Page 152 of The Rogue's Curse

At that, she nodded and said, “You may leave now. Ophelia will arrange for you to travel home.”

“I’ll book tickets,” Ophelia said.

Lady Demirci chuckled. “Let them take the plane. Consider it my thanks for dealing with Mr. Shea.”

Paris nodded to her and gave a deep bow. “Thank you for your hospitality and grace, Lady Demirci,” he said.

“You are very welcome, Mr. Rossignol,” she said mildly. “We’ll be in touch, Misha.”

31

KOVA

Sitting in his car outside the witch’s sprawling mansion, Kova stared at his phone. He had been on hold for ten minutes when finally someone picked up the line. “Mr. Smith?” a woman said breathlessly.

“That’s me,” he said.

“Mr. York has been discharged,” she said. “I would encourage you to contact his family for any further updates.”

“Thanks, Taylor,” he said, faking a broad smile as if the human nurse could see him. “I appreciate it.”

He swallowed hard as he put the phone down.

Good.

It had taken some sleuthing to lead him to Shoshanna York’s brother, with a week spent following him to learn his routines. He supposed it would have been easier to simply kill Elijah York, but that seemed to be such a waste. The man had done nothing other than have the right bloodline to lead him to his real target. So he’d been careful, telling Armina’s apprentice Stella to take her time. He’d cut carefully, opening small veins so the poor bastard didn’t bleed out unnecessarily. As soon as the witch was done with her work, he’d called the police and said a prayer to kinder gods that Elijah would live another day.

And now, he had a gift for Armina Voss, a brilliant red light encased in glass. A key to finding Shoshanna York, to freeing his Lucia once and for all. He didn’t know Shoshanna and didn’t want to. A single life to free his love, who had suffered for so long for no reason—that was nothing at all to pay. But it would be better if she remained faceless, a mere shadow in his mind. He might have tried to convince himself that she was evil, that she deserved it, but he couldn’t. The moment he tried to tell himself anything about the human witch, his conscience spoke up and told him she was probably a lovely person, a decent woman if his brothers were willing to ally with her.

Instead, he had to pretend she was no more than a shadow, shoving down his conscience. Someday, he would pay the price. Hs soul was certainly damned, if it was even still in his possession and not shriveled in a jar on Armina Voss’s shelves. But he had to free his Lucia, no matter the cost.

When he emerged from the car, stretching his legs after the long drive back, he went on alert. The smell of an unfamiliar vampire filled the air, wreathed in the deep, dark magic of Armina’s forbidden power. He was halfway across the manicured yard when another, more familiar scent hit him.

Scarlett bounded across the yard. “Kova! Wait,” she said, waving at him. “She’s busy. You should probably wait.”

He frowned at her. “Who’s in there? It stinks of another vampire.”

Her brow furrowed. “Lux brought someone back. Ms. Voss told me to stay in my apartment. He was in bad shape.”

He gazed at her, with those clear green eyes that would soon go dark in death. They were mere months away from her birthday. She had no idea what awaited, no clue that Armina was winding her up like a little toy to send her off to a terrible fate. She practiced her weapons and ate her vegetables and followed orders like a good little soldier, not knowing they had done this all before.

“Where were you?” she asked, startling him out of his grim introspection.

“Taking care of some business,” he said. “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine. Ms. Voss said we’re going hunting soon. She thinks she has a lead on the vampire who killed my family,” she said, her gaze darkening.

His fury erupted in his chest, and the urge to blurt out the truth was uncontrollable. The markings on his wrists seared and burned, and he said, “He didn’t—” The magic lashed inside his mind, holding him back. It was as if a nail pinned his tongue to the roof of his mouth, stealing the rest of his declaration.

We don’t talk like that about our mistress, a cold voice rang in his head. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get his lips to move.

He didn’t kill your family. He loved you more than anything.

“He didn’t what?” she asked.

“He didn’t plan on you surviving, I guess,” Kova said.

“Yeah,” Scarlett muttered. Her eyes drifted to the red glowing lantern. “What’s that?”

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