GRAYSON LEANED close. He looked at the tears spilling down Mailah's cheeks with a genuine, haunting confusion. To him, her sorrow was a puzzle with missing pieces. In the realm he came from, power was the only currency, and he had just filled his pockets.
"Why do you leak?" he asked, his voice low and raspy. He reached out, his thumb catching a tear. He didn't wipe it away with tenderness; he inspected the moisture on his skin as if it were a strange specimen. "I have ensured our safety. Vane was a predator smelling blood.I've proven him wrong. This is a victory."
"A victory?" Mailah choked out, stepping back until the cold stone of the balcony railing bit into her waist. "You nearly killed a man, Grayson! You drained him like he was nothing. The Grayson I know would have died before doing something so cruel. He had a heart. You... you're heartless."
