The air in the study seemed to solidify, the warmth that had been flowing between the "siblings" suddenly curdling into something bizarre and unsettled. Caius held Selena’s hand firmly within his broad palm. The dry, aggressive heat of his touch sent complex ripples across the icy surface of her heart. It was the scent of the Adrian she remembered, yet it seemed tangled with something she couldn't quite name—the desperate, all-or-nothing aura of a stranger, a gambler.
However, the response that was about to slip from Selena’s lips was shattered an instant later by a violent crash.
BANG!
The oak door slammed against the wall with a heavy thud. Swirling into the room came the wild, untamed gale of a northern storm—Lucian, carrying the indelible scent of thunder and gunpowder. Like a furio
