Seventy-Nine Vincent

“Don’t forget your panties,” Cameron said to Camilla.

She grabbed the ruined scrap of material off the floor and gave me a small smile before turning and leaving the room, holding her head high as she brushed past Cameron.

“If I had a coin for every time I walked in on you ruining some woman’s panties, I could buy this fucking palace.”

“What do you want?” I asked, gritting my teeth.

“I can’t believe you’d make Camilla another notch on your bedpost when your goddess from Iassulyn is right downstairs. But then again, I don’t know you at all.”

“Cameron,” I said, his name a plea. “She can’t know.”

“Oh, she can’t?” Cameron pushed away from the door. The way he spoke and moved was so him, but I knew he had been changed on a fundamental level. The shadows in the room followed him, the light trying to hide.

That connection between us was forever severed, and not just because of my betrayal. The beast that inhabited his skin now owned him. I saw the flicker of red in his irises even now.

“You should probably shower before heading back to your evil goddess. Can’t walk around smelling like hot witch sex, now, can you? Nismera will execute her in front of everyone, but you know that already.”

Worry flared in my gut. “You can’t say anything.”

Cameron whistled. “Don’t tell me that the betrayer himself gives a shit about anyone but himself? Please, the Vincent I knew, or thought I did, died long ago. I now know you’re just as heartless as the bitch who made you.”

“I’m serious,” I sneered. “Nismera will cut her hands off and lock her in a dungeon to spite me.”

“Okay,” Cameron shrugged, “but I want something.”

I stepped forward, anger replacing worry. He would dare to use Camilla against me? “Are you blackmailing me?”

Cameron squared his shoulders without a flicker of fear. He seemed larger now, more filled out. I wondered if he had gained muscle in training or if it was another perk of dying and being reborn. “I’m taking a page out of your playbook. Doesn’t feel good, does it?”

“You can hate me all you want, Cameron, but you were right there with me when everything happened.”

“As if I had a choice. You knew as soon as he went after Xavier that I would choose him. Don’t act surprised or innocent.”

I did neither.

“That’s what you want? Xavier? Even if he is mindless?”

Cameron’s fist shot out, connecting with my jaw. The punch was hard enough to rock my head to the side.

“Watch what you say,” he said, a hint of a beastly snarl threaded through his words.

I rubbed at my jaw and snorted. “It’s the truth, and we both know it. What you want, you can no longer have. There is no way to turn them back.”

Red flared in his eyes, flooding his irises. “And whose fault is that?” he snapped, a hint of his fangs showing.

“Mine,” I said, and he reared back in shock, obviously not expecting me to say it. “It’s mine. Look, I don’t know where Xavier is.”

“But you know something?”

I was quiet for a second, Camilla’s words playing over in my head. Fight for something. How often had I heard them? But for her, for her safety, I would fight until it killed me.

“Pauule. It’s a war camp, but Nismera has a plan to draw Dianna out. Get there first. Maybe she can help you.” I shrugged. “A team is being sent out. They leave tomorrow morning.”

Cameron said nothing more before turning away, and a part of me ached for the brother I had lost.

“You won’t make it far looking as you do,” I said before he could leave. “I’d steal a general’s persona for it. It’s a tight-lipped mission. Nismera doesn’t want anyone to know. She is nervous, and if you’re caught, you’re dead.”

Cameron folded his arms and nodded once. “You know what’s funny?”

“What?”

“You hated Dianna so much, but she was willing to die for those she loved. She may have teeth and claws and be every bit of the monster, you believe, but she at least has a heart. You . . .” Cameron shook his head. “I’m just surprised I didn’t see how heartless you were before.”

Heartless. That was one word to describe how I felt.

“I’ll get you the mission. Don’t say anything about Camilla.”

Cameron had started for the door again but stopped and looked over his shoulder. I saw the Ig’Morruthen that now lived under his skin. He was all predator now, the beast keeping him safe. I had done that.

He gave me a smile filled with malice. “Unlike you, I wouldn’t damn someone else.”

“But you would risk everything for Xavier?” I asked.

Cameron turned to face me again. “Maybe if you loved someone more than yourself, you would understand, but I seriously doubt you are capable.”

I only nodded, chewing the inside of my lip. “Nismera moved his station several times. She knows you’re looking for him, and I think she plans to use him like a leash to keep you under control. I don’t know where he is.”

His eyes flared bright red. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “I’ve caused you enough pain. I wasn’t going to give you false hope, too.”

Cameron paused a moment to study me suspiciously before turning to leave. I didn’t stop him this time.