“Carrie?” Nathan’s shock resonated through me.

Max told me. I wished I could reach for Nathan’s hand. Something told me he wouldn’t have taken it, though.

Cyrus leaned close to my ear. “I doubt you know the whole story.”

He moved away suddenly, motioning to the sofa as though Nathan and I were dinner party guests who’d arrived unfashionably early. “Please, have a seat. I’ll tell you all about it.”

Nathan lunged forward. I had no idea what he’d planned to do without the use of his hands, but it didn’t matter. Two guards grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him backward.

Although his back was turned, Cyrus lifted his hand in warning. “I wouldn’t, if I were you. There’s no possible way you’ll survive, and then who will protect your fledgling?”

He turned and pointed a taloned finger directly at me. “Believe me, I won’t hesitate to kill her once you’re gone.”

“What’s stopping you right now?” Nathan asked.

He didn’t mean that. As angry as I knew he was that I’d fed from Ziggy, he wouldn’t let Cyrus kill me. He was fishing for information.

Cyrus paused. “Nothing, I suppose. But it would be a shame to waste such a fun ride.”

Nathan clenched his jaw at that.

“Oh, I see I hit a nerve. Tell me, Nolen, are you offended because you share that opinion, or because you have no frame of reference?”

“What I was getting at, dick, was why didn’t you kill her in the alley? I don’t think you’ll do it.”

I should have known something nasty was coming when Cyrus smiled. He walked up to Nathan and struck him so hard that I heard the bones of his face crack. Nathan’s head swiveled to the side, twisting his body as he fell.

Cyrus rounded on me, his eyes furious. “I suppose you think you’ll be spared? Saved by some lingering feelings I harbor for you?”

I nodded. “If you were going to kill me, you would have done it already.”

He slapped me. “I no longer owe you my patience. I’d rip your throat out now, but I wouldn’t want the taste of his blood on my mouth.”

Kicking Nathan aside, he pointed to the sofa. “Sit.”

I did as I was told to avoid inflicting any further pain on myself or Nathan, on the off chance he wasn’t dead.

Seating himself in the wing chair facing me, Cyrus folded his hands in his lap. I noticed for the first time how fragile and bony his fingers looked. I wanted to snap them one by one. Or crush them with a hammer.

One of the advantages of no longer being his fledgling was my ability to think freely without him reading my every intent. Though I no longer had to block him from my mind, I’d never been able to disguise the emotions on my face. A slow smile widened his mouth as he watched me.

“You hate me, don’t you?” It was a straightforward question, and harbored none of the sadness I remembered from our time together, when he’d asked me if I loved him.