A BEAST’S SILENT SACRIFICE BENEATH SHADOWS OF BETRAYAL

Dante did not hesitate. For a fraction of a second, Julian’s life hung by a thread, but the scream of the child obliterated Dante's thirst for immediate execution. He spun on his heel and bounded up the grand staircase three steps at a time, leaving Julian standing alone in the foyer below.

Dante kicked open the nursery door.

Clara was convulsing slightly on the pale pink duvet, her small teeth chattering violently while beads of sweat drenched her blonde curls. On the nightstand, an overturned crystal glass dripped water onto the rug. Elena was weeping, clutching an ice cloth to the child’s forehead.

""She complained of thirst the moment we came up,"" Elena sobbed. ""I poured her a glass from the hallway pitcher. Mr. Dante, her lips... look at her lips!""

Clara’s lips were tinted with a faint, dusky blue. The same discoloration Dante had found inside Atlas’s gums. The hound hadn’t been the primary target. The water carafe in the second-floor gallery had been laced with a slow-acting synthetic paralytic. Atlas must have lapped up the spilled liquid from the maid's cart before Clara ever touched the pitcher. The dog had absorbed the lethal dose, but Clara had swallowed enough to trigger cardiac arrest within minutes.

""Stay with her,"" Dante ordered, kneeling by the bed and scooping Clara into his arms. The little girl was burning, her breathing shallow and ragged. ""Clara, look at me. Look at Uncle Dante.""

Clara’s hazel eyes fluttered, glassy and unfocused. ""My chest hurts... Uncle Dante... Atlas is still asleep...""

""Hold on to me. Do not close your eyes,"" Dante pleaded, his iron exterior fracturing for the first time in ten years. He pulled the emergency adrenaline injector from his inner vest, ripping the cap off with his teeth. But before the needle could touch Clara’s thigh, the mansion’s heavy power generators gave a monstrous groan and died.