Chapter 45
The lock clicking into place behind us was a tolling of my impending death. The air was still, tight in my throat. The long-dead gilded branches on the walls seemed to reach for me, closing in like they’d trap me should I try to run.
Stadiel snarled, stomping past me and into the royal sitting chamber. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”
I claimed space in the middle of the silver-threaded rug, crossing my arms over my chest. “I do.”
Iaoth stomped forward, nails digging into my flesh as she gripped my forearm.
“How dare you let her have power over you. She was meant to serve the war, not be bound to you!” Her lips curled back from her teeth, and she dragged a sharp breath between them.
“How long have you known she was your mate?”
To lie or to speak true?
It was too risky to utter a falsehood, not when she could enter my mind and steal my memories with a flick of her magic. Especially now that we were touching. But I refused to flinch away from her.
I’d fucked up, and if I wanted Sylaira and myself to survive, I had to be strategic. Looking like I was hiding something would only raise further suspicion.
Good thing I was an adept liar.
“She escaped from me on one occasion after I initially captured her. In that pursuit, I used my Command on her. When I looked her in the eye, our bond snapped into place.”
That, at least, was the truth.
“You humiliated us by keeping this secret.” Iaoth vibrated like the broken bird that lived inside her would burst from her skin at any moment. “And after everything we’ve done for you?”
She spun, releasing her vise-like grip on my arm, and threw herself onto a settee.
I didn’t bother arguing that they’d never truly done anything for me, and that I had always been the servant in the relationship. Instead, I waited for the next harsh words to fly.
“You tossed Dasha aside like she was nothing. Then, you attacked her father for dancing with your,” she paused, claws digging into the velvet, “mate.”
“He was hurting her,” I snapped. My teeth clicked shut a moment later, and I forced myself to take a breath. They wouldn’t care, and I couldn’t lose my cool.
Stadiel regarded me with hawk-like scrutiny. I held his gaze, refusing to cower to my sister’s husband. “Not only that, but you Commanded the entire Angel court. Wounded many houses’ pride. They will not stand for it. And neither will I, having had my own house attacked.”
Iaoth sat up, her glare hot enough to burn. “Tell me, brother,” she spat the word like it was poison, “what is so special about this Seer that made you abandon your duty tonight.”
“The Goddess fated us to be together.”
“Bah,” she said, waving her hand. “The brother I had would never have let something like that stand in the way of what he was ordered to do.”
I could only blink at Iaoth. Mate bonds were the highest blessing from the Goddess—seconded only by Sight.
The mirror I’d been staring into all these years shattered. All the illusion that my little sister, the one who’d played with me in the orchards as younglings, remained deep inside, locked away for her own protection, vanished.
For the first time, I saw exactly who Iaoth had become. And in that same broken shard, who I had allowed myself to be. A good dog, waiting on his next command.
Instead of a reflection, I received the clear and honest truth.
She didn’t care that I’d been blessed by our Radiant Mother with the rarest gifts of all—ice-blue irises with a unique power and a mating bond to a Seer. Not just power, but purpose. Clearly, the Goddess had a plan for us. Was this not a sign of our impending victory over the Demons?
Even if Sylaira still hated me after this, my vision had opened. I no longer wanted to be the monster. The male carved by duty. Forged to be a weapon.
And Iaoth could only think so far as her husband allowed.
Stadiel took a menacing step forward. I didn’t flinch. “You will tell us everything you know about her, right this instant.”
Once again, I found myself weighing my options. How much omission I could get away with while still revealing the truth. The worst for Sylaira and me, I had no doubt, was yet to come.
“She is the daughter of a couple killed during the raid on an Elessarum stronghold a few years back.” I winced, memories of how the two had punished me for offering the dead a pyre rising unbidden.
Thankfully, neither seemed to remember, too focused on the mess in front of them now.
“She has been running and hiding with Heraphia, the other Seer, and the heir to House Ilythar? in the years since. Though she and Heraphia have been together for a long time, since childhood.”
I parceled out more pieces of her history, giving enough to appear like I was a loyal hunter, while guarding the more intimate moments we’d shared. Each word crossing my tongue tasted bitter. I hated that I had to reveal anything at all.
Stadiel and my sister listened the entire time, not asking a single question. And when I finished, both scrutinized me like they were searching for the lies.
Finally, the Koron spoke. “You are in her head all the time. That’s good. We can use that. Any visions she has, you can be there right alongside her.”
Iaoth cocked her head to the side, something working out behind her eyes. “So you’ve Seen everything she has then?”
I was silent for a moment too long. “She doesn’t exactly lower the barrier on her side of the bond very often.”
The statement exposed a vulnerability in my armor. And with the way Iaoth grinned like a cat that had caught a mouse, she was going to exploit it. She surged to her feet and strode to a desk, rummaging through parchment in search of something.
“Aha!” Snatching a pile of papers, she returned to her husband, flashing what was written on them to her husband. “Look at these visions Sylaira has had compared to her friend, Heraphia. They’re paltry.”
My stomach dropped. If Iaoth already suspected she wasn’t truly Seeing anything, her examination of my mate would triple.
Stadiel flipped through them, and I forced myself to remain still. “Yes, this is concerning. With her ice-blue irises, she should be Seeing well above the level of Heraphia.”
A myriad of defenses rose, and I sifted through them, hoping I’d land on the most plausible one before they interrogated me.
“She did just arrive and has been severely injured,” I pointed out. “Heraphia has been here for weeks longer. I bet if you look back to the ones she had in the beginning, they weren’t as fruitful either.”
It was a gamble, asking him to compare. I had no knowledge of it, especially since Sylaira had taken virelthorn for so long.
“He’s right,” Stadiel growled reluctantly.
Thank you, Goddess.
“She merely needs more time to adjust,” I stated, confidence imbuing my bones. “And it would be helpful for her to stay with me rather than with the other Seers. Since we are mated and our bond is still rather fresh.”
It was a risk, asking for this. But the closer I could keep her, especially after this, the easier it would be for me to protect her.
Stadiel’s gaze snapped to mine. “Have you claimed her?”
A muscle feathered in my jaw. “No.”
Iaoth cackled. I dragged in a breath, trying to refrain from punching her in the face. “Oh that is rich. And you refused to visit Dasha’s bed too. Now it all makes sense.”
“You never went?” Stadiel questioned, red tinging his cheeks.
I braced for his incoming fury. “No.”
He swiped an expensive vase off a nearby table, sending it crashing to the floor.
“What the fuck, Vaeron? If you’d at least tried to impregnate her, we could have appeased Zarethiel.
That child would still grow up with status.
And if your sister remains barren,” he cut his gaze to Iaoth, whose eyes widened, “they could have taken the position as heir. Now, I have nothing to offer House Elyriane. And if we don’t win this fucking war, if we do not exterminate the Demons this year, the three of us will likely have to forfeit our lives. ”
His dramatics didn’t faze me. There was no way House Elyriane possessed enough magic to take on me, let alone Stadiel. And if we roped Ishim into our defense, we’d be untouchable.
“He can still marry Dasha, even if he’s fated to another,” Iaoth pointed out
Rage crackled in my veins. The tips of my fingers bit into my arms.
Calm yourself, Vaeron. Get a grip. Emotion is weakness. The stakes are too high right now to lose control.
A cruel smile spread across Stadiel’s lips. “Aye, he can.”
“Legally speaking yes,” I managed to grit out. “But spiritually? Our Radiant Mother bound me to Sylaira. I for one am not willing to risk her wrath. Especially not when we are so close to defeating the Demons.”
Iaoth pouted and popped out a hip. “He has a point. We can’t risk our holy war.”
“And we can’t risk a rebellion or assassination attempt from House Elyriane,” Stadiel snapped, shoving the papers back into Iaoth’s hands.
“So tell me, wife, how am I supposed to win on both fronts? I could always rewrite our laws to allow for polygamy. After all, many of my predecessors had multiple wives when the first appeared to be barren.”
Iaoth flinched like she’d been slapped. I almost pitied her. Almost.
It wasn’t her fault that our father had thrust her into Stadiel’s arms, over a decade away from coming of age. That he had dangled promises neither of us could fully deliver in front of the newly-crowned Koron’s face.
My sister looked to me, eyes beseeching me to help her. But I had a singular priority, and she wasn’t it. Not anymore.
“We promise our firstborn daughter to be his to wed.” The words burst out of her in a frantic wave. “And Dasha can be the next queen, after I bear you a son.”
She stepped in front of him, running a nail down his chest and all the way to his lower abdomen. “I know with the stress of everything lately, we haven’t had as much time together. But we can always make more…”