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“I hate you.”

“I love you.”

“He will rise and save us all.”

“We don’t need saving, Eve. We’re capable of saving ourselves.”

The sound of the line going dead was the last I heard from her. Because I was right. The Prophecy could not be stopped. This strange little creature — Nova — stopped my sister’s demon king from rising. She saved the world.

Yet a spell from my witch has rendered her powerless.

My lips thin into a sharp-edged smile.

After all my sister’s talk and bravado, an elderly English witch has done something she could not do. And now I will be the one to capture the Fire Bird’s essence.

I will capture her, and I will use her — not to take over the world — but to expand mine.

Lucien will be the first to fall, because the Thornfields have ruled this city for too long.

And after that, I will create a product so powerful the whole of Europe will want a taste of it.

Perhaps, instead of mooning over her king, Eve should have considered my talent for greatness. If she had, we could have built an empire together.

But she always wanted more, and she was a hopeless romantic, too. In the end, she was helpless against the charms of a demon lord with a vision for world domination.

The Shadow King wasn’t the first she vowed to follow to the end of days.

Sadly for Eve, however, he was her last.

Now, Kole and the Fire Bird stand beside each other as the door is unlocked. Her fingers twitch with the need to find his. Her body warms when he looks at her. I can feel the heat radiating from her skin, blooming between her thighs as adrenaline courses through her body and confuses her into thinking fear can be turned into lust.

I can see why he is drawn to her.

She is the sort of woman who feels good to sink your teeth into.

In fact, if I thought she could be persuaded the way Kole can… I tilt my head, watching the sway of her hips as she stumbles a little. He catches her. Their eyes meet.

A sigh swells in my chest, and a tingle of excitement zips up my spine. They’d look good together. Fucking. His tall dark frame towering over her smaller, softer one. Him all hardness and brooding torture. Her soft and pliable, but powerful in a different way.

My mind is racing now.

Suddenly, I want nothing more than to see them together. To sit on my throne and watch him fuck her. Fire roaring in the background, a glass of deep scarlet blood in my hand.

Her blood.

As they pass through the door and begin to descend the steps behind Brynn, I take a moment, lean back against the wall, and inhale deeply.

He will bleed her for me.

That is how it will happen.

It will take time, but it will be worth it.

Instead of simply holding her down and draining her – which is what I should do – I will make her want it. I will make her beg for it.

I will remind Kole what it was like when we were together. When he was at my side and the entire FHB empire was ours to grasp.

I will remind him what he let go of when he ran away from me. When he became a coward, who could not handle what he was turning into.