Page 63 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

A ray of morning sunlight beamed down on the scene, and for just an instant, time seemed to stand still like a snapshot captured in jewel tones.

Ivrael’s coat this morning was sapphire blue. Blood drops hung in the air as they fell from the tip of the sword, catching the light like tiny rubies glittering in the morning sunlight. The sun gleamed off a fang in the monster’s mouth, turning the slightly yellowed tooth pearlescent.

And even as I knew I was about to die, the thought flashed across my mind that as horrible as it was, Ivrael’s Icecaix Dukedom was beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

Then time started again, as if that half-heartbeat moment of stillness had never happened, and the wolf lunged forward at the same moment Ivrael let the sword fly. The blade whistled past my face, the tip so close I could feel the breeze of its passing, and the sword sliced cleanly through the wolf’s neck. Its head flew up into the air as its body kept going forward.

Hot blood and gore splashed across my face. It felt nothing like rubies, and there was nothing beautiful about it.

I jerked back, and Ivrael grabbed me with one hand, the other holding onto the hilt of the sword as its tip dropped into the snow. As he pulled me upright, the rest of the wolf creatures who had been circling us melted back into the woods, disappearing among the trees as if they had never even been there.

“What are you doing out here?” Ivrael asked.

“You always ask that as if you don’t know.” I wiped my hand across my face, scowling at the bloody mess I scraped away. “I’m trying to go home. I’m always trying to go home. That’s all I want.”

But even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true. Not entirely.

That was no longer all I wanted.

“Why won’t you understand that there is no way for you to get home from here?” Ivrael sounded more frustrated than angry.

“Because you kidnapped her,” Kila said, her wings buzzing in irritation.

I shushed her, worried Ivrael would punish her for coming with me.

But Ivrael ignored the raya. He turned and headed back toward Frost Manor without ever letting go of my arm, forcing me to stumble behind him.

“You belong here,” he added in a mutter.

After a few steps, he seemed to realize that he was still carrying his sword and he stopped, letting go of me long enough to clean the blade and re-sheath it. His head was bent as he focused on his task, but I could have sworn I heard him say, “With me.”

I was too shocked to ask what he meant. But it couldn’t have been anything other than his belief that I belonged amonghis servants—otherwise, he wouldn’t have thrown me into their midst and expected me to work for him.

Right?

Once he’d dealt with his sword, Ivrael gathered himself, squaring his shoulders and inhaling, settling his features into a mask of calm rationality. Only then did I realize that he’d looked grim and more than a little worried, but also a bit wild when he’d come striding into the clearing.

“I think he was actually concerned about you,” Kila said quietly into my ear.

I didn’t respond. I was too busy gaping at Ivrael, who had stripped off two layers of clothing to get to an undershirt—which he had then dipped in the snow and was now using to clean the gore off my face.

“You cannot go wandering around outside the manor.” He gripped my chin and turned my head to get to the side of my face even as he scolded me like a parent reminding a child of something she should already know. “Especially not in these woods. They’re full of dangers, any one of which would kill you in a heartbeat—and not the Eternal Dream, but true death. Forever.”

I knew he wasn’t wrong. Twice now I had needed him to rescue me from those very dangers he was warning me against now.

His hands were surprisingly gentle as he cleaned my face. Fabric rough with half-melted snow dragged across my skin, and I shivered—though whether from the cold or his touch, I wasn’t sure. The undershirt he was using was already stained dark with wolf blood, yet he remained methodical, careful not to press too hard as he wiped away the evidence of what had just happened.

My breath caught as his thumb brushed the corner of my mouth. He paused, those impossible eyes fixed on mine, golden sparks dancing in their icy depths. For a heartbeat, I forgoteverything—that he had bought me, that I was his prisoner, that I should hate him with every fiber of my being.

Because the way he had just moved through those wolf-creatures... I’d never seen anything like it. Pure deadly grace, like winter itself given form. Even the memory sent a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with fear. No one could stand against him in a fight.

Well. Maybe a firelord.

The thought sparked through my mind like lightning, and I filed it away for later consideration.

“Hold still,” he murmured, tilting my chin up with one finger. His skin burned cold against mine, but I leaned into the touch before I could stop myself. His breath hitched, almost imperceptibly.

I should have pulled away. Should have remembered what he was, what he’d done. But my treacherous body yearned toward him like a flower seeking sunlight—except he was anything but warm. He was winter incarnate, beautiful and deadly as the first frost of autumn.

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