THE BALLROOM'S laughter still clung to her skin as though it wanted to keep her pinned in place. The chandeliers swayed, spilling fractured light across marble and glass. Music surged again, drowning her thoughts, but nothing could erase the whisper curling in her ear.
Meet me at midnight, east balcony.
Bring your demon if you're suspicious. But keep it a secret. Trust no one else.
Mailah sipped champagne she didn't taste, smiling at strangers she didn't see, her mind already fracturing into a dozen dangerous paths.
She shouldn't go. She absolutely shouldn't go. But the words branded themselves into her ribs until every breath felt like a decision.
Hugh. Vampire. Smiling, stumbling Hugh who pretended to be harmless until he wasn't.
By the time the clock chimed half-past eleven, she knew she would go.
The question wasn't if.
It was how.
