Temptation's Heat by Michelle Zink Page A

into his eyes. “We’ve been expecting you.” She held out a tiny hand. “I’m Lily Montgomery.”
    “Lily … Montgomery,” he repeated.
    She nodded. “Ambrose’s youngest daughter. Please come in.”
    He stepped inside, his gaze taking in the massive entry, the mahogany staircase, its treads covered in rich Persian carpeting, winding to a second floor. A phone rang somewhere in the distance, the soft rattle of typing a backdrop to the muffled voices coming from the rear of the house.
    Her gaze dropped to his empty hands. “Where are your things?”
    Rowen touched his hand to the glaive. It was standard issue, along with the sickle, for all members of the Corp. “I have what I need. Anything else, I usually pick up along the way.”
    “All right then. Follow me.”

Two
    “This is bullshit. That kill was mine.”
    Scarlet watched with annoyance as her brother, Ivan, paced the floor. The rant was nothing new. No matter how much she tiptoed around him, he saw everything as an attack on his position in the Guard and the Montgomery family. Scarlet had made excuses for him after their mother had died. They had been close. But it was no use. Ivan’s biological father had disappeared when he was an infant, and although Ambrose Montgomery had adopted Ivan and raised the boy as his own, Ivan could never shake the feeling that he was less than his half-sisters, Scarlet and Lily. That his place in the family, and as a possible successor to Ambrose, was somehow compromised by his biological bloodline.
    Their father sat calmly at his desk, no sign of emotion on his weary face as Ivan paced the office. A swell of anger moved through Scarlet’s body. Ivan shouldn’t bother their father with something so minor. Not when his health was failing so rapidly.
    “You were struggling with the wraith,” she explained, trying to diffuse the situation. “I was only trying to help.”
    He barked out a harsh laugh and ran a hand through his dark blond hair. It was longer than regulation, but everyone picked their battles with Ivan. Not because they were afraid of him, but because he was such a pain in the ass that no one wanted to bother.
    “Only trying to help … Right,” he sneered. “That’s a good one. More like trying to make me look weak in front of Braden and Kane.”
    I don’t need to make you look weak, Scarlet thought. You do that all by yourself.
    She bit back the response.
    Their father spoke, his voice low and hoarse. “Familial relationship aside, it is incumbent upon your Guard brothers and sisters to aid you in battle when necessary.”
    “But I—”
    Their father held up a hand. “It is sometimes difficult to gauge whether one is in control in battle. Perhaps you should give your sister the benefit of the doubt.”
    Scarlet tucked a piece of long, dark hair behind one ear. “Look, I’m sorry if I stepped in when I shouldn’t have. Braden and Kane had doubled down on the other wraith. It seemed stupid to stand there when I could help.”
    Ivan scowled at her. “I guess this is the part where you imply that you were the first one to make a kill?”
    Scarlet stifled her frustration. Ivan saw everything she said, everything she did, as a maneuver to make him look bad. It had gotten worse since their father’s illness, the possibility that a successor would have to be named—from family, as was tradition—looming in the back of both their minds. And while Scarlet couldn’t deny that she had a certain aptitude with the sickle and glaive, Ivan was just as likely to be considered for leadership. This despite the chip on his shoulder made it difficult for the other members of the Guard to like or respect him.
    She turned her attention back to the conversation. “The specter I had was an easy kill. Yours was probably a lot tougher.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her. “So now you’re patronizing me?”
    “Oh, for God’s sake!” Scarlet threw up her hands and faced the window.

Three
    Rowen followed Lily