I dropped the package with a bloodcurdling shriek.

"Audrey!"

Duke ran into the room, and came up to clasp my shoulders. "Audrey, what is it? What's wrong?"

I couldn't think or speak, couldn't focus on anything else. All I could see was that package, which had landed sideways on the floor when I dropped it. The hand had spilled out, and its faint pale-green tint made it look all the more horrifying.

"Oh, shit." Duke breathed, spotting the appendage.

Aiden came in then, a new door perched under his arm. "Hey, what's going on?"

His gaze followed ours, widening when he saw what was in front of him. "Is that a hand?"

He put down the door and squatted to investigate the package.

"Yes." Duke said, pulling me closer to him. "It seems someone wanted to send our queen a message."

I hid my face in the crook of Duke's neck, unable to watch Aiden as he picked up the hand.

"Message received." Aiden mumbled. "Oh, shit. I think this is..."

He paused, then made a lip-smacking sound, as if he were tasting something. "Damnit. It is his hand."

"Who's?" Duke asked.

"Nero's."

I fell to my knees, overcome by a sudden wave of nausea. I started to puke on the floor, but Duke grabbed a wastepaper basket just in time.

Who would do something like that to Nero? And why?

"What about the note?" Duke asked from beside me. "What does it say?"

There were a couple of deep snaps coming from the hand as Aiden forced it open.

The sound made me throw up again.

"We have your lover." He read emotionlessly. "Meet us at the cave in twenty-four hours or he dies." His voice was thick with confusion as he finished speaking. "Why would they think Nero is your lover?"

Tears mixing with cold sweat, I sat back and accepted a hanky Duke held out.

"Because we..." I wiped my mouth and absentmindedly wrung the fabric. "...you know."

Duke already knew what happened, of course. But it was still hard to say it in front of him and Aiden. Suddenly, I felt my cheeks heat up, forcing me to look down.

"No. Fucking. Way." Aiden gasped. "You two popped each other's cherries?"

"Classy, Aiden." Duke glared. "Real classy."

Nero's a virgin? I thought, my brain foggy from shock.

"Was a virgin." Duke corrected aloud. "Though it was difficult to tell last night."

I gawked at him, flabbergasted. Just how long had he been watching me and Nero the night before?

"Wait, you knew?" Aiden's gaze narrowed at Duke. "And you didn't tell me?"

Duke stood to his full height, matching Aiden's stare. "Well, I might have told you if you hadn't tried to kill me last night."

My escape plan from the night before seemed like a distant memory. And though everyone's physical wounds from its poor execution were healed, the emotional ones were still all too fresh.

"Well, I wouldn't have tried to kill you if you hadn't tried to send Audrey away."

For a moment, it looked like the two were about to come to blows. Then just as abruptly as it came on, the tension between them vanished.

"Guess we can call his place a stabbin' cabin instead of a jack shack now, huh." Aiden smirked before slapping a hand over his mouth. "Shit. I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Duke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Aiden. Yes, you did."

"Guys, can we please focus?" I got unsteadily to my feet, glaring at them both. "Nero's life is at stake."

"You're right." Duke nodded. "Nero's life is at stake, but so is yours."

"Yeah," Aiden agreed. "And if I had to choose between the two of you, I'm choosing you."

"Agreed."

I looked from one vampire to the other, unsure of what I was hearing. "Are you guys serious? Nero's our friend. We have to help him."

"What can we do, Audrey?" Aiden asked. "We don't know who took him."

"Or how many of them have him held captive." Duke added.

"Or what they are." Aiden shot back.

Duke cocked an eyebrow. "Nonsense. They are obviously part of that group of zealots bent on killing Audrey to bring back their 'lord'."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "We can't be sure about that. They could be anything. Fairies. Vampires. A pack of goddamn werewolves. Which would probably explain how they got the jump on Nero."

"Nero is young, but he is terrifyingly powerful and tenacious." Duke mumbled, voice grave. "He would have fought back, no matter the advisory. Notice his hand, the lack of defensive wounds."

"Maybe he couldn't fight back?" I offered, unwilling to catch what he was trying to say.

"Or...he didn't fight back?" Aiden was coming to the same conclusion. "Because he knew his attacker."

Duke nodded. "Exactly. And in order to use him as leverage, his attacker had to have known about his and Audrey's, um, nocturnal activity."

Aiden's blond eyebrows scrunched up. "So who else knew?"

There was only one other person who knew. I didn't want to believe it, didn't even want to think it, but I couldn't hide my suspicions from Duke.

"Gabriel."