He ignored her garments. The skin of her arms crusted with blood. The visions in his head of her being dragged to the open window by her glorious hair.

And he especially ignored the bruising at her neck.

He had to ignore these things, or the rage would return, and the fullness of his vengeance would not be meted out for he’d set her aside and find the men still left and dispatch them far more quickly than they deserved.

Instead, he looked into her silver eyes.

“We need words,” he murmured.

“I’m quite all right, Mars,” she assured.

But she was not.

Her demeanor had changed, and it was not due to shock or fear.

Or perhaps it was, as she was locked away.

He’d seen her like this only once before. When she’d walked in his thronal room the moment he first saw her.

Except then she had been guarded and locked away and it took but a few words to draw her out.

Now she simply seemed…

Extinguished.

“You have endured a lot, my monkey,” he reminded her. “And now, alone, just you and I, I will know your feelings about going to the pits.”

“I’m going.”

“You’ve said this,” he replied. “This is not what we’re discussing. As I noted, I will know your feelings about this and then I will decide if you will go or you will stay.”

“Will Queen Elpis go?” she asked.

“She will. But you are not my mother,” he answered.

“I will be queen,” she returned. “And thus, it will be expected.”

“Silence—”

“I’m going,” she repeated.

Mars allowed his gaze to roam her face.

She was there, in his arms, but he could not shake the sensation that she was gone.

“When things such as this happen,” he started carefully, “it’s important to talk about them.”

“I’m fine.”

“You are changed.”

“I will likely change a lot over the course of our years together, battling the Beast, you besting coup attempts, clan clashes, tribal wars. It’s the nature of being, especially in Firenze.”

“And we will talk about it,” he declared.

“Yes,” she agreed instantly.

“Honestly,” he added.

She hesitated before she repeated, “Yes.”

He did not like the hesitation.

Her light was out.

“Silence—”

She pushed against him to start to get up, asking, “Should we not go?”

“We have something else to discuss.”

She settled in and gazed at him patiently.

He fought grinding his teeth at the loss of inquisitiveness, attentiveness and what he now knew, since it was gone, was constant awareness of and interest in him that was no longer a part of her expression.

“What else must we discuss?” she prompted when Mars did not speak.