Nox was losing his mind. All those millennia of carefully calculating every detail of his revenge, and for one heartbeat, he’d abandoned everything.

Rayne’s kiss scorched him. Sweet and smoldering, she’d invited him inside.

Not even when Nox had arranged the wager with Korac did he imagine any real chance…

Her warmth lingered on his lips, and he touched them. Hotter than his fingertips, Rayne had left his mouth feeling swollen. Nox wanted his hands on her, and hers on him.

This was too far. A risk the invasion couldn’t afford—

A knock sounded on his door. Curt and professional, it could only be Nox’s second-in-command.

“Enter, Korac.”

With the door ajar, Nox overheard the nocturnal activities throughout the compound. The Cult of Night’s monthly ritual which repelled him so. Necessary, but truly primitive.

Korac’s human dress suited him in black slacks and a silk button-down paler than his skin. More regal than military in his posture, Nox’s General faced his King with firelight between them. Not the roaring pyre of his chambers on Cinder, but an adequate flame to represent Nox’s internal combustion confined to his quarters under the roof of this sanctimonious institution.

Korac knew better than to interrupt Nox while he sparred with Rayne in her dreams. Truly, the General should be attending his own nocturnal pursuits.

Behind his General’s infuriating mask, Nox ascertained that something was concerning him. He asked, “What is it?”

“Your majesty, our soldiers guarding the Callahans’ house reported unusual activity. No. Nothing like that—”

How could Korac read Nox so well? The best soldier correctly discerned Nox’s minute flinch was an impulse to stop a home intruder or some such threat to his millennia-long endeavor.

“Rayne left at 1:20am for the traitor’s training grounds. She’s been there ever since. It’s nearly 4:30 in the morning.” On the last, Korac tucked his hands in his pockets and waited.

Nox frowned as he asked, “What is she doing there?”

Korac blew the air from his cheeks before answering. “Well, running, sire. The entire obstacle course repeatedly. Without a nacre… It’s impressive.”

“Quite.” And dangerous. Rayne was risking herself out there alone with the kind of humanity eager to steal young women from the shadows of those woods. “Keep the guards with her.” Protecting their investment took priority.

For the rest, Nox needed to contemplate the situation. He turned his back on his General and stared at his pillow where he’d rested only hours before to invade Rayne’s dreams. To make her a better fighter while weakening her resolve.

The kiss had introduced an element Nox had put from his mind upon first meeting her. She was too young then to make good on his wager with Korac, cruel as it was. Ultimately, Nox found fighting with Rayne far more satisfying than any interaction with the females of his past. Rayne was fierce, and he enjoyed the banter.

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Nox enjoyed her kiss more, and this recent development with the training grounds spoke of its effect on her. For the first time, Nox saw Rayne. Not the key to his salvation, or the completion to his vendetta.

No.

Rayne’s blue eyes had shone bright like sapphires and glittered with desire. Her clothes, meant to match those of the female Icarean warriors, displayed curvaceous assets Nox had ignored until that moment. Flushed, as they both were, her blood ran hot inside her. For Nox. And her lips. So full and inviting…

“Do you find her beautiful, General?”

Nox knew without facing Korac that his General wouldn’t appreciate the question. Too many wrong answers. If he answered in the negative, it could imply Nox found her attractive in poor taste. If Korac answered in the affirmative, it could mean he wanted her as well. And that wouldn’t suit.

When Nox turned, he’d hoped to find his General’s composure at least somewhat affected. But no. Irritatingly so, Korac’s cool mask stayed in place as he delivered the perfect answer, per usual.

The best soldier.

“Rayne’s heart beats in time to the life around her. Her eyes, so like her ancestor’s, have gained clarity as she’s developed into a fighter. It’s an admirable awareness of her surroundings that only predators attain. I personally prefer a woman who smiles more freely, but when Rayne finds a worthy occasion, it lights the room with warmth and hope. Not at all like Celindria.”

The last piqued Nox’s curiosity. “How would you describe Celindria’s smile?”

“Wrong.”

Throughout his answer, Korac withdrew his hands from his pockets and folded his arms, feigning disinterest or displeasure at the chore. But Nox knew better. Korac wanted to know why his King would ask him such a question.

Nox fell back in a sturdy chair behind him and gestured at Korac, saying, “Speak your mind, General.”

“Your majesty, why do you ask such a question? Why is Rayne punishing herself?” The edge to his otherwise elegant voice implied unease. Nox recognized it from millennia of companionship. It’s why Korac was the best soldier and his second-in-command.

Why was Nox ruminating over his assignment? Why did the warmth of Rayne’s legs around his hips haunt him so? The sweetness of her…

“She kissed me.”

Korac, knowing all of Nox’s secrets, shot his brows up and let his arms fall to the side. Quick to the point, his brows came crashing back down in an angry frown Nox was surprised to see outside of his carefully constructed countenance. Korac asked, “How can you know it was sincere?”

Ah, this question. Precisely the sort of calculation Nox expected from Korac. That point also plagued the King of Cinder. How much was Rayne like Celindria? How much of this nice, righteous girl was an act?

“I’m uncertain,” Nox confessed.

Korac’s assignment was far more forthright. In Sagan, Nox saw a confident woman who knew she wanted her soldier, and with Sagan’s ancestor being so terribly afflicted, there was no doubting her sincerity.

Rayne was a contradiction. Sweet, but forward. Strong, but vulnerable. Innocent, but designed to kill.

Nox wanted her.

Therein lied the trouble.

Korac stared into the flames, the red glow bouncing across his contemplative features. Softly, he said, “Too many coincidences, your majesty.”

True.

Nox was familiar with being a target of this form of manipulation. He despised the familiar taste of betrayal in his mouth, always sweet in the beginning. “I intend to win that wager, General.”

Without taking his pale eyes off the flames, Korac assented, “Of course, sire. If Rayne is anything like Celindria, you’ll claim both thrones shortly after we strike.”

Korac must fear Nox’s threat if he won, but the General hid it beneath an impenetrable shield to the King’s irritation. “Bring me another girl. You’re dismissed.”

By the way Korac left the room, Nox knew his General resented all of this, including the formal treatment which was so different from their early years. But revenge required a cold menace that the King of Cinder had embraced long ago. Rayne tested that. So, Nox would return the favor.

A test of her allegiances and mental fortitude. This was a dangerous dance. Caresses and kisses between strikes, forward words to shake her stance, and when she was ready, Nox would give Rayne what she needed.