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He does. Fast. Too fast.

One second he’s above me. The next he’s across the chamber, a blur of naked vampire and black hair, one hand braced on the far wall while his chest rises and falls as if he has just outrun a storm.

I scramble off the slab, legs unsteady, nightshirt twisted around my hips. ‘What the hell was that?’

His gaze drops to my throat and his face changes.

I hold my breath but he doesn’t collapse or convulse. The Tower doesn’t crack open for dramatic effect because apparently that was yesterday’s recreational activity.

But something far worse unravels.

Power.

It moves through him visibly, tightening muscle, brightening his eyes, burning scarlet along the mark. He looks less like a dying king and more like a god who has remembered where he left his crown.

I’m too shaken to speak. No, worse. I’m thunderstruck.

Valentin moves again. A blink, a rush of air, and he’s at the wine cabinet built into the side wall. He snatches up a bottle of red, tears the cork free with his teeth and drinks the entire thing in two savage swallows.

I stare. ‘That was probably older than my country.’

He lowers the empty bottle. ‘Almost certainly.’

‘You’re stronger.’

‘I noticed.’

‘You’re not dying.’

‘Also noticed.’

‘You’re drinking wine like a college student with parental money and unresolved issues.’

His mouth curves. And the smile makes my knees briefly reconsider their commitment to holding me upright.

His gaze travels over me, lingering at my throat, my bare thighs, the place where his body was inside mine moments ago. The air thickens until breathing feels like an act of treason.

Then his expression sharpens. ‘What happened?’

I go cold. ‘You don’t remember?’

‘I remember calling you.’ His eyes narrow. ‘Remember needing you here. After that, fragments.’

Fragments.

My pulse hammers.

Bride’s Mercy sits silent beneath my tongue, but the silence feels different now. Smugger. As if the potion has not only locked my truth away but swept its footprints from his mind.

Valentin watches me too closely. ‘What are you keeping from me, little hunter?’

Too much. Not enough. Everything that could ruin me. ‘Mostly that you should come with a warning label.’

‘That is not an answer.’

‘No. But it is accurate.’

He takes a step towards me. I should move back but I don’t.