There was something thin, yet firm, inside the envelope addressed to Evvie. My secret pen pal had obviously sent me something special.

A smile teased my mouth just before the guilt at what I now shared with Graysen smothered that delighted feeling.

Lise rose from her seat, then bent over awkwardly to kiss the top of my head. Propping one hand on her hip, she rubbed her pregnant belly with the other. "We'll talk further in the morning about what that's all about." Her gaze dipped pointedly to the envelope in my hands before she winked, then walked away, raising an arm to wave at Aldan.

Still, I was curious. Tearing Evvie's letter open, I pulled out the second envelope, addressed to me. Slicing it carefully open, I plucked out what was contained inside.

My brows rose in surprise. It was a bar coaster. An everyday coaster that sat beneath beer and wine and cocktails. My mouth widened into an excited grin, wondering where it came from while imagining what it must be like at the end of a working day to end up at one's favorite watering hole, ordering your favorite drink. There were beer rings staining the coaster, and stamped on its front in red lettering was 'Firefly Bar.'

A note was scribbled on the back in the neat handwriting of my secret pen pal. I caught a glimpse at a couple of words—'middle of fuck-knows-where'—when my attention was diverted. A shadow fell across the table, as someone bowed, and then settled into the empty chair beside me.

Danne Pelan.

The thing inside me bristled immediately.

I quickly tucked the coaster away in the pocket of my dress before he noticed and could ask questions.

Danne wore a navy tuxedo with a bowtie. He smiled and for the first time, I noticed that it wasn't much of a smile. It seemed fake. A little desperate even. "Nelle."

"Danne," I greeted, polite, yet coolly.

Lifting an arm, he clicked his fingers imperiously. Without even turning toward the servant, he indicated what he wanted by pointing at an empty champagne flute. The servant poured him a glass and before she faded into the background, I gave her my thanks because Danne clearly wasn't going to.

My so-called friend's nose twitched before he sniffed, then rubbed at his nostrils with the flat of his fingers. "Where have you been, Nelle? I've been waiting for you all this time. I had thought perhaps we could spend the evening together since I've seen so little of you this weekend." Before I could even reply, he broke into a long, drawn-out, one-sided conversation about what he'd been up to during the engagement celebrations, the dull speeches, and why Evvie should have chosen a jazz band for the occasion. He drew breath, and as I was about to interrupt, knowing he wasn't aware of how monopolizing he could be, when he quickly said, "Why don't we get out of here? We could go somewhere quieter where we can be alone and catch up properly?"

I squared my shoulders. I could play innocent and polite, but why bother? One eyebrow arched as I said icily, "I know what you did to Ferne."

He froze. A notch formed between his brows. "Pardon?"

"Graysen told me everything."

His mouth became a thin line as he drummed his knuckles on the table. "Graysen Crowther's version."

"I believe him."

His expression turned horrified. "Nelle...I'm your friend."

"Are you?" Because now I wasn't so sure. Graysen had asked how long Danne and I had been friends. Danne and I had become close for a few months now. Since it was a long-distance sort of friendship, we traded messages mostly, however, whenever he did accompany Corné on one of his brother's visits to Evve, we chatted. But...he hadn't been interested in talking to me when we'd first met. Only recently.

"Yes, of course," he spluttered as if the idea was so preposterous. He frowned. "Come now, I know you better than Crowther does." Swiping his hand down the front of his tuxedo, he then reached for his champagne and took a long sip, his throat working the fizzy liquid down.

"I've known Graysen for years," I replied to Danne, though that wasn't wholly true. "And if you've forgotten, Graysen and I have spent the whole year in one another's company." A presence one couldn't ignore, no matter how each of us had tried. We'd discovered little quirks about one another. My relationship with Graysen wasn't like how Danne implied—as if he and I had suddenly met. Besides, "I'm promised to Graysen," I reminded him.

Danne grunted, and his mouth downturned while his gaze blazed with anger. "Well, I pity you for that."

For the first time, I didn't. And it was a bit of a shock to discover how warmth and excitement fluttered inside my chest at the idea that I'd be married to Graysen. It didn't seem like a prison sentence any longer.

I was too busy trying to tame my feelings for Graysen to notice Danne had leaned closer. The smell of his cologne washed over my nostrils before my brain caught up that he'd curled a hand around my upper arm while his other hand was pressed over the top of mine, fixing it to the table.

I tried to shirk his hand off my arm and tug my other hand free, but he wouldn't let me.

Power coiled around my bones and filled my veins with ire.

The creature, hissed, long and low, just as I growled, "What the hells are you doing?"

Danne's attention was elsewhere though. He was staring over my shoulder. When I half-twisted around and followed his line of sight, I saw who was staring back at him with a thunderous expression that looked as if he were considering flaying Danne alive with the dull edge of a butter knife.

Graysen.

He remained near the entrance of the marquee. Guests flowed in and out of the tent, but he stood stock still, making them move around him in the way the churning tide washed around a rock. But he didn't approach us; in fact, one of his brothers, thumping him good-naturedly on the shoulder, jolted his attention elsewhere. Those black eyes shifted away as he spun on his heel and followed his family outside.

Turning back, I saw the feverish glint in Danne's hazel eyes and the way his lips twitched as if he were suppressing a sly smile. Gone a blink later, as that boyish smile reappeared. The one that promised he was safe. Comforting.

A cold feeling inched down my spine.

"Let's talk in private," Danne said flashing a friendly smile, ignoring the fact I'd shoved his hand off me and ripped my own from beneath his, to fold my arms across my chest. "I'd like to clear this ridiculousness up."

Private? Not after what I'd discovered about him. He really did think I was a simpleton. I leaned closer to hiss, "How many girls, Danne? If I start asking around, how many daughters of Houses will have similar stories to Ferne? How many would be worse?"

He blinked at my forthrightness. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he cut a furtive glance around the marquee, I suppose to see if anyone had overheard me. "Please, just hear me out. There's a little garden outside. It's open and you wouldn't be alone if that's what's worrying you. Meet me there and please let me explain. It's nothing like what Graysen suggested, at all."

I leaned back, studying him.

He hadn't been at the temple. In fact, I hadn't seen him at all today. He'd obviously been off the estate. There was a purplish smudge below his eyes and scruff lining his jaw. He looked tired and jaded as if he'd had little sleep or none at all. Had he been gambling again, like Graysen suggested?

I nodded slowly. "I'll follow in a few minutes."

He smiled gratefully. Pushing back the chair, he rose. "Thank you, friend."

Dipping his upper body into an elegant bow, he said, before leaving, "I'll be waiting."

***

I lingered in the shadows just outside the marquee, where a garden had been created with lush green palms and buxus and potted roses. There were a few seating arrangements for comfort, taken up by a few of the Troelsens. I didn't even need to tell them to politely fuck off; my mere presence had them scattering. While I waited for my prey, I kept a keen eye on the Houses inside the tent.

It occurred to me at that moment, if anyone wanted to strike at the Houses, now was the time to do it. All the Houses were here, Upper and Lower Heads, and all the high-ranking family members.

If anyone should strike, the monolith towers would keep them from swifting in if they had the ability, but that wouldn't prevent an attack on the estate by going through the electric fence and wall of adamere. Tricky, but not impossible. However, there were almost as many bodyguards brought in by Houses as actual guests. Many of us were foot soldiers, hunters, and enforcers, and like my family, they'd be carrying at least three blades on them. If anyone was stupid enough to strike, they'd find they were contending with a lethal army.

I swiped my bottom lip with my thumb, my thoughts running deeper. Someone had been after Nelle. Those things down in the catacombs had targeted her. And that thought spun into another that I'd forgotten about until now. I'd spotted someone lurking outside of Nelle's bedroom a couple of nights back. Someone going for an innocent walk perhaps, or maybe, Byron had set them a dark task.

Marissa had warned me last night that if Byron couldn't end me—not gonna happen—he was going to take his daughter's life to save his own neck.

Hurried movement caught my eye.

The fucker I was waiting for walked out of the tent. The taste on my tongue was rank, like moldy food scraps—simmering anger, but there was a relief too, that perhaps, something was going to come to a head.

Lunging fast, I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him into the shadows. His jelly belly wobbled like the beer gut it was when I slammed him against a tent pole holding up the marquee, the canvas wall shuddering with the force. He startled with an oomph and might have been about to shriek like a fucking girl when I muffled his reaction with the palm of my hand.

Danne Fucking Pelan.

There were dark circles beneath his eyes and exhaustion in his features. His normally smoothed-back ginger hair was ruffled as if he'd been continuously dragging his hand through the locks. "Didn't see you at the Blessing, Danne," I softly snarled.

Danne's hazel eyes widened and his freckled complexion drained to a pasty color as he swallowed. I loosened my hand from his mouth to let him speak. "I was detained in Ascendria."

I fucking bet he was. But I was no longer sure if it was his gambling addiction playing on his mind, or something else. And just how much he was in debt to this Silas Boon?

Caidan and Jett appeared out of the darkness to stand beside us and block anyone from seeing what I was up to.

"Keep away from Nelle," I warned Danne.

And like the stupid fuck he was, his eyes narrowed and his lips became a pinched line. "We're friends. Deal with it, Crowther. She likes me."

"Like you were my sister's friend?"

His expression faltered. "I've apologized...You nearly killed me—"

"Pity. It's one thing I've regretted not doing."

"I might have been a little rough with Ferne, overstepped the boundaries—"

"Like Ezra Qillisan's older sister?" a low raspy voice said, just before my sister stepped into view, her hand looped around Kenton's arm as he escorted her to our dark little party.

Danne tried to implore my sister, placing a hand across his heart. "Ferne—"

Ferne snapped up a hand effectively shutting him down. "You overstepped the boundaries with her too last year... Boundaries..." Ferne drawled in mock consideration, tilting her head to the side. Shadow and golden light played upon the lace strapped across her eyes. "It's a nice, polite way of saying you tried to sexually violate her."

And fuck me, hearing those words spill from Ferne's mouth had rage and hatred swelling in my chest, burning through my veins—that same toxic fuel that engulfed me last year when I'd stumbled across the motherfucker pinning my sister beneath him.

My fingers pincered Danne's neck like a vice and he winced, a pained cry startling from his mouth.

Ferne pressed a hand to my shoulder, squeezing it, soothing that burning rage away. But still, it would be so fucking easy to snap his neck and dump his ass somewhere no one would find him.

With a defeated hiss through clenched teeth, Danne gave up the ghost. His entire body sagged sadly as he cast a wary glance over all my siblings gathered around him like we were vultures and he was roadkill we were going to fight over. "Oh, so you're all here, are you?"

I dug around in the pocket of his tuxedo jacket, found his phone, and tossed it to Caidan. "Delete Nelle's number, everything to do with her."

Jett moved up to brace his hand against the canvas wall beside Danne's head. He angled his chin away and his long hair swayed with the motion. "Who's the shadow?"

My eyes slid sideways. There was some guy walking in a direct line our way. Bright blue eyes, seriously bright blue eyes, and hair the same shade as my little bird's.

Danne held up his hand and the guy with the blue eyes halted on the fringes of the garden where I had Danne pinned. The other guy was just shy of six feet tall and had more of a wiry build. Nostrils flaring, he tugged at the cuff of his jacket, as he thinned his eyes and fixed an infuriated gaze on me. For some reason, he didn't seem perturbed that I was pretty much roughing up his employer. Nor did I like the taste of him either. Bitterness was rolling off him, tempered with cold rage. This wasn't about Danne either, it was to do with me personally.

"Who the fuck is that?" I growled

"My bodyguard."

I playfully slapped Danne on the cheek a couple of times, enjoying how it made him flinch. "Well, he's doing a fine job keeping you safe."

Caidan jammed the phone—minus Nelle's details—back into Danne's pocket. I leveled my gaze, making sure Danne had nowhere else to look and I gave it to him straight, slowly, and clearly, so the fucker understood exactly what was going to happen to him. "You look at Nelle—your eyes will get gouged out. Speak to her—that tongue goes. If I even get a hint you've thought about her," I tapped his forehead with two fingers, sending my message to him loud and clear.

His eyes flared as wide as they could go, and he swallowed thickly, the irritating sound of his dry mouth scratching at my nerves

"And when we're done slicing you into tiny pieces," Ferne said with a small smile, my brothers crowding around her. "We'll feed what's left of you to Nelle's wraith-wolf."

"Understand, Pelan?" I asked.

He nodded, a series of manic jerks of the head.

"Good. Now that we're clear, get the fuck out of my sight. And if I even hear a hint you trying anything, with any girl from any House, I'll personally cut off your dick and stuff it down your throat."

I let him go, my brothers stepping aside as he hurried to his bodyguard who still had his gaze fixed on me.

I gave him a face that said—Got something to fucking say?

He merely stared back with his uncanny eyes, before turning to follow Danne as the other man scurried across the lawns.