by Lexi C. Foss
What will she think when she learns the truth? I wondered, checking in on her progress through our bonds.
She was still quietly dismantling the enchanted ropes around her torso. Soon, she would reach the ones in her mind, and that was when the real fun would begin.
My heart skipped a beat, anticipation thick in my veins.
“Let’s go debrief the others,” my father said, interrupting my inner musings. “Then Dakota can tell us what Zen said in the clearing.”
Zen. My teeth clenched at the name. The infuriating female continued to intrude on my plans, her aptitude for fortune-telling an annoyance I wanted to end.
It was why we’d put Shade on a leash. He was her grandson, thereby tying them by blood. Which meant Aflora now had access to that entire line of power, consequently enabling me to play as well.
I hadn’t explored the bonds yet. But I intended to, just as soon as Aflora became a willing participant. Otherwise, I risked hurting her in the process. And I would only pursue that avenue if she left me no choice.
Until then, I’d seduce her my own way—with puzzles of magic.
She wouldn’t admit it, but the net she fought now intrigued her. I could feel that excitement thrumming inside her as she unwove another strand.
My little star loved a good challenge. And she’d just met her biggest one yet. Me.
“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?” my twin demanded as I stepped through the threshold into our suite. “Where’s Aflora?” Tray added as he noted my solo entry.
“That’s a great fucking question,” I snapped.
Shade had vanished into smoke after dropping the bomb about Aflora’s Quandary Blood mate.
No elaboration or explanation. Just poof! Gone.
Jackass, I snarled in my head, furious with the Death Blood. I intended to rearrange his face the next time I saw him. Or perhaps kill him. Because what the fuck?!
I ripped my cloak from my neck and tossed it over the couch. “Where’s Zeph?” He should be awake by now. Hell, he shouldn’t have passed out to begin with.
I should have known Shade was up to something.
He’d disappeared with Aflora, and Zeph had collapsed a second later, distracting me from trying to follow Shade. Not that I could. His penchant for shadows was a magic very few of our kind could replicate, including those like me who were tied directly to the source.
“We put him in your bed,” Tray said, following me as I headed toward my bedroom. “Talk to me, Kols.”
I glanced over my shoulder to find Ella lingering silently behind him and shook my head. I’d already accidentally brought my brother into this. I wasn’t going to jeopardize her life, too.
“She already knows everything, Kols.” Tray folded his arms. “And I’ve spelled the suite to cancel out any potential listening devices. Start talking.”
“We should wake up Zeph first,” a dry voice said seconds before Shade appeared in the hallway.
“You.” I lunged at him, only to hit the wall as he shadowed behind me.
“Calm down,” he drawled, sounding bored.
“Calm down?” I repeated, spinning toward him. “Are you fucking kidding me? You drop a bomb on me about a Quandary Blood mate and disappear, and you expect me to be calm?” I wanted to kill him. Power singed my fingertips as I considered my options.
First, I needed him to stop fucking vanishing.
Then I could force answers out of him.
Because this whole game of piecemeal details? Yeah, we weren’t going to play that anymore.
Shade’s eyebrows lifted half a second before I unleashed a bolt of power directly into his sternum, disabling his ability to move, think, or breathe.
But that little tell of his eyebrow shift told me he’d seen it coming. Which further added to my theory about his fortune-telling abilities. Yet another item I wanted—
A jolt radiated through my blood, sending me to my knees as Shade retaliated far faster than he should have been able to react. Fuck!
I yanked on the source, preparing another attack as he phased behind me again.
He shouldn’t have been able to do that.
He should have been knocked out, on his ass, for at least another—
“Fine. We’ll do it your way,” he said against my ear. Then his teeth sank into my neck, causing me to sputter out a surprised curse.
I couldn’t move, ensnared by whatever spell he’d woven around me.
Sir Kristoff charged into the suite, energy flaring around him as he engaged the ancient magic only his kind could tap into. Shade fell to the floor beside me, groaning at whatever torment my gargoyle had just unleashed on him. Then Tray trapped the Death Blood beneath a net of power that Ella enhanced with another spell.
I curled into myself, the lasting effects of Shade’s attack slowly withering and dying beneath a shock of reality.
He’d bitten me.
The bastard had fucking bonded me!
My lips parted as a slew of furious statements lined up on my tongue, only for a Paradox Fae to appear with a glowing purple sword. “Again?” he asked, his tone bored.
“N-no,” Shade choked out, his body convulsing beside mine.
My eyes narrowed. “Who the fuck—”
“You!” Sir Kristoff unleashed another wave of dark gargoyle energy that the Paradox Fae blocked with his sword.
“Stop,” the Paradox Fae said with a yawn as he leaned against the wall. “Seriously, this is getting so fucking old.”
Shade coughed a laugh, then grimaced beneath the power holding him down.
I touched my neck, wondering if I’d just dreamt up this whole nightmare. But no. I was bleeding. And Shade’s lips were tinged with my blood. “Have you lost your fucking mind?” I demanded. “You bonded us.”
“Yeah,” Shade replied, his voice a rasp of sound. “You’re welcome.”
I gaped at him, then pushed off the floor onto unsteady feet. My muscles ached as though I’d been hit by a freight train. “Let him up,” I said, talking to Tray. “I don’t want him handicapped when I kill him.”
The Paradox Fae grunted. “Again?”
“No,” Shade snapped.
“Again what?” I asked, flabbergasted by his presence. “And who the fuck are you?”
“Kyros,” he replied, tipping his dark head at me.
“What are you doing here?”
“Do you always ask the same questions?” he countered.
“The same questions?”
“Yeah, I see that you do,” Kyros replied, pushing off the wall to straighten his leather jacket. A hint of tattoos peeked out from beneath the coat.
“Someone start talking,” Tray inserted, his arms folding over his sweater. Ella clung to his arm, her blonde hair curling in the tendrils of magic wafting off my brother.
“Release Shade from your magic, and he’ll give it another attempt,” Kyros said.
I narrowed my gaze at him, then looked at my brother again. “Do what he says.” Because I was beginning to understand the situation.
Kyros and Shade had been playing with time—a very dangerous game, indeed. None of us would have any idea how many times they’d shifted through this moment, nor any clue as to what happened before. They also could have jumped back to this second from many days, months, or even years in the future.
My jaw ticked.
As much as I wanted to kill Shade, a part of me recognized that he had a reason for his antics.
Perhaps that was why he’d bitten me—to provide me with a glimmer of understanding regarding his motives. Yet this stage didn’t afford me much insight. It actually linked him more to me than me to him.
That realization had me narrowing my gaze.
He was up to something.
He also clearly had a death wish because I strongly doubted that the Council had told him to fucking bite me.
Tray reluctantly removed his spell, allowing Shade to begin the recovery process. Sir Kristoff stood beside my left foot, his tiny stone s
word held out before him like a wand.
Gargoyles were small but mighty, their magic potent and long-lasting. Hence Shade’s continued weakened condition on the floor. Tray’s spell had only prolonged his misery, negating his ability to heal. But it was Sir Kristoff’s enchantment that had knocked the Death Blood onto his ass.
Kyros yawned again, then resumed his stance of leaning against the wall, only this time he closed his eyes as though taking a nap.
I could see why these two assholes were friends.
Sir Kristoff growled as if to agree, except I knew he couldn’t actually read minds.
Shade, however, might be able to hear my louder thoughts. It was a rare gift that came with some bondings, and given some of his unique abilities, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was one of them. Aflora had never mentioned it, but I’d also never asked.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear her.
Which only added insult to misery in this situation.
“Who the fuck is Zakkai?” I demanded.
“Quandary Blood.” The words came out on a cough from the still-wounded Death Blood on the floor.
“Yeah, you said that already.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t repeat questions,” Kyros suggested, his dark eyes flickering open. “Would you like to wake up Zeph now?”
I flinched, startled by the abrupt subject change. “What did you do to him?”
“Why would I do anything?” he countered.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know why you’re here.”
“Hmm, no, I think you do,” he murmured.
Right. Not going to continue engaging him because he just made me want to blast a hole of dark magic through him. “Shade.”
The Death Blood grunted in acknowledgment, his limbs still spasming from residual gargoyle magic. I would pity him, except I couldn’t because I actually enjoyed seeing him in pain. He fucking deserved it.
“Wake up Zeph,” Tray said, speaking to no one in particular. “Whoever can wake him, fucking wake him up.”
“How?” I asked. “I don’t even know why he’s still asleep.”
Magic hummed through the air from Shade as he twirled his finger in a shaky zigzag, his lips moving over an incantation. I didn’t catch the spell, his words soundless.
Kyros cocked his head to the side, then nodded as though satisfied.
And the door to my room flew open with a raging Zeph, who stopped short in the hallway. His gaze immediately fell to Shade. “What. The. Fuck?” he demanded, charging toward the already crippled Death Blood.
I folded my arms in amusement as my Guardian unleashed a wave of defensive magic onto the prone male, causing Shade to growl in agony.
“Again?” Kyros asked.
“No!” Shade shouted.
Kyros sighed. “Fine.”
I pressed a palm to my Guardian’s shoulder, stilling him from continuing his assault on the Death Blood. “Zeph,” I said softly. “I need Shade to be able to speak.”
“Speak?” he repeated. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Okay. After he explains himself,” I offered. “Then you can do whatever the hell you want to him.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Kyros interjected, causing Zeph to spin toward him.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“More repetition,” the Paradox Fae sighed, relaxing his head against the wall behind him.
“Perhaps you should stop fucking with time, then,” I told him, folding my arms. “How many times have I lived this moment?”
His lips curled a little. “Now that is an interesting question.”
“And that’s not an answer,” I tossed back.
“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “I think they might just listen to you this time, Shade.”
The Death Blood sputtered out a sound of agreement, then spat blood onto the floor. Zeph’s enchantment had been the equivalent of a few stern kicks to the most painful parts on the torso. I knew from experience that it hurt like hell. And Zeph usually held back when magically sparring with me.
With Shade, he hadn’t held back at all.
“What the fuck is going on?” my Guardian demanded. “Where’s Aflora? Why can’t I feel her?”
“You can’t feel her?” I stood up straighter. “At all?”
He fell silent, his green eyes flashing as he concentrated. “No. I feel her. But there’s… a block. And I can sense her struggling.” He went to the ground to take hold of Shade’s button-down shirt. “Start fucking talking, or I swear to the Fae, I will—”
“Destroy me,” Shade rasped. “I know.”
Kyros smirked. “Seriously, Shadow. You’re going through a lot of pain for something we both know is inevitable.”
“Fuck you,” Shade spat out at him.
“Not my type,” Kyros drawled.
“Give him a second to breathe,” I said, touching Zeph’s shoulder again. “I want to hear what Shade has to say.” My instincts were firing on all cylinders, the sense of déjà vu a very real presence in my mind.
I’d lived this moment before.
An obvious expectation, given Kyros’s presence, but it went deeper than that. I could feel the familiarity of this situation.
Just like that time when Aflora threatened to undo our bonds. Sir Kristoff had gone off about a sword-wielding fae. I’d just brushed off his commentary as a consequence of whatever the fuck Shade had done to him that day.
But that hadn’t been it at all.
“You’ve been fucking with our lives for a while,” I said to the Paradox Fae.
“Have I?” he countered, his dark eyes glimmering with knowledge.
“You were there the day Aflora threatened to dismantle our mating bonds.”
He considered me for a long moment before looking at Shade. “I stand corrected. You were right to bite him.”
“She succeeded, didn’t she?” I added, my heart racing with the knowledge. “She destroyed our bonds.”
“She did a lot more than that,” Shade muttered, his rasp lessening with each word. He shoved himself up into a seated position, then scooted over to the wall to lean his back against it as he swallowed on a grimace. “Well played, Kristoff.” He saluted my gargoyle with his middle finger, then dropped his hands to his lap on a sigh.
I slid down the wall to sit across from him. Zeph joined me, his stance guarded but his expression carefully blank.
“When did he bite you?” Zeph asked me.
“Just before you woke up,” I replied, my gaze on the Death Blood.
“You’re bonded?” He didn’t sound wounded so much as concerned. And rightfully so. There was no way I would be able to ascend whilst tied to Shade.
Granted, I couldn’t ascend while mated to Aflora, either.
And frankly, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to ascend anymore after everything I’d learned over the last few weeks.
“On the first level,” Shade said quietly. “It provides him with necessary insight.”
“Except I can’t read your mind.”
“No, but you can sense my intentions,” he replied, his icy eyes displaying an exhaustion I hadn’t noticed in him before.
I don’t like this, I thought, uneasy with the insight I seemed to have inherited with his bite.
“I don’t like it either,” he muttered, confirming he could hear my thoughts. Or maybe he’d read it from my expression. I suspected the former because it was Shade.
Tray cleared his throat, reminding me that he stood at the end of the hallway with Ella beside him. “So. Where’s Aflora?”
“Currently?” Shade glanced up at my brother. “She’s in a paradigm, battling a spell the Source Architect has woven through her mind.”
STARS TWINKLED OVERHEAD, each one tied to an invisible strand that I sensed more than saw.
I studied them, searching for a pattern or some reason for the madness. Zakkai had locked me inside this riddled web, his power potent and breathtakingly beautiful. I wanted to roll i
n his essence and absorb all of it into my senses.
But I refused the inclination.
He’d put me here for a purpose, one I intended to decipher.
I’d successfully removed the invisible ropes suffocating my torso, allowing me to breathe. And I nearly fell into the trap of thinking that was it. But then the blinking had started. It was subtle yet potent. He’d meant for me to find this puzzle. I suspected ignoring it would have left me in a worse state than before.
So I lay absolutely still, my breathing steady as I considered each potential route.
Some stars were brighter than the others. They felt too obvious, so I went for the lackluster orbs, only they gave off a hot sensation, their invisible strands shedding energy that caused the hairs along my arms to rise.
I bit my lip. Which one? I returned to the star boasting the most light and gently prodded it. A zap traversed my spine, causing me to jolt on the bed.
Not that one, I decided, moving on to the next and experiencing the same sensation.
I growled.
Zakkai would pay for this insanity. He’d created a land mine in my head! What kind of monster did that? And to his mate, no less.
Not that I intended to remain bonded to him.
No, I’d find a way to undo that. Just as soon as I figured out this maze in my head.
Each star possessed a heat signature that sang to the dark magic inside me. Zakkai’s magic. He was the source of my Quandary skills. But how? When had we bonded? And why didn’t I remember?
I’d been operating under the assumption that my parents had lied to me about my birthright, that I was some sort of abomination. However, it was his power running through my veins. It felt so deeply rooted, similar to my affinity for earth.
Which made no sense.
I could feel Shade’s power, too, younger in origin. Same with Zeph’s Warrior Blood.
But Zakkai’s essence seemed to be braided to mine, as though our lives were connected by a single thread.
My eyes narrowed as one of the stars glimmered brighter for half a second, as if beckoning me forward with that thought.
