he rolled his neck.

She clasped her hands together to hide the shaking. She couldn’t let him see her fear, even if she’d just come within whispering distance of death.

“I can’t take any more of this,” Caine said. “If I have to listen to her talk every night, I’d just as soon face the wrath of Ambrose. I want her out of here. Now.”

Rosalind clenched her trembling fingers. Maybe she’d gone too far.

Aurora’s eyes bulged. “You can’t be serious. You’re going to defy Ambrose?”

Caine’s eyes flashed like storm clouds. “If I have to listen to her carrying on every night and asking me stupid questions, I’m going to murder her myself.”

“So you’re handing her over to the Brotherhood?” Aurora asked.

Caine shot Rosalind a cold look. “I will get you the information you need for your exorcism, and then you need to leave. I don’t want to see your face again. Do we have a deal?”

Still rattled, she lowered her voice to steady it. “I swear on my honor as Hunter.”

Aurora snorted. “Hunter honor. That’s obviously bollocks.”

“I’ll take what I can get,” Caine said. “And then we’ll send her back to the people who want to kill her if that’s what she really wants.”

“You’re acting crazy,” Aurora said. “What if she tells the Brotherhood all about us?”

He stared out the window at the cemetery. “I’ll erase us from her memory.”

Rosalind didn’t like the sound of a supernatural lobotomy. “I don’t want you to erase my brain.”

He leveled his icy gaze on her. “That’s the deal. If you want the exorcism, take it or leave it. I can’t risk you running back to the Brotherhood to tell them where we are. Even you must be able to understand that.”

He had a point. “Fine.” She didn’t trust him, and didn’t know what he might find in there. Maybe she could slip away just after the exorcism.

“You’re both insane,” Aurora said. “I’m going to make sure Ambrose understands this was done against my advisement.”

Rosalind let out a long breath, still trying to hide the raw fear she’d felt at the sight of Caine’s black eyes. “Is there some spell you need to find, to get this mage out of me?”