“Hush, you,” she says, bending down to pet him. “Such a baby.”

She rises to her feet and begrudgingly takes my arm. I usher her out of the room. She stutters a step when she notices Gaven’s absence.

“Where’s your shadow?” I ask.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, my wolf?”

Snark is better than suspicion, but I sense the uneasiness in her rigid posture.

It remains that way until we get downstairs. As we approach the feast room, I see a man and a woman standing in front of the double doors. It’s not until the man pats the woman on the shoulder and turns that I realize it’s Stefan.

I hesitate, but Harlow keeps walking, a smile plastered on her face. She nods as we walk by him, ignoring his lascivious smirk.

“I told you that you’d pay in blood. Maybe now you’ll learn to keep your mouth shut,” Stefan taunts. He offers me a mock salute. “Thanks for the show, Havenwood.”

There have been so many times over the past few years when I’ve wanted to kill Stefan, but never more than at this moment.

The point of claiming is to make a public statement, but I hate that he saw her like that.

He breezes by us.

Harlow seems suddenly tense. She glances over her shoulder again, looking for Gaven.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

She glances down the hall at Stefan’s back. “We had an altercation the other night where he threatened me and Gaven almost gutted him on the spot. Stefan threatened him, of course—said he would make him bleed.”

It’s the perfect way out of the mess I’ve made. It was always my plan to blame him, but the fact that she’s already suspicious makes it even more believable.

I squeeze her arm. “I thought you sent him to snoop.”

She straightens and smiles, and I turn to see two servants rushing down the hall with trays of cakes.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she says, nudging me forward.

As soon as we walk into the feast room, I regret telling her this was a good idea. All of the female storytellers and the women from the families who secure the fort with their magic are in attendance. The tables are covered in teapots and trays of small sandwiches and cakes, and it very much does not feel like the kind of event where Harlow would be at home.

She smiles brightly as I lead her into the room, to her place of honor beside my mother.

Before I can escape, Harlow grabs my arm and clicks her tongue.

“Running off without giving your wife a kiss?” she says with a faux pout.

She grabs my shirt and tugs me to her.

When she kisses me, all I can taste is sweet poison. My wife is trying to poison me—and I like it. I am fully entranced by her viciousness.

Then she looks at my mother. “Don’t you think he should stay and honor all of us ladies with his presence? I just can’t seem to keep my hands off him this morning.”

I read my mother’s skepticism immediately, but the ladies at the surrounding tables whistle and tap their silverware to their glasses in agreement, urging us to kiss again.

Harlow obliges them. And just like that, I’m trapped at the ladies’ luncheon along with her.

The minutes drag by as I pick at honey cakes and sip tea and try not to fall asleep from the sheer monotony of listening to so many conversations at once.

It’s a relief when Carter appears at the door, even knowing I’m going to have to engage in the best acting of my life. He waves, but I wait for Harlow to notice him.

She leans close. “It looks like Carter needs you.”

I lift my head. “I’ll be right back.”

None of the other ladies seem to notice I’m sneaking out of their party, but I feel Harlow’s gaze on my back as I step into the hallway with Carter.

“You ready for this?” he asks.

I nod. “Apparently, Stefan already did the heavy lifting for us. Harlow admitted that she was worried because Stefan threatened Gaven the other night.”

Carter pinches the bridge of his nose. “Kind of him to make it so easy on us.” He glances past me, toward Harlow. “How is she feeling this morning?”

“Vindictive. Even though she can’t stand the sight of me, she trapped me at this luncheon with her because she knew I would loathe it.”

Carter shakes his head and claps a hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure this is the time?”

Telling Harlow about Gaven during this luncheon was the plan, but that was before she found out I’m Deathless. I’m worried this is too much at once.

“It’s already been almost a full day since it happened. I don’t think we can put it off much longer without things getting messy,” I say.

Carter gives a resigned nod. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I’ll meet you outside.”

He retreats down the hallway, and I stand there for a moment, as if I need time to compose myself. Then, I turn and walk slowly across the feast room. I don’t have to pretend to dread this because between pissing her off last night and the secrets I’ve revealed this morning, I’m genuinely afraid of her reaction to this news. If she retreats from me entirely, I don’t know how I’ll make up the ground I’ve lost in time for Dark Star Festival.

Harlow looks at me expectantly as I approach.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

I nod toward the door. “Will you step outside with me?”

She frowns. “What’s going on?”

“I think we should step away and discuss it.”

Harlow is trying hard to look calm, but she has her hands clasped in a white-knuckle grip. “Henry, just tell me.”

I glance at my mother and then look back at my wife. “They found Gaven’s body in the woods behind the house. He’s dead, Harlow.”

She doesn’t say anything at first. Then she turns and whispers something to my mother, who nods and pats her shoulder.

She rises from her chair stiffly and takes my arm. I lead her out of the room and down the hall in silence. She shivers as we step out into the chilly winter morning, and her face looks especially pale in the bright sunlight. I shouldn’t have taken so much blood last night.

Carter, Bryce, and a few other hunters are waiting for us just inside the woods behind Havenwood House. It’s the very edge of the hunt grounds. I felt bad leaving Gaven there all night, but it was necessary to sell our story.

The men part, and Bryce ushers them away to give us some privacy.

Harlow stops short when she sees Gaven’s body. His eyes are shut, but his clothes are very obviously soaked in dry blood.

She stares at him for a long moment. “It’s beneath him to be mastered by some prick with an ego. I’ve seen him kill Drained like it was nothing, even without holy fire.”

I lick my lips, my mouth suddenly parched. “Stefan isn’t just mortal. He’s like me. The Deathless are faster and stronger, with better focus than the Drained.”

She lowers her gaze, and suddenly, I’m worried she’s going to cry. But when she looks up, her eyes are full of fury. “I’m going to kill him.” Her voice is low but full of certainty.

“You can’t.”

She glares at me. “I’ll not let this stand. It is one thing to try to assault and kill me. It’s another to murder my bodyguard. That is an attack on my family, and to let it stand would make me look weak.”

“I know well you can’t simply act on every impulse.”

“I’ll make it look like an accident,” she says.

“Harlow, if you do, my mother will be forced to call him back again.”

She looks at Gaven’s body. “Then have her call him back.” Her voice wavers, and my stomach sinks.

I keep my voice gentle, fighting the urge to reach for her hand. “It’s been too long. It won’t work.”

She stares at him for a few long moments, and I think of his final request. Not telling her what he said is eating at me. Divine Asher does not smile on those who ignore final wishes, but there’s no way for me to tell her what he said without implicating myself.

“We had a complicated relationship, but he did the best he could,” she says softly. “It wasn’t enough, but it wasn’t nothing.”