Page 100 of Gravehouse

I sit back further, hands sliding off his thighs. When Aléia said Parker was Asher’s father, the worst scenario waswhat if he was just like him. I didn’t prepare for this.

“This is why you couldn’t leave her,” I whisper, the words more for myself than for him.

“That’s why Ican’tleave her,” Asher corrects, and seconds pass between us as I sit with his words, tossing them around in my head until they weigh nothing. “There’s more.”

He tilts his head, showing more of his face beneath the rim of his hood. “Someone’s been killing our leaders for over a decade. Eleven years, Ivy. Eleven years of people at the top of La Maisondu Mal being picked off one by one. The only real pattern is power. Guy’s got a God complex.”

I fold my arms tighter, trying to keep up and hating that I can’t.

“I don’t know enough about any of this to have a real thought on it yet, but...”

His eyes land on me. “They think whoever’s doing this, they think it’s the same person who killed Nonna.”

Every other thought in my head dies on impact.

I lift my chin. “Who? Who do they think it is?”

Sinking deeper into his chair, he drags his tongue across his lower lip before he answers. “They call him Le Boucher Sans Loi.”

The Lawless Butcher.

Everything caves in and I can’t breathe.

I keep my face blank, chest pulling tight no matter how hard I clamp down on it, because this is what I trained for. This moment. The possibility that someone would make me, Emeric, and the rest of our family.

I push up from the floor, needing space, needing anything that isn’t this air pressing in on me. The walls blur and I stumble toward the stairs, climbing faster when I hear mumbling behind me.

Shit. Nothing in my training covered this. The person who Made us being the one person I can’t lie to.This is why the Codex exists. So you never end up here.

As soon as I hit the master, I head straight for the window that overlooks the backyard. Mount Crow stares back at me with snowcapped tips and dark rocks.

The door clicks closed.

“Are you going to run?” he asks, way too smooth for my panic.

I should run, but he knows I won’t. You don’t put out fire by running from it.

Every scar on my back prickles, as if I needed the reminder of why they’re there.

My fingers find the choker that’s forged around my neck. “No.”

As much as I love this man, I know that his love is going to eventually kill me. I may be venom, but he’s the fucking antidote.

“Damn.” His knuckles trace the nape of my neck. “That’s too bad.”

I whack his hand away and spin around, but he catches me by my chin, forcing me still.

“The fucked-up thing about all of this, Ivy? You’re in so deep that you haven’t stopped and looked around. I mean, really looked around.”

His hand falls back to his side before he settles onto the edge of the mattress.

Finally, he lifts his head. “How many times have you been in love?”

I clench my teeth. “What?”

“Answer the question.”

I shrug. “None.”