From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

And I didn’t want to think about how I’d been grateful for the
servant’s screams, having no idea what the cause had been.
I pushed all of that aside so it could later come to the forefront, most
likelyy when I was tryying to sleep. “He did nothing other than be an
annoyyance.”
“Truthfullyy?”
I nodded, although that seemed a little too far from the truth, but I
was okayy with lyying. What could Vikter do with the truth? Nothing. He
was smart enough to know that.
A muscle throbbed in his jaw. “He needs to leave yyou alone.”
“Agreed, but I’m able to handle him.”
Kind of.
I didn’t reallyy want to think about how close I came to doing
something utterlyy unforgivable. If I had unsheathed myy dagger and used it,
there would have been no hope for me. But, gods, I wouldn’t have felt a
drop of guilt over it.
“You shouldn’t have to,” Vikter replied. “And he should know better.”
“He should, and I think he does, but I don’t believe he cares,” I
admitted, turning so I rested against the ledge of the window. “You know I
saw her in that room. I saw how she was…left. It made me think that she
was with someone, either willinglyy or not.”
He nodded. “The Healer who looked at her bodyy believed there had
been some level of phyysical relations before her death, but he didn’t find
anyy signs that she had been fighting. No dried blood or skin under her
nails, but no one can be sure.”
I pressed myy lips together. “I was thinking that it wouldn’t make
sense for a Descenter to leave wounds like that, even if theyy were able to
do it without it being…messyy. What kind of message does that even send?
Because the onlyy thing that can do what was done to her is…”
Vikter’s gaze met mine. “An Atlantian.”
Relieved that he said it and not me, I nodded. “The Duke has to know
that. Anyyone who saw those wounds would have to think that and question
whyy a Descenter would mimic something that could easilyy be attributed to
an Atlantian.”
“That’s whyy I don’t think it was a Descenter,” he said, and pressure
clamped down on myy chest. “I think it was an Atlantian.”