Panic and fear erupted, billowing in my gut in a volatile storm that seared through my veins and froze me to the spot.

Nelle...what the?

I watched in alarm as she raised her arms on either side, palms upward, eyes falling half-mast as if she waited for the first ray of light to brush against her cheeks and warm her face. Her soft nightie hugged her lithe body as a gentle breeze caught the material and teased the ends of her long wavy hair.

I barely heard my brother utter, "Holy Zrenyth...what is she doing?"

Because my heart stopped beating.

Someone was up there with her—

Byron.

Nelle spared her father a glance. There was nothing on her face, no emotion that I could read. No fear of where she stood with the tips of her toes curled around the lip of the roofline. She didn't balk at the dizzying height below. Nor did she seem afraid of who was inching carefully toward her over the slate-tiled roof.

I couldn't read the expression on Byron's face. I didn't know if he was there to pull Nelle away from the edge or push her over it.

Marissa shrieked, "Get away from her!" She took several hurried steps back, balling both hands. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare!"

Nelle turned her face toward the horizon, those expressive gray eyes seeking the sunrise. The first ray of sunlight struck her honeyed skin, illuminating it with brilliance.

She bodily swayed as if she was rolling on the balls of her feet back to her heels.

Her whole body rocked forward—

Then tipped back—

Byron lunged, momentarily blocking my line of sight to her.

My heart slammed into my throat—

And then...I couldn't see. I couldn't see what he was doing to her...but I saw the outcome and heard Marissa's scream of terror.

Nelle pitched backward into the air.

The position of her body, the way she faced Byron, it was as if she'd changed her mind and tried to step back to safety. And instead, she'd been pushed over the edge.

Head going back, legs tipping up—

She fell and it seemed to take forever watching her fall—

Down,

Down,

Down.

She fell headfirst toward the flagstone path below.

Stone. Unyielding. Unforgiving.

At that height and smashing head first, she was going to die.

Pure terror twisted my insides.

Everything screamed at me to—MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!

In utter panic, I threw myself forward, surging across the pebbled path. There was too much distance between the aviary and the mansion.

Marissa was frozen, her mouth open and eyes wide with horror.

I ran. A blur. Pushing, pushing, pushing.

Faster, harder, faster.

I was the wild wind. A ferocious roaring squall within a hurricane.

I'd catch her, break her fall, shatter every godsdamned bone in my body to save her!

Nelle...Nelle! NELLE!

I was there and time slowed.

Slowed right down.

And I saw her falling in small increments. Strands of moonlit hair streamed across her cheeks. Loose limbs flailing. Her short nightie rippled with her descent.

I was there—

Reaching for her—

Throwing myself bodily—

Sliding beneath to break her fall—

I'll never forget that sickening thud. The splintering of bone. Organs splitting.

Her fragile skull struck the paving stone first. Her body followed, crumpling inward like an accordion to slam against the flagstone

The tips of my fingers hit her fragile body, just as she smashed into an unyielding stone, and I shunted her sideways with my motion.

Too late... I'd been too late...

She was sprawled awkwardly across the flagstone and I scrambled for her.

Oh my gods...oh my gods...OH MY GODS!

Her large gray eyes stared blankly up at the sky.

There was nothing in my head but a screaming sound of panic and loss.

Nelle, Nelle, NELLE—

Sticky wetness spread out beneath her head—blood.

It oozed from the corners of her mouth, her nose, and the corners of her eyes. A stark horrid contrast against her moonlit coloring. She was a canvas of gray and ash...and now bright crimson.

I hovered over her, my hands numb and unfeeling as I ran my palms over her broken body.

Nelle gasped, her spine bowing.

Her chest convulsed. And there came a wet-burbling sound as she tried sucking oxygen into collapsed lungs. An agonizing heartbeat later she expelled a vicious cough. Blood splattered across her cheeks and mine too.

I didn't know what to do.

I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

Her eyes glazed over, becoming cloudy, far-seeing, not focusing on anything.

"Nelle...Nelle...NELLE..."

Her whole body shuddered and spasmed. Blood bubbled from her mouth. Then her limbs fell slack, as did her entire body. She let out an awful sound—a long wet whistling breath. And her collapsed chest didn't rise again.

Those pretty gray eyes that sparked with fire and glowed in happiness became blank as the life inside her winked out. And that glorious spirit of hers left me.

No...Gods, no...

No, no, no, no....NO!

I picked Nelle up and cradled her in my shaky arms. Broken...she was a broken bird, wings snapped at odd angles. I could feel the wrongness in her body. The shattered bones in my grip. I couldn't breathe, it was as if she'd stolen my last breath as soon as she'd given her last. There was only devastation, such raw, vast devastation that devoured my soul with slivered teeth that left not a shred of myself behind as it consumed me entirely, leaving nothing but emptiness inside a hollow chest.

I didn't know how long I sat there, holding her lifeless body. Screaming at Zrenyth, Skalki, Brangwene—Bring her back, bring her back, BRING HER BACK!

Voices...so many voices surrounded me. But I didn't take them in. I heard them—

What did you do Byron? WHAT DID YOU DO?!

A shriek. A wail. A scream.

Nelle...oh my gods, Nelle, sweetheart...

You did this to her! You killed her!

Never. Never.

Gray... Gray...

But I didn't hear them. My own mind was desperately trying to take this in. Understand it all. It wasn't possible. She wasn't supposed to die this way. She wasn't supposed to leave me like this.

Someone was making a strangled noise that cut through the clamor, a loud keening.

When I finally registered someone's hand was on my shoulder. That they were squeezing their fingers hard as they shook me back to awareness...I realized it was me. It was me making that grief-stricken sound.

My brother, Caidan, with his hand gripping my shoulder, looked as shocked as I felt. Evvie clung to him, trembling. The shine of tears coursed down her blotchy cheeks.

Pity-filled eyes set within a face that had paled to an ashen hue implored me. "Gray, let her go."

I violently wrenched myself free from his hold. Turning back to Nelle, grief pierced my heart. Gods, she was so delicate and light in my arms, her broken body limp and lifeless. My shaky fingers stroked through her beautiful wild hair, matted with crimson, the strands of moonlight now a blood-red moon.

Why did she stay?

She was supposed to be gone. Long gone. I thought she'd have escaped the estate and swifted away. That she'd swift and swift and swift until even I'd never be able to find her. She wasn't supposed to be here. I pressed my quivering lips to her temple. "Why do you never listen to me?"

More servants and guards had been drawn out by the anguished sounds, as well as a few Pelans who had been roused from their sleep, including Aldert and his wife Irma. Corné hovered in the background with Carola beside him. Neither of them, for once, was able to say a word, shocked as much as the rest of us were.

Bryon still dressed in his tuxedo from last night, reached out and tried to take Nelle from me.

"Get away from her," I hissed, rising to my feet. Nelle's body hung like a rag doll in my arms.

Byron tried again.

Fury lit me up with razor-sharpness. "Don't you fucking touch her!"

"Crowther—"

"GET THE FUCK AWAY!"

I glared at Marissa, at the woman who betrayed her best friend—my mother. "He wanted her dead. He couldn't let us claim her, so he stole her life. All to save his own fucking neck!"

Byron protested, his disheveled hair ruffling as he shook his head and glanced wide-eyed at his wife and daughter. He took a step toward Marissa. "That's not what happened... I didn't... Marissa..."

Marissa outstretched a trembling hand to ward off Byron.

Byron looked nothing like his former self—the man who ruled over the Houses with an iron fist. Deep lines of shock and grief were carved into his sickly-pale face. His tall figure seemed diminished as if he'd shrunk. The rumpled tuxedo hung loosely off his body as if it no longer fit him. "You were there."

"I came looking for you. I woke up and realized you hadn't come to bed. And...and you were there, shouting at her," Marissa cried.

"She wasn't answering me when I found her on the stairs. I followed her because I was worried about her. I had no idea what she was doing or where she was going. I didn't know, Marissa, I didn't know what she intended to do until she'd crawled out onto the roof."

A sudden rush of anger bit Byron hard, twisting his features into a snarl. He swung my way, lunging with a raised fist and I half-turned aside, easily dodging his wild swing and holding onto Nelle's body tighter. He didn't try again. Instead, with cheeks stained red with rage, he bellowed, "You! You did this. You and your dark family. You just couldn't let it alone, leave us in peace. You wanted her. You wanted to claim her with the Alverac, all to punish me!"

As sudden as his anger descended upon him, it fled. As his fury collapsed into anguish and hate, graying eyebrows slashed up and his eyes shone with tears. He darted frantic glances between me and Marissa. "She...she knew what the Alverac was... Last night, I told her... And I guess she couldn't...didn't want to put herself through that. I never thought..." He spun my way, shoving a finger of accusation at me. "I'd never thought she'd do this to escape your vile family!"

His words struck deep with the swiftness and cruelty of an arrow strike. They struck that part of that I kept cold and black. And the agony, the truth of what he said, overwhelmed me like a tidal wave smashing through a concrete seawall, tearing through it with its might.

It was my fault. All my fault.

Horror washed through my chest.

What have I done?

Last night I'd terrified her enough that she couldn't see a way free of me. Of my family. Of the things we'd do to her with the weight of the Alverac binding my will to hers.

That's why she'd been on the roof of the mansion. Even if Byron hadn't pushed her, she would have stepped off.

She'd given up.

Ended her own life because of me.

Oh Gods, what have I done?!

"Nelle needs to help us with Sage!" someone cried out behind us. I half-twisted around to see Lise approaching in hurried footsteps from the western side of the mansion. "Didn't you hear him? He's been howling. He threw himself against the kennel and now he's hurt himself!" Her brows inched together in confusion as her approach slowed down.

Aldan, right behind her, carried Sage's limp body in his arms. "What's going on?"

Lisa drew nearer, taking in who we'd all gathered around. Who I held in my arms. And it whispered from her, more air than voice, "Nelle?" All the color drained from her cheeks as her eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "Nelle?! NELLE?!"

She ran, her nightgown flapping around her shins and bare feet slapping against the flagstone. Aldan cursed, picking up his pace.

"Gray..." Caidan had an arm banded around the back of Evvie, his other hand spread across her shoulder blades to hold her to him as she sobbed into his chest.

I buried my face in the crook of Nelle's neck, her soft, bloodied hair whispering against my cheek. She smelled of nothing. As if everything about her had been wiped clean.

When I straightened, I found Aldan had placed Sage on the ground and knelt beside Lise, who had crumbled to her knees on the grass. Her grief-stricken features were pinched tight as tears fell, and her choked sound of raw anguish joined her sister's, her mother's.

Sage wobbled as he got to his paws, padding woozily closer to Nelle's hand hanging long and lifeless. He sniffed, drawing in her scent, and expelled his breath in a low huff.

Then he whined.

The noise crawling from his throat lowered and became rougher, more menacing as his misty fur hackled down his spine. Thin black lips curled back from his teeth, exposing deadly fangs. His entire body tensed as he hunkered low and growled viciously.

The sound of it scratched down my spine with unease.

"Sage?" Aldan rumbled in astonishment.

Nelle's wraith-wolf snapped his fangs and he erupted into a string of howling barks

What the fuck?

I lowered my head and drew Nelle's scent in through my nostrils.

Nelle, the girl in my arms, had no smell to her whatsoever. Not a hint of that sweetly-tart scent that drove me insane and inflamed my desire every time I was around her.

She smelled of nothing. Her trademark scent had vanished.

"It's gone...it's gone..."

"Brother?"

My gaze shot to Caidan and I struggled to explain. "Her scent. It's like...like fresh elder blossoms. Bittersweet and spicy with hints of fire... It's gone." I knew I wasn't making sense to him.

Evvie's lips quivered. She brushed at the wetness on her slick cheeks with a shaky hand. "She's never smelled that way to me before. She likes...liked," she corrected herself and let out a raw sound of despair, her knees buckling. Caidan's hands tightened on her sagging body to support her. She fisted the fabric of his shirt and the words she whispered in broken sobs were muffled into his chest. But I heard them clearly. "S-strawberry...she liked the s-smell of that strawberry soap."

And I suppose at any other time I might have thought about that further, mulled it over, and wondered why Nelle's unique scent was specific to me alone, but right now it slipped from my mind as easily as water past clenched knuckles.

Nelle's nightie, that short-hemmed gown riding up her thighs, was similar, if not the same one she wore two nights ago at the tithe prison. Maybe she had plenty of nighties exactly the same. But the adamere bracelet wrapped around her wrist was perfectly formed. Not one single bead was broken or missing.

It was there tumbling around in my head.

Did she go up to the roof to end herself because she couldn't endure being bound to me?

That isn't her. Nelle isn't one to give up.

Nelle burned with fire and brimstone.

She'd fight me every step. She'd pledge herself to making my life a misery.

No scent—

And it came to me so fast—the answer, the name—I recoiled, almost dropping Nelle's body in surprise, not wanting to touch this thing in my arms.