The heat from the gardens was already clawing at the bedroom windows, a flickering orange glow that turned the silk curtains into sheets of fire. But inside the room, the air was freezing. Nala stood paralyzed between two versions of her own nightmare. On the floor, Androniko the man who had claimed to be her protector while hiding a decades-old obsession lay slumped like a fallen king, the silver dart in his neck a testament to his sudden vulnerability.
And standing over him was Leo.
The match had gone out, but the fire from outside was enough to illuminate his face. He didn't look like the scavenger she had met in the dust, and he certainly didn't look like a brother. He looked like a predator that had finally cornered its prey. The black suit he wore fit him like a second skin, sharp
