He wants to fight me. And part of me wants to fight him. It’s perverse, but I’m angry at him for not protecting Eva better. Maybe what I wanted from him is superhuman. He couldn’t really have shadowed her every second of the night. But I hate that I found her at the mercy of her asshole father. I want someone to pay for that. Him. Me. Maybe both of us deserve to be pummeled for that ring of red around her wrist.

“What are you going to do?” I taunt him, pushing Eva back, because she’s struggling to get between us. She doesn’t want me hurting her hot-tempered brother. Or maybe it’s me she doesn’t want hurt. “Kill every man at the gala? They all want her, you know.”

“I’ll start with you.” Dark eyes flash. “Then see how I feel.”

“No, don’t,” Eva says, pushing in front of me, defending me with her small body. It’s enough to make her brother stop, at least. Which is a good thing. If he’d put his hands on her, if he’d pushed her aside or hurt her in any way, I would have lost my shit. “Don’t,” she says again, and whatever he sees in her expression makes him curse softly.

She turns to me, her dark eyes pleading. God, those eyes. So full of sorrow and mystery. They make me want to slay every dragon, starting with the overbearing brother. “Just go.”

“He doesn’t get to tell you who to talk to,” I say, pissed on her behalf.

“Please,” she begs. It’s my undoing.

“Christ.”

She stands there looking vulnerable and strong, delicate and defiant. I want to consume her. I want to save her. In the end I can do nothing. Her brother doesn’t get to order her around. I don’t either. If she wants me to leave, then I will.

It’s a test of willpower to leave her there. I push past her brother, bumping his shoulder the way he bumped mine earlier, making it clear this isn’t over.

I’m leaving because she asked me to—not because of him.

There’s a surreal quality to the gala when I return to the ballroom. The Christmas music. The whirl of dancers. The oversized boughs of holly hanging from the ceiling. All of it feels like a holiday funhouse mirror, everything distorted and different. All because I held Eva in my arms. Because I tasted her. She trembled for me. I still feel the slight vibration of her against my skin, the warmth of her against my palms. I form a fist, as if I can keep the sensation inside.