The Assassin's Bride

through cracked asphalt and neon had long since died. The drive stretched into silence, Kael's

ves. Every bump in the road, every flicker of headlights in the dista

y didn'

uneven gravel until a looming shape appeared at the end- a squat, weathered house half-swallowed by trees. Wi

moment, the silence presse

el said, voice l

oo still after hours of chaos. Her eyes swept the surroundings, c

it was defe

ravel. He unlocked the front door with a q

battered furniture- a couch, a wooden table, mismatched chairs. A kitchen nook. A hallwa

le yellow glow spread across

e asked, steppi

y. "No one knows abou

sted the word safe, not after years of learning it was a lie,

d shoulders and a chest carved from discipline and violence. The tattoos inked along his forearms shifted with every movement,

strength honed by violence rather than vanity. He was beautiful, yes- but in the wa

alive even in exhaustion- land

night," Kael said. It

lifted. "

really sl

ld stop them. "Well that expla

. Then, to her surprise, the corner of his mouth twitched- the ghost of someth

er his stare. "Don't think I'm ungrateful for the walls and the roof, but if yo

etheart, if I wanted you caged, you'd

rt warning, part something she didn't want to name.

plan is you don't move unless I say so. Dante's got half the city in his

"So my survival sti

act

he swallowed the bite of resentment, the taste

hall," he said, gesturing. "Bedro

the hall, but halfway ther

ae

ised

ike taking orders. That why yo

d, green eyes going col

ongue like he'd always known her, like they hadn't jus

rned her the su

he hall before he could see the way her

~

ognized. Pale, hollow-eyed, red hair tangled from wind and fea

til the ghost of Dante's handprint faded from

bed. A dresser. A window nailed shut. She sat on th

in years, she was o

s, she could breathe witho

to another man. One just as dan

nket. Don't be weak, she told her

er under before she coul

~

te smoke curling into the stillness.

ragged Dante's wrath onto his doorstep. Not because she'd

e she didn

or her life, there was fire in

ing a damn about anyone's fire but hi

arette out. It was

istra

se her against Dante. And w

. He answered wi

a low voi

idn't

ed. "He's putting a bounty out. Half a milli

till lingered in the air, but

r dead?"

ts her erased. And now you'r

l click

iet house, the weight o

ry rat, every hungry bastard in t

, eyes narrowing, the em

unning short, Phina," he

m. Because something deep in his chest

ation. He was going to use her to take

e had to kee