The name Kaelen hung in the frozen air of the bedroom like a death sentence.
The lingering, warm haze of the pre-heat evaporated instantly, replaced by a cold, hollow dread that settled deep in my bones. My heart, which had just been hammering with a dangerous, electric attraction to Silas, was now thudding with pure, unadulterated terror.
I sat up on the massive bed, pulling the dark cotton shirt Silas had given me tightly around my body. It still smelled heavily of him—of safety and absolute power—but even that wasn't enough to stop the violent shaking that seized my limbs.
Kaelen was here. At the gates. He hadn't just rejected me and thrown me to the border guards like trash. He had come back to finish the job.
Silas didn't move for a long moment. He remained propped up on one elbow
