Katelina tried to distract herself with the new TV, but Dahlia's frightened eyes hung in her mind, two terrified gray orbs. When Jorick stalked through the door, she flung herself into his arms and clutched him as though he were a lifeline.
He returned the embrace and then peeled her loose to look into her face. His eyes darkened. "For once, the i***t is right. It isn't your fault."
"Malick acted like it was." She laid her head against his chest. "Are they going to kill the guard, too?"
"No. He was sentenced to fifty years in the detention block."
She thought of Verchiel in the prison; his withered face and matted hair, and shuddered. "I still don't understand why Traven would do that."
"He likes to keep his coven perfectly balanced. He lost most of his vampires fighting the Mexicans,
