Page 54

Miranda is silent now, but the fear coursing through her is so strong it almost makes me vomit.

“I shall tell you nothing, no matter how many ways you find to torture me, young man.”

With a flicker of movement, the vampire appears in front of her. Vice-like hand tighten on her shoulders. “I am not a young man, witch. I’m older than this hell-damned city itself. And I haven’t even begun to find all the ways to torture you yet.”

A crack of pain blooms on the side of my head. Miranda falls sideways. Another crack. And another.

And then it’s like I’m being yanked out of a dream. Reality crashes back. I’m in the tub, flailing in the few inches of cool water.

Nova and Kole heave me out. I’m damp, not soaked, but I’m breathing so fast it feels like my lungs can’t keep up with my heart.

“Thornfield was right. Zephyra took her.” I look at Kole as a dark shadow settles on his face.

“I think it’s time you tell us who she is, Kole.” Nova reaches for Kole’s hand and squeezes it.

He flexes his fingers, his eyes black pools in a haunted face. “She’s the queen,” he says. “Queen of the South. Her FHB operation is the biggest in Europe.”

“And how do you know her?” I ask as my own feelings of nausea merge with Kole’s.

He leans back on the sink and ties back his hair, shoulders rippling with the movement. “I know her because I was her slave.”

A jolt of jealousy hits my chest, coming straight from Nova.

“She used me in exchange for all the FHB I wanted.”

“Used you how?” Nova asks, voice barely a whisper because she knows the answer from the tone of Kole’s words.

“In every way,” he says. “And I hate myself for it.”

For a long moment, none of us speaks. But then Nova strides over to Kole, reaches up on tiptoe and rests her hands on his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter what happened. What you did. That was then, and this is now. And right now, I need to know if you’d be willing to come face to face with Zephyra again if it meant we could save Mack? Can you do it, Kole?”

He meets her gaze. His body is tense, his muscles throbbing. Fear cascades off him so fiercely I’m surprised Nova can’t see it too. It rolls along the floor, and up the walls, and barrels into me so hard I can barely breathe.

“I can do it,” he says.

He’s lying.

“I’ll do it.” He looks from Nova to me.

I close my eyes as the room spins and jumps and threatens to shatter.

We all make sacrifices for those we love.

Perhaps Mack isn’t the only one who risks losing himself, though

28

KIM

I’d know her voice anywhere. The soft American lilt, the hint of power, the sexy as fuck edge to it that makes me feel like she could do anything she wanted to me at any moment because she’s… whatever the hell she is.

I’m clutching a coffee in one hand and a huge Chelsea bun in the other.

I turn and catch her drifting past the doorway, King’s College looming tall behind her.

She’s wearing a leather jacket, the same one she wore last night. Her red hair hangs thick and loose over her shoulders, and her hips sway as she walks.

I swipe my phone over the card machine, wait for the beep and run.