Raen

  He fled down the stairs like an enraged manticore and threw himself into the vex. Tires shrieked as he tore through Vraveil’s streets.

  Alice had infuriated him.

  Romantic complications. The demons-damned regulations! His hands gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. She's just scared. She didn't even give us a chance.

  He drove hard and fast, letting the speed burn through some of the rage until he could breathe evenly again.

  Stolen story; please report.

  This wasn't over. Alice would go wherever she was planning to go, think things through, and come back. They'd reinstate her soon. He'd figure out how to help her with her father's case. And then, sooner or later, she'd return his feelings.

  He didn't care what stories she was telling herself. He wasn't letting her go.

  He'd waited too long for her already.

  Raen spun the vex around sharply and headed for the office. Time to have a conversation with Laurec.

  The fury still churned inside him — but now he understood exactly how to direct it. A man who'd killed the woman he claimed to love because she'd rejected him? A man who'd destroyed something precious because he couldn't have it on his terms?

  Raen was going to enjoy tearing apart Sevrin Laurec's excuses.