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neck, sent a hot tremble along her spine. What was it about him? How did he cause such a reaction from her? She wanted to find out more; she wanted to run. He was dangerous and would have no qualms about causing her death, like any of his kind. But there was something that held him back; something inside him wanting more than her death and that made her shiver more.
    But Joshua believed her; Prince had never been a good liar despite his lifelong practice. Noah had never needed to use his skill, his power, to know that but Prince showed no sign of recognition. He’d never been that great an actor, although that led to other questions. How many Ice Witches had escaped the slaughter and how much danger did they represent? How had they escaped?
    “Listen, don’t speak,” Joshua told her and she nodded to show she understood how dangerous it was for her to be in this room. He nodded at Noah, who whispered a soft spell, drying up any words Eva might try to say. It was a handy spell, although its effect was only temporary.
    “My father was right about them. The Ice Witches were a disease in our world. The best thing we ever did was rid our planet of their filth.” Prince took a last mouthful of the priceless single malt before holding it out to Noah for a refill, then settling into one of Josh’s comfortable chairs.
    “Your father?” Josh urged his cousin for more information. Something in the way Prince spoke, the pride in his voice, suggested things were not the same as their own father told them. Their uncle Mathias never made a secret of his hatred of the Ice Witches and had been the one to bring news of their rebellion, their declaration of war upon the other species. He was the one who initiated the slaughter of the tribe of Ice Witches after their betrayal.
    “Yes,” Prince boasted, under the influence of his second glass of single malt. “My father was the savior of our people. He saved us all but no one gave him the recognition he deserved.”
    How did he save us? Noah asked, a touch of humor in his words. Uncle Mathias was a born-again coward—always the last to join in battle and the first to hide in his sumptuous but surreptitious hideaway. Even now, he hid away, somewhere close, but unknown to them. Was he the originator of Joshua’s pain?
    “How did he save us?” Joshua repeated Noah’s words; his hand watched by both men as it dipped lower, disappearing beneath the cover of the robe, its arrival at its objective causing a startled gasp from the woman on his lap.
    “He brought about the end to the Witches,” Prince gushed, his words a little slurred. “Everyone believed him but none offered him praise.”
    “The Witches betrayed the treaty.” Joshua’s words were cold and his arm tightened around the woman. His brief journey around her body was terminated by the woman’s determination to get free. She couldn’t speak, could barely move, but no one seemed to notice her need to kill the man who boasted of her family’s destruction and  laughed at the slaughter her parents had suffered. He’d had pain inflicted on Joshua and she wanted to bring a modicum of that pain to Prince’s head. If only she could get free.
    “Yes, they all believed it,” Prince giggled.
    “It wasn’t true?” Noah gasped. His father had been convinced of the Witches’ betrayal by his own brother. He believed the strange tribe of Ice Witches had committed the deepest of treachery.
    “Not a word,” Prince sniggered.
    “This is a moot point since all the Ice Witches died that night,” Joshua hissed as unpleasant thoughts danced inside his head. Could they have been wrong? Could his clan have committed the worst of sins? He stared at his drunken cousin as Prince’s head dropped and he surrendered into a noisy drink-induced slumber, his mouth open with saliva dripping down his chin.
    “Let me go,” Eva hissed, her mouth free to speak as she dug her sharp nails into Joshua’s hand. But he held on tight, not