I guided her out of that den of vipers, my hand firm against the small of her back. She moved like a sleepwalker, her boots scuffing against the pristine white marble as if she'd forgotten how to lift her feet.
The Fae guards watched us with curiosity, but one look from me made them suddenly feel the urge to study the ceiling.
"I don't understand," she whispered, frustrated. "Why would he do it? Why would Gideon team up with my maid to trick me into... into being harvested like cattle?"
Liric snarled, his claws scraping against the floorboards of my mind. "Because he's a scavenger. He is a tick gorging himself on a lion's legacy. Let me out, Jarek. Let me show him what happens to ticks."
