Page 121 of Gravehouse

“He wanted me to kill you.”

His mouth snaps shut, and the next words push through gritted teeth. “The Houses see you all as a problem. One they have no interest in fixing, so he wants you all dead. Obviously this appeases Aléia since she wants me with Camille.”

My vision blurs. I trusted Emeric. No, more than that—I was damn loyal to him.

“We have to bait him out of hiding,” Asher continues, his hands landing on my thighs. “Public fucking breakup. Leave you out in the open for him, in his mind, unprotected, since I buttered them up enough to think the only reason you were married to me was so I could kill you myself.”

I try to put even more distance between us, but he catches my face, forcing me still. “Which if you haven’t figured out already, is bullshit.”

I wish his words washed away the ache in my chest, but they don’t. Too much has happened.

He searches my eyes. “I fucking love you, Venom. Now, are you gonna play?”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX

ASHER

I’m out of fucking ideas and our girl is way too fucking smart. She’s about to figure my shit out, then what? We didn’t prepare for this. I tried every play in the book but none work. If she figures this shit out before I findhim, then we’re all fucked.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

IVY

PRESENT

I glareat him as if he grew sixteen heads and a new personality. Because he basically did. Okay, wait, that’s not fair, he didn’t but still… I prefer the sound of it.

“You’ve got that look again…” he teases, head tilting to the side.

He’s tripping if he thinks stating the obvious will change it. Instead, I stare back at him as if he said nothing at all.

“What look?” I ask, my tone a little too sweet for the pain burning at my side.

His eyes narrow. “The look where you wanna kill me or fuck me.”

Accurate.

I push from the edge of the bath, slowly making my way into the bedroom. He wrapped me up too tight to be able to move at any angle, much less ones that are going to make me sleep well tonight, but I shove the sheets back anyway, ignoring him.

“I don’t know what it is you’re talking about.”

Slipping into the cold sheets, I shuffle further under as the lights flick off and his footsteps pad over the carpet. A lightbreeze puffs beneath the sheet as he slips in, and not a second later, his arm is over me, pulling me deep.

He kisses the back of my head. “I’m sorry.” It’s a whisper, so low that even if Emeric was checked into this house right now, he’d miss it.

Asher’s arms squeeze around me.

“Fuck,” he growls, dragging his lips over my shoulder. “I’m fucking sorry, baby.”

My throat swells around words I want to say but can’t, so I slide further beneath his arm, feeling my heart level out the longer I’m with him.

“I didn’t?— “

I shake my head, stopping his words, because no. Because what he wants to say right now won’t change the situation we’re in.