"And it all started when you rescued Lila."
The name hung in the air, and I felt the shift instantly.
"Lila Hart," Malakai whispered, his voice suddenly thick with a disturbing, possessive reverence. He sounded like a man describing his most sacred religious relic. "My personal amusement. My prized possession. And you... you took her from the Tideglass party. You stole her from me."
He wasn't talking about a kidnapping. He was talking about a love that had rotted into a sickness. He was in love with the idea of owning her.
I glanced at Darius.
Darius had only spent one day with Lila. He had been her shadow for twenty-four hours after the rescue, silent and watchful. I had seen him carry her out of the fire; I had seen him stand guard at her door without blinking for a dozen hours. At
