Page 68 of Only Flames Remain

“Don’t you dare speak of Kallias.” My voice was biting despite the fear that simmered in my gut.

His silhouette fell across my face as Sorin’s wings extended and he took a step closer, his face steeped in shadow. “Or you’ll what?” he asked, laughing. He was close enough now that his breath fanned across my face. He smelled of spice and ash. “Gothryn only went to war to protect its reputation. To put an end to a mad king who would stop at nothing, spare no one, and lie to meet his own ends in his quest for domination. It is King Faris who upholds these values. King Faris who will not agree to peace with Gothryn. I could just as easily burn your little kingdom to the ground if I wanted to. But that’s not what we do. We aren’t cruel. We aren’t evil. I am not the monster you think I am.”

“All I’ve ever been told about you and your brothers—about Vireth—was that you are cursed.” My chest was rising and falling with rapid breaths, my pulse thundering in my chest.

Sorin nodded. “Yes, cursed. But never depraved. Never demons. The god of death, Mordecai, cursed us millenniums ago. We require blood to live, but we do not enjoy killing. We do not feast on innocents. It is an exchange, like all other work in our kingdom. Is that why you have come to kill me? To fulfill some self-righteous belief that we are evil and must be put down like dogs?”

He scoffed and I stepped forward, away from the glass that was pressed at my back. “I have no contention with you.”

“Then why? Why did you pour ixia in my drink tonight? Why did you bring an arsenal of poisons to my kingdom and try to harm me?” His voice was incredulous.

He raked a hand through that midnight hair of his in frustration.

I fought to contain the smirk that threatened the corner of my mouth. “I didn’t try to harm you.”

He pressed a hand against his chest. “Right, kill me. My apologies.” He leaned toward me, further closing the gap between us. “Venomous little thing.”

My narrowed gaze searched his, and I shook my head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

A deep, steadying breath helped to clear my head from the anger that had possessed me. I relaxed, shoulders falling. I stood no chance against Sorin; therefore I had nothing left to lose by exposing the truth.

“Queen Dyata will not let me marry Kallias. Will not give us her blessing. Not unless I do this. If I didn’t agree…she was going to send me off. Disappear me somewhere remote, never to be seen again. I come from nothing, raised by a single mother. I love Kallias. I would do anything for us to be together.”

“You love him, or you love what he can offer you?” Sorin asked.

I shrank back in offense. “What?”

He stepped forward once more, back into my space. “He can offer you safety. He can offer you status in a kingdom where humans are the lowest rank. Offer you wealth and opportunity beyond your wildest dreams. For your bloodline to become royalty.”

“How dare you!” What a frustrating, arrogant bastard! “I love Kallias for who he is, not what he can offer me. It hasn’t been easy for us to be together. I have suffered at the hands of Queen Dyata for years. You think I would put myself through that for status and coin?”

My chest was tight with fresh anger, my heart racing beneath the tight bodice of my gown.

“Oh, yes. Look how you have suffered, human,” he spat with derision, leaning down to level his gaze at me. “You look just fine to me.”

My blood reached a boiling point, my rage at his assumptions spilling over.

“Is that so?” I turned from him, pressing my hands against the glass behind me. “Open my dress.”

He took a step back, eyes wide. Bewildered. “What?”

“You heard me. Open. My. Dress,” I said, hot breath fogging against the darkened window.

He didn’t question me again. He stepped forward apprehensively, the sound of his heeled boots against the stone sending a shiver running up my spine before his fingers had even grazed me. When he first pulled the laces and his fingers touched my bare flesh, I felt that same sensation again. As if I were drowning, tides crashing over me and pulling me under. Despite the cold prickle of magic, my skin was searing hot, a flush rushing to my cheeks.

“Pull it down.”

I could see Sorin shake his head in the reflection of the glass.

“Little Dove—”

“Pull it down, Prince. And see how fine I look to you then.”

He was silent at my back.

He pulled the blue gown down around my waist, my undergarments still tight around my chest, but dipping low in the back beneath my shoulder blades. With a gentle hand, Sorin reached out and gathered my inky hair in his hand. He delicately brushed it over my shoulder to fall in my face as my head hung. My nails dug into the glass painfully as I imagined what it was that he was gazing upon now.