His voice was low, roughened by smoke.

Across the coffee table, Adrian hadn’t caught it.

“What did you say?”

Lucian didn’t explain. He rose and walked toward the elevator.

As he passed Adrian, he said, “Keep looking.”

“Lucian.”

Adrian stood.

“There’s very little point. She’s been missing almost two weeks. Her car, personal belongings, and clothes have all turned up. The chances of finding her alive are slim. And the last person known to have seen her was a serial killer.”

He took a few steps after him.

“I checked his victims. Only one survived. She’ll spend the rest of her life bedridden with a urinary catheter.”

His meaning was unmistakable.

“Finding Stella is the police’s job. She has no value to us anymore.”

As a lawyer, Adrian was ruthlessly rational.

Even if I came back alive, I might be so badly damaged I would never pose a threat to Lucian again.

Why waste time and money on a woman who was either dead or ruined?

Lucian was too shrewd not to understand that calculation.

I looked at him, my whole spirit rigid.

“Please don’t give up on me.”

He couldn’t hear.

“Don’t let me disappear like this. Not while they get away with it.”

“Adrian.”

Cold crept across Lucian’s face.

“That’s twice.”

“Lucian…”

He turned his head.

The look he gave Adrian was terrifying.

“There won’t be a third.”

Adrian barely seemed to breathe. Alarm filled the sharp eyes behind his glasses.

He lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. I only—”

“Get out.”

Lucian stepped into the elevator without another glance.

I slowly relaxed.

Whatever his reasons, even if he was using me to catch someone more important, he hadn’t abandoned me.

For that, I was grateful.

The brushed silver doors opened onto his bedroom.

This time, I wasn’t quite so uncomfortable being there.

The rash on his neck and collarbone hadn’t faded. If anything, it looked worse.

He noticed it in the full-length mirror and paid it no attention.

At the bar, he poured himself a whiskey.

The cut crystal turned between his long, pale fingers. Shards of reflected light slipped into his eyes and vanished.

He said nothing.

The bottle occasionally clicked against the glass.

One drink followed another, as though he were drinking water.

Soon the bottle was nearly empty.

His face remained expressionless.

Yet an immense, compressed grief seemed to fill the room. Something strained to its limit.

Then he hurled the glass at the wall.

It shattered.

I jumped.

Silence fell.

I stared at him, unable to understand why he was so devastated.

Alcohol had stained the corners of his eyes red against his pale skin.

For a moment, he looked as though he might break.

Before I understood what I was doing, I had drifted right in front of him.

Close enough to see his lashes tremble.

He reminded me absurdly of a puppy whose owner had left it behind.

I had never seen him this vulnerable.

Something inside me ached for him.

As though bewitched, I reached toward his face.

His phone rang.

I jerked back several yards.

What was I doing?

Had I actually felt so sorry for Lucian that I wanted to touch him?

I slapped my own face.

It accomplished about as much as slapping air.

“Have some self-respect, Stella.”

It was his fault for having that face.

Apparently, it could seduce ghosts as effectively as living women.

He answered the call, switched to speaker, and dropped the phone on the table.

“Luc.”

The duchess’s warm voice filled the room.

He gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment.

“Have you been drinking?”

“What do you need?”

She was clearly accustomed to his bluntness.

“You’ve been making too much noise lately. The Blackwood family council heard about it. I covered for you.”

He sounded entirely unimpressed.

“They can come to me directly.”

“Luc.” She sighed. “Tell me honestly. Is this about finding Stella?”

I hadn’t expected my name.

Lucian didn’t answer.

He went to the bed and opened the bottom drawer of the nightstand.

When I saw what he took out, I froze.

The protective talisman.

The one I had gone overseas to obtain for Julian.

There was no mistaking it. Seeking that blessing was why I had been on the boat. Why I had nearly drowned.

How had it ended up with Lucian?

Julian had given it to Anna.

Lucian looked down at it, his eyes unreadable.

“Do you think the talisman she asked for really works?”

The duchess sounded torn between irritation and amusement.

“Didn’t you personally take men to that island and drag the master in for questioning? It wasn’t an ordinary protective talisman. It was a fate-binding talisman. The strongest kind.”

She sighed.

“That foolish girl took Julian’s misfortunes onto herself. She traded the luck of the rest of her life for his safety. What do you young people call that? Being love-blind?”

“She wasn’t love-blind. She was Julian-blind.” Lucian’s voice hardened. “Ready to die for a piece of garbage.”

The description was too accurate to argue with.

But why had he gone to that island and abducted the master?