Page 64 of Monster's Pretty Bride

Something cracks in her mask, just for a breath of a second, before she jerks her head free. “I trust them.”

I lean in, my breath hot against her ear. “Then you’re a fool.”

Her entire body tenses, and the air crackles. It’s dangerous. This need to fight her, to shake her, toforceher to see.

Worse, the need to kiss her again just to shut her up.

But before either of us can push further, a gargoyle limps toward us, blood dripping from his mouth.

“My lord,” he rasps, sinking to one knee. “The traitor…he escaped.”

Ice knifes through my veins.

I whip toward him. “Who?”

The gargoyle coughs, spitting blood onto the stones. “Drenir.”

The name slams into me, a wound that hasn’t healed ripping wide open.

Drenir. My second-in-command. Mymost trusted warrior.

The one who betrayed me.

I exhale slowly, forcing my fury into something lethal, something I canuse. “Where did he go?”

The soldier shakes his head. “Vanished. His magic…darkened. He hadhelp.”

I glance at Eryss.

She stiffens, lips parting in disbelief. “Don’t.”

My jaw flexes. “You don’t get to tell me what to believe. Not when your kindhelpedmake this happen.”

“Don’t lump my kind with whatever enemies you have.”

I advance on her, slow and deliberate. “Enemies? Tell me, purna, when do you start seeing things for what they are? When you’re buried under the rubble with my kin? When the magic that’s shackled inside you finally cracks open and turns againstme?”

Her nostrils flare. “You’reparanoid.”

“And you’reblind.”

Her fists clench, and she steps closer, her fire meeting mine, our breaths mingling.

“You think I can still kill you after you save me again and again?” she asks, voice rough, raw. She goes rigid and pale, as if the thought of it goes against every fiber of her being.

I don’t answer. Ican’t. Because the truth is, Idon’tbelieve it.

But I need to.

If I don’t, then I have to admit something far worse.

That if shedidbetray me, I would let her.

I would let her go, and I would stillburnfor her.

Thryx clears his throat. “We need to move inside. This isn’t over.”

I grit my teeth and pull back from Eryss. “No. It’sjustthe beginning.”

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