Haunted by the King of Death by Felicity Heaton

had done nothing in this world but upset him, and no one gave a damn about that. Everyone was always in Snow’s corner.
    The fiend had destroyed their family, had torn Grave’s parents from him, but no one, not even Grave’s own damned brothers, despised Snow for it.
    Not as he did.
    Antoine’s hand fell from his chest and he turned away from Grave, disappearing into the gloom of the black corridor. Grave stood on the threshold, fighting with his feelings again, emotions he hadn’t experienced in centuries, born of a time that had finally been growing distant to him but now felt as if it had been only yesterday.
    When Antoine’s footsteps grew as distant as he wished his memories were, Grave turned down the corridor and followed it as it gently sloped downwards. Light flooded it at the other end and he squinted as he entered a bright black-walled double-height room.
    “This is private enough,” Antoine said and Grave looked around at the room.
    On the far wall, a staircase led upwards, and below it was an area with four red couches surrounding a wooden coffee table.
    On one of those red couches sat Aurora, Sable and Thorne, deep in conversation.
    Grave frowned at them.
    This area wasn’t private at all.
    He turned a scowl on his youngest cousin, but Antoine countered it with a look that said he didn’t care and that he had chosen this place on purpose.
    He knew how uncomfortable the presence of the females made him and was enjoying it.
    Grave glared at Sable when she stopped talking and turned to look over her shoulder at him, her golden eyes dark with malice. She shot to her feet and came to face him.
    “You’re quiet today. Cat got your tongue?” Sable taunted and he ignored her.
    He had found her spirit amusing when he had been on her side in the war against the Fifth Realm, but that amusement had been tarnished by the fact that she was apparently powerful enough to paint the walls with his blood and entrails if they fought.
    She might carry angelic blood in her veins, but she was still beneath him, a weak creature undeserving of his attention.
    He turned his cheek to her and she huffed and muttered foul things beneath her breath about ‘kicking his arse’. Out of the corner of his eye, the demon king Thorne gently took hold of her arm and somehow convinced his hellion bride to settle back down on the couch and continue speaking with Aurora.
    Grave’s gaze shifted to the ex-angel.
    Snow snarled low in his throat beside him, a warning that shot through Grave and had his eyes instantly leaping away from Aurora to him. His cousin’s red eyes narrowed on him, elliptical pupils nothing more than thin slits in their centres, and then the larger male stalked away, heading towards the slender petite female.
    Grave couldn’t bring himself to watch as Snow fussed over her, and she turned dazzling green-to-blue eyes on him, her rosy lips curving into an affectionate smile as she stroked his bare forearm and spoke with him.
    A sudden, powerful urge went through Grave.
    A need to leave.
    He took a step back towards the corridor, his heart beginning to pound as he found his eyes caught on the two couples, his blood starting a slow burn as he saw the love play out between his cousin and Aurora.
    He had never thought Snow capable of love, or that anyone could love him.
    But it was there for him to see as Snow petted Aurora, and she lovingly caressed his cheek, luring him down for a reassuring kiss.
    Grave took another step.
    He had never thought himself capable of love either, or that anyone could dare to love him, but he had fallen in love and he had believed she had loved him too.
    But he had been sorely mistaken.
    Isla had played him for a fool.
    She didn’t love him and now he believed she was incapable of such feelings where he was concerned.
    He had felt her fear when she had come to him.
    No one who feared someone that much could love that same person.
    Grave went to turn away, but a hand locked around his left