ALARIC

The garden was empty by the time I returned to my chambers, but the image of Desdemona standing beside Kieran refused to leave my mind. I had told myself that I was angry because she had gone behind my back again, because she continued digging into things I had warned her to leave alone, but that was not the truth. The truth was uglier.

The moment I saw Kieran standing so close to her, something old and poisonous had awakened inside me. It had nothing to do with reason and everything to do with a wound I had spent years pretending no longer existed.

I hated the way Kieran...