Turning the knob, I step inside a large lantern-lit room. An empty lantern-lit room. The four-poster bed, a darker twin to my own, stands vacant and as disheveled as if someone had wrestled atop the covers. Thick curtains are open to the forest and a starlit sky. The scents of leather and steel hang thick enough to hint that Coal has been sharpening knives and oiling armor right in his own bedchamber.

And yet the room doesn’t feel empty. On the contrary, the very air hums with energy, as if it too is curling its fingers into a fist.

“Co—” My words die as a large hand grips my neck. Air catches in my lungs then escapes in a strangled croak as my back slams into the wall. The door claps closed, the room shuddering with the impact. I blink, gasping as the confusion and fear seizing me morph into blinding fury.

Coal. Bare-chested and towering over me. His muscled arms pin me against the wall like a ragdoll. The perfect lines of his face, too beautiful to be anything but immortal, are tense as he glares down at me. His blond hair is down, brushing against his shoulders.

“Get the hell off me.” I shove Coal’s chest. The thin sheen of sweat coating his skin slicks my palms. My heart thunders, my breath coming in short, hard bursts. I’m going to kill the bastard, and then I’m going to rip off his balls and feed them to the crows. “You knew damn well it was me coming in.”

Coal releases me, his chest heaving as he plants his hands on the wall just above my ears. Even now, in the middle of the night, strength and violence roll off Coal in waves. The heat of his body, clad only in loose cotton trousers that hang on the wings of his hips, soaks through my thin silk shift and spiders across my skin. Dipping his head down until his face is only inches from mine, Coal finally speaks. “I’m subtly suggesting that barging into my bedchamber uninvited is unwise.”

Holding myself steady is a struggle. “Noted.”

Coal’s lips curl, showing his elongated canines, the sheer maleness of him making my thighs clench involuntarily. His eyes, blue ice even in the dim light, radiate power as loudly as his wide stance and spread shoulders. “What do you want, mortal?”

A fight, apparently. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“And why, pray tell, should that translate into you not letting me sleep?”

“Quit the horseshit, Coal. You weren’t sleeping.” Ducking beneath his arm, I wheel on the male, my hands on my hips. “I’m too damn sore and exhausted and sleep deprived to keep pretending that nothing happened this morning. So we are going to talk. Now.”

“Was I too hard on you, little Leralynn?” Coal purrs. “Are your bruises too deep?” His voice changes, becomes harsh. Cruel. “You walked yourself into that problem when you accepted the Elder Council’s terms and became a Citadel initiate. Go whine to Shade or Tye, and leave me alone.”

I wait for Coal’s words to find their mark, but the memory of him kneeling on the sand is so potent that I hear his tossed words for the shield they are, see the breathtakingly brave male bleeding behind them. Straightening my spine, I stride deeper into Coal’s room. Swords and knives with wicked-looking blades line the warrior’s dresser, pieces of leather armor laid out beside them. Vambraces. A half-mended chest guard. A sword belt still shining with cleaning oil.

“You’ve been busy.” I pick up one of the knives, its blade sharpened to a deadly edge. Resolve pulses through me, holding me up as I summon words I wish I could spare Coal from. “But then again, this is easier, isn’t it? Focus on work. Blame me. Call me out for self-pitying words.” Returning the weapon to its resting spot, I slowly turn toward Coal and find his eyes, the ghost of vulnerability in them tearing through my soul. I’ve always imagined that being on the receiving end of blows is hardest of all. Apparently not. I step toward Coal, mercilessly invading his space. “It is so much easier to shove me away than to face your own bloody darkness. To admit that your damn nightmares shred you to bits. And have been doing as much for three hundred years.”

“Stop flattering yourself.” Coal’s voice is low, dangerous. “The only thing I feel just now is annoyed.”

I snatch hold of Coal’s wrist, the sores on it healing slowly after centuries of damage. I take a quick fortifying breath and torque the skin viciously. “Good thing this little bothers you,” I say, holding his eyes through the pain and fury flashing in his gaze. “I’d hate for you to start whining.”

Beneath my grip, Coal’s pulse pounds against my skin. His lack of retort is as loud as a clap of thunder.

Too far. I’ve sliced too far, too quickly. Brought us too close to an abyss. My heart pounds, ice and fire crackling down my spine. I can feel Coal’s bottled terror stretching the bounds of his control, and I know that one wrong breath will topple us both into a deadly chasm.

So I might as well jump. “Tell me, Coal,” I say quietly, aiming my blow to shatter what’s left of his shell and bare the male beneath. “What did the qoru do once they had your arms trapped and grew tired of whips and brands? I think I’d enjoy learning how one puts a fae warrior through his . . . paces.”

Coal’s eyes darken, his breath coming faster. “What do you want from me, Lera?”

“You.” I swallow. “I want the true you, not the cleaned-up, gelded version that you pass off as truth to the world.”

Something infinitesimal shifts in his face, all the warning I have before Coal jerks free of my hold. Gripping my hips with steel hands, he launches me backward.

My breath catches as my feet leave the ground, my body flying through the air. A moment later, the backs of my thighs strike Coal’s bed, my upper body falling atop the mattress. I struggle to push myself upright, but Coal pounces before I can move.

My heart gallops, my mouth drying as Coal’s powerful legs wrap around mine like grapevines. Forearms braced against the mattress, the warrior looms over me, the thick muscles along his arms coiled with tension, the air between us hot from fury and sweat. “You don’t want the true me,” he growls, his canines flashing in the starlight. “You’d little like it. If you even survived it.”

Panic bubbles inside me even as . . . as a jolt of absurd need flashes through my core. I draw a shuddering breath, anchoring myself to reality.

“I suggest you stop prying, mortal.” Coal’s voice is a soft rumble, his body, his essence, filling the entire chamber. Taking all of the room’s air for itself. As if the male I thought I knew was but a mask concealing a power too grand to contend with. “You know nothing of what lurks in my thoughts. Of what my instincts will do to you if I let them loose.” Coal pauses, arching his hips such that the grapevine hold his legs have on mine extends me painfully. His hardness presses down into my mound. “Believe me when I say it will be nothing like your games with Shade.”

I shudder, my terror slamming against an equal force of sudden, erratic desire, the resulting explosion leaving me dazed. Wrong. Everything about this is wrong. Especially the flames consuming my body, the wetness all but streaming down my thighs.

This isn’t what I came here for. Isn’t something I should like. Isn’t right.

“I will count to three.” Coal swallows, his arms now trembling with the effort of holding rock-still above me. “And by the time I’m done, you are going to be out of this room. If you are not . . . then I imagine you will be a great deal more sore in the morning. Because I am a breath away from showing you exactly what happens when my control falters. And we both know that is not what you want.”

Stars. What do I want? I can’t think. Can barely breathe. I should get out of this room, run as fast as I can. Never look back. My body pulses, the throbbing in my chest sliding lower with each dizzying breath. My thighs quiver. My body defying my mind, as I defy Coal’s words.

“One,” Coal says.

I draw a breath, my gaze skittering across him. Large and powerful and dark. Raw.

“In case you’ve not worked it out, my room is warded to contain sound. No one will hear your screams.” Coal’s words are cold and hard.

My sex aches. My mind searches for escape. I brace my hands on the bed—the path to the door is wide open to me. Not for long, but for now.

Coal follows my gaze, nodding approvingly. Yes, his flashing eyes tell me. Yes, go. Leave. RUN. “Two.”