The Assassin's Bride

of gravel under heavy boots. The blacked-out SUV sat in the shadows, engine stil

side her long enough that it no longer hollowed her out-it sharpened her, honed her, like steel kissed by flame. Every nerve i

Viper. The

he weapon holstered beneath his jacket. His eyes, pale as frost, cut through the tinted glass to the silhouettes moving outside. His jaw was st

gainst the hood, threate

lian, rough with adrenaline. "Se

The whole car rocked with their weight. Seraphina's finge

pered, her voice tight but even

them was heavy, taut, but she didn't flinch away from his eyes. She'd been beaten, broken, threatened,

t, his voice low and measured, like a blade s

years of practi

host of a smirk. And then the

ducked on instinct, her hands flying to shield her head. But Kael didn't

tch t

is side flew open, his body moving with surgical precision. His pistol

ght er

nder of shots. Kael didn't fire wildly-every squeeze of the trigger was measured, deli

, her throat tight, but her eyes staye

sinew. He flowed between the car door and the shadows, his shots landing with merciless accuracy. One man

der bled into the a

hored her to this world. She had lived in Dante's shadow long enough to see blood before-she'd seen pun

lke Dante's cruelty for show. No. This

t finding the knee of a man creeping closer. The scream that followed

nd awe all at once. She pressed her back harde

less than a minut

y the soft drip of blood onto gravel. The

over the fallen like they were nothing more than debris. His gun remained raised,

the driver's seat, the world ou

ady and calm, as if mocking

e had just witnessed. The image burned behind her eyes-this man, th

at. Then he turned his head, eyes green as a storm catching th

but steady. "You could've hande

ound the wheel, a subtle f

didn'

t in the way Dante's men used to, with hunger or malice-but with calculation. Wi

as low enough to crawl alo

ng... lie, and I'll make you wish I'd let those men take you." h