“Madeleine,” he sighed against my bare skin in a sultry way that made it clear he wished to sigh my name against the rest of me.

His whiskers tickled and I wiggled away from him—reluctantly so—with a scolding look. “You haven’t shaved.”

He rubbed his chin and flashed me a broad grin. “There wasn’t exactly an opportunity to do so where I’ve been.”

“Where?” was on my lips, but my voice wouldn’t work. I couldn’t bring myself to ask, because I knew wherever he’d been, he’d been with a demonic agenda. I knew it. He knew it. How long could we continue pretending that we weren’t on opposite sides of a war, that if things between us were as they should be, we’d be trying to kill each other?

The light in his eyes dimmed and he tore them away from mine. “Cadan,” he said harshly, acknowledging his son’s presence for the first time. “Please join me in the study.”

Bastian led Cadan down the hall and into a room. Behind them, Bastian shut the door, sealing me out of their conversation. I moved silently into the hall and leaned my back against the fine wooden paneling to wait. Despite Bastian closing the door, their voices traveled through it with ease.

“Well?” Bastian barked without wasting an instant.

“They’d already given it to the guardian,” Cadan said. “I didn’t get there in time.”

Bastian loosed an ugly, gruff sound. “You are proving to be more and more useless every time I look at you.”

“I went to the village you instructed me to, but it was too late. They’d already cleared out.”

“So the blame is mine, you’re saying?”

Cadan was silent.

“Did you search every building?” Bastian asked. “Every house?”

“I questioned every villager. They knew nothing and they were punished for their ignorance.”

My blood ran cold, but my heart wanted to second-guess Cadan’s claim. I couldn’t see him doing such a thing.

“Perhaps I should punish you for yours as well.” The malice in Bastian’s tone made me much more certain of his conviction than I was of Cadan’s. “I can’t believe you let them give the book to a relic guardian. You have no idea how powerful they are, or how hard they are to kill.”

“The souls I reaped in your name should atone for my failure,” Cadan replied after some time.

“You’d need to reap the whole of Europe to atone for your failures. Just go.”

Cadan emerged from the room, his features grim. He headed past me for the front door, but I caught his arm, halting him.

“For one so voracious,” I said in a very low voice, “you dine quite neatly. Almost undetectably.”

He stared at me and I did not balk beneath his gaze. He knew that he may have fooled Bastian, but he didn’t fool me. Bastian was too arrogant to even consider that his subordinates, those I was growing to understand he intentionally made to fear him, would lie to him. He was that confident, that proud.

Cadan exhaled, softened, and gave me a desperate, pleading look. He was begging me not to say anything. Of course I wouldn’t. In return, I smiled gently at him and touched his arm to reassure him. The gesture seemed to surprise him and he looked down at my hand. He ruffled, confused and flustered, and hurried from the house and out into the night. I watched him shut the door behind him, unable to help the concern I felt for him tighten on my heart. When had he last felt a gentle touch? Kindness shouldn’t shake him like it just had.

I felt Bastian’s fingertips caress the nape of my neck, sending a shiver through me. His lips followed, pressing kisses along the path he’d just marked. I closed my eyes and swallowed. “Why are you so harsh with him?”

Bastian did not skip a beat with either his hands or his lips. “He needs a firm hand.”

I moved away from him, not out of his reach but far enough so that he knew I would not let it go. “I don’t think he does. He’s afraid of you.”

Bastian beamed with so much satisfaction that my stomach turned. “You don’t understand our ways, Maddie. The only way to make them follow me is to make them fear me.”

“Including your only son?”

He sighed and all of that pompous air rushed out of him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Can we talk about it later? It’s almost dawn and I’ve been traveling all night.”

Somehow I didn’t think that weariness alone had made him so sharp to Cadan.

Bastian took my hand and I allowed him to draw me close. His large hands rubbed my shoulders and his mouth grazed my jawline. “Come to bed,” he whispered, his breath hot against the tender skin below my ear. “Let me show you just how much I missed you.”

Fire flashed through my belly, but I tightened my teeth and pulled out of his arms again. “I’ve got to go,” I lied. “I have too much to get done today. Please forgive me.”

A wicked smile spread across his gorgeous face. “I don’t think I can.”

I backed away toward the door. He kills. Bastian kills and reaps. “I’ll come by tonight, or tomorrow night.”

“Maddie …”

“You clearly need to rest after your tiresome journey,” I said. “Good-bye, Bastian.”

I left my back to him and once I was outside, I spread my wings and jumped into the air and into the Grim. Soon, Bastian’s manor was out of sight. I flew toward London, waiting until my scent would fade and my trail would be lost, and then I turned north toward Nathaniel’s cottage. It wasn’t until the gently smoking chimney came into view that I realized I was afraid of Bastian following me to Nathaniel. I was supposed to trust the man I loved. The doubt pressing on the furthest reaches of my mind sent a shiver through me that was very different from the one Bastian had sent through me earlier.