My gaze shifted to Daroc, Adrian’s general, and Sorin, his lover. Visually, the two made a stunning pair, but they could not be more different. Daroc, with his strong and angled features, always looked severe, his eyes piercing, as if he were trying to read everyone’s mind, and perhaps he could, but I’d learned from the start that vampires did not willingly tell their abilities. Even Sorin, who was the most forthright, had not told me he could shift into the form of a falcon. I’d learned that by chance when he had come to my rescue in the woods after being attacked by Ravena and mist-possessed Ciro. Looking at him now with his soft features and dimpled smile, I found it hard to believe he could be anything but good.

And yet someone had told Ravena that Adrian had tasted my blood. The act made me his greatest weakness—our lives were bound.

I have waited centuries for this. For you, Adrian had said. He had been so willing, comforted in the knowledge that he could trust the four who knew the consequences of the bloodletting—Daroc, Sorin, Adrian’s cousin Ana Maria, and his viceroy, Tanaka—and yet as it turned out, we could trust no one.

I took a deep breath, attempting to release the tension tightening my chest at having such a weakness known to my greatest enemy, and faced Adrian, who drew my hand to his lips, his eyes burning into mine.

“We will return at sundown.”

The words were a fierce promise, and I held them close to my heart. He claimed my mouth in a searing kiss, drawing his thumb over my bottom lip as he pulled away.

“See that you do,” I said, and he turned and mounted Shadow. I wanted him back already, but I also wanted him to return tonight, triumphant, with Gesalac and Julian as our prisoners.

With a final look, he rode out, his men falling into step behind him. They left through the gate, and I followed, watching as they cut a path through the nine impaled bodies that decorated our doorstep.

Not even the cold air could keep the smell of decay at bay. It tinged the air—subtle but sour—and it turned my stomach. Still, I kept watch until I could no longer see Adrian descending the sheer pathway into the valley of Cel Ceredi. Only then did I move, climbing to the tower wall where I tracked them, racing through the city, to the outer wall—a streak of shadows cloaked in red as they dashed into the darkened forest. Even when they left my sight, I lingered.

“Come inside, my queen,” said Tanaka, breathless from toiling his way up the stone steps behind me. I wondered when he’d joined us in the courtyard. I had not noticed him before.