Page 14 of Red Ruin

When Vhex grins, a single fang pops past his lip on the right-side corner of his mouth. “You’re my handler now.”

Instincts compel Guides to like the Sentinels they’re compatible with—in my case,allSentinels. Now that Vhex is off his rampage bullshit, I’m happy to report that this one is too bananas to squeeze out any more of my compassion. “Tell me that youhavea radio.”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

Vhex wears standard combat boots, but his black cargo pants are as ragged as his smoking T-shirt. Other than the daggers holstered in the half-melted harness crisscrossing his ribs, he has no armor and no supplies.

“In here,” he says, tugging his belt buckle. “Help me look.”

Next time, I’m letting him die.

We’re saved by the sound of boots on the cobblestones. A squad of Sentinels and Guides in proper, caped military uniforms tears down the street.

Vhex steps close to my back.

Ignoring him and the greedy tug of his silks, I stride to meet my new teammates.

Please let them be normal.

I have to figure out how to make a place for myself here. I can’t let Vhex have me stumbling at the starting line.

None of my theory books taught me how to deal with an S-class like Vhex.

Experience fails me, too.

Outside missions and scheduled guiding sessions, Kevan and I led parallel lives. He did some of his duties, while I didthe rest of his duties,along with all of mine.

I guided the Deathguard Sentinels plenty, but they’d never dare to cross my boundaries.

The bastards barely spoke to me.

“Uh…” The Guide who’s nudged forward from the squad looks like a total badass with two long-poled axes strapped to her back and dozens of metal pieces that must be war trophies clipped to the ends of her dark braids.

Her world-conquering vibe only slips when her wide, brown eyes dart between me and Vhex. “Sorry, Duke Trezzoran. We wouldn’t have followed the energy pulse if we knew you were in the field.”

DukeWhathefuzzoran?

I whirl to face the traitor. “You’re from the ducal house?”

There are only four ducal families—all Supreme bloodlines that produce S-class Sentinels generation after generation.

Kyorgos. Azrid. Mirta.

And Trezzoran.

The Devils of the West.

Trezzoran is more powerful than Kyorgos. It rules and protects a larger territory, and the family is much more prolific, producing dozens of dukes in every generation, while Kyorgos only has Kevan.

Vhex grins, flashing that fang. “Want to be my duchess?”

“No.” I clench my left hand, hyper-conscious of the dent from the ring-that-isn’t-there.

Duchess is a bullshit title, anyway.

It just means spouse to an S-class who inherited the family’s monster bloodline. You do all the duke’s paperwork and get none of their power.

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