Aaron
Three Days Later
Iopen the door to the faculty suite and Mara steps inside first. She immediately twirls, her tail swaying with her, and falls backward onto the large bed, arms spread wide, grinning up at the ceiling. The simple joy in her movement catches me off guard.
I set the bags down and shut the door behind me, warmth spreading through me at the sight of her like this. Relaxed, happy, mine. After the week we’ve had, seeing her smile feels like coming up for air.
“The community lands is that bad, huh?” I keep my voice light.
She gives me a narrow look. “I just miss being on campus is all. Don’t you enjoy working at the Academy?”
“Yes. I do love it.” I set the bags down and look around. “I just don’t love my job as much as I love you.”
Mara sits up on the bed, and the heat that hits her face is immediate. It does something to me. She stands as I grab one of the bags and start unpacking, my hands needing something to do before I forget what I came in here for and just crawl into that bed with her.
“Don’t you have private training with Seth today?” she asks.
I fall quiet, my hands slowing on the zipper.
“I’d been avoiding House of Zorah,” I admit.
“Why?” She tilts her head, ears perked forward.
“Because I haven’t been in contact with the pack for a couple of days, and I know my mother is still mad at me.” The words come out flat, but beneath them lies a deeper truth. I’m afraid. Afraid of facing my mother’s disappointment.
Mara moves closer while I’m unpacking. She wraps her arms around me from behind, resting her head against my back. I close my eyes, overwhelmed by the simple intimacy of it. She has no idea how good it feels to have her again, to feel her choose me despite everything.
“I think I should speak to Angie,” she says quietly.
I stiffen, the momentary peace shattered.
She unwraps her arms and steps back. I turn around, the fear climbing up my throat. This is exactly what I’ve been dreading.
“Do you remember what we talked about when it came to Eric?”
I watch her tail more than her face. Her lion is much better at showing emotion.
“I will not speak to her about him,” Mara says quickly, earnest.
Though I know I should be ashamed of it, I smile at her and lean in for a kiss, but she puts a hand up against my chest, stopping me.
“But I expect you to tell me more about Eric and the Witching Glen.”
I look at her hand on my chest, then at her face. She’s negotiating with me, and she’s good at it. Too good.
I grip her by the front of her dress and pull her into my arms. She comes easily, her body fitting against mine, and I press my lips to hers, gentle.
“Fine by me, baby.”
Mara jumps and squeals against my mouth, breaking the kiss, her body going rigid in my arms.
I pull back, confusion crossing my face. “What? Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Majesty,” she whispers, her voice barely audible.
I turn around. “Uncle Amir. What are you doing here?”
He stands in the corner of our room, hands clasped behind his back. His pointed ears twitch once, the only sign that he’s heard me.
He steps forward from the corner. “You missed my request for you and your lovely mate’s presence on the royal island, so I thought I’d come to you and find out why you’re ignoring me.”
I wince. “I forgot, really.”
The lie is weak and we both know it.
Amir looks to Mara and bows his head. “Did you forget, beautiful lioness?”
She bows her head back. Her tail drops in submission, but she doesn’t answer him.
“Now that I have you both, we can finish this discussion.” Amir’s voice is pleasant.
“Can’t we try to reschedule or something?” I sound childish.
Mara grabs my arm, her grip firm.
It hits me late that I don’t know how much he heard. Eric. The Glen. Fear slides down my back at the thought.
“How much of our private conversation did you hear?”
Amir starts to walk around the suite, grinning.
“I’m not in the business of knowing your marital conversations. What I’m here for is to counsel you about what happened with Solaris Pride. This is not something you can avoid,” he says.
I look to Mara. She nods to me, encouraging. I told her I’d deal with it, and now I have to.
“Alright.” The word feels inadequate for the magnitude of what’s coming.
But then Mara surprises me.
“There’s something I need to do,” she says.
I turn to her, suspicion rising. “And what is that?”
Mara falls quiet. She starts to purr, soft, but her tail is swaying. My brows pull down. She’s up to something.
Amir approaches her, his presence making her seem smaller. “While I would love for you to join us, beautiful lioness, you are not obligated. I’ve already spoken my piece with you.”
Her ears fall flat against her head, a gesture of submission that makes something protective rise in me. Amir bows to her. Mara bows back, her movements graceful despite her obvious discomfort.
“My lord,” she says.
He lifts his finger to her chin and raises it until her eyes meet his. She gasps, small and startled, and I have to force myself not to step between them.
“You are my family, Mara, not my subordinate. Do not bow to me again.” His voice is gentle but carries an authority that fills the room.
Mara gasps again, her lips parted.
“Hopefully, my words to you were enough to make my point,” Amir says.
She nods, solemn.
I grab her arm and pull her to me. “Mara, baby. What are you up to?”
Amir grins, clearly amused by our dynamic. Mara doesn’t respond.
I frown at her, hurt and confusion warring inside me. “I’m going to find you as soon as I finish with Amir.”
I release her arm. She turns and walks out the door, her tail brushing the doorframe on the way through.
Amir offers his hand to me. “Unless you’d rather open a portal yourself. Though I’m not sure why you bother with doors. You have some of my magic.”
I stiffen. Oh shit. He knows.
Amir pulls his hand back and clasps it behind him, watching my face. “I know a siphoner when I see one. Though you are very different. Almost as if you’ve been carefully constructed by Mother Fate.”
The words send a chill through me, fear and something like pride mixed together. I lift my palm. Blue-gold light cracks the air, the magic spreading into a clean vertical line that widens until the royal cabin is visible on the other side.
The lake stretches out in front of me, broad and still, reflecting the sky like a perfect mirror.
Amir steps through behind me. I close the portal. The blue-gold folds in on itself and disappears with a soft snap.
“How long have you known?” I ask, looking at my hands.
Amir grins, the expression almost fond. “I am very old, Aaron. I know a true-born siphoner when I see one.”
He turns toward the water.
“There were only a few siphoners after the Great War,” he explains. “All Blackwoods. Never a warlock, though.”
“I don’t understand my magic.”
Amir keeps watching the water. “It’s not meant for you to understand it.
Your magic simply needs you to accept it.
And you have.” He looks at me, and the grin softens into something gentler, almost paternal.
“You were born to rule, Aaron, not exist as a low-level warlock. Mother Fate sees you. You were meant to do great things.”
I sigh, the weight of his expectations pressing down on me. “I don’t want to rule, Uncle Amir.”
“That is very disappointing to hear.”
“Why are you trying to pass it down to me? Why are you trying to pass it down at all?” I need to understand.
Amir turns back to the water and lets out a heavy sigh. “It’s difficult to explain.”
I watch him, then look to the water myself. The lake laps at the rocky shore, a steady rhythm that would be soothing under different circumstances. Across the water, Wintermoon land stretches out under the gray sky.
“I can tell my gift didn’t come without a requirement,” he says.
“What gift?” I ask, though part of me already knows.
He smiles. “For a very long time, I yearned for something so small, simple, yet I never thought about what it would cost me.”
I just look at him, waiting.
“I yearned for love. I give love constantly, but I never had a true love of my own.” He looks to me, vulnerability in his eyes. “Until my Anora.”
I look away because watching him say her name like that does something to me I’m not ready for, awakening a yearning I recognize all too well.
“Then fate blessed me with Solomon.” He smiles.
He looks away from me, back to the water, his profile suddenly older, wearier. “I have no right to be king after what I’ve done.”
“I know your history,” I murmur, and clear my throat. The next words come out carefully. “The bear shifter clan.”
Amir doesn’t flinch.
“Wintermoon has forgiven you,” I say.
“You don’t understand because you’re so young.” His voice is steady, but the lightness is gone. “A true king should not live in fear of his own people. My job is to serve, and unfortunately that is not something I can offer right now.”
I let his words sit, absorbing their weight. A bird crosses low over the water, its wingbeat breaking the reflection, sending ripples across the surface.
“I cannot be a king,” I tell him. “I can’t even hold my temper. Isn’t that why you requested my presence? What I did. I’m not proud of fighting her father. I knew it wasn’t a fair fight.”
He grins. “The power of love is strong, but also very dangerous.”
“You are not fully to blame. Ahmal knows the laws of Mother Fate. He should have sent Mara back home.”
“Wait, you’re...”
“I am not defending you, Aaron.” His voice sharpens, cutting through my surprise. “What you did was reckless. I’m only saying I understand why.” He grins again, knowing. “The lioness is incredibly stubborn. But strong. I don’t think you give her enough credit.”
The truth of it stings.
“Is it out of fear from your own upbringing?” he asks, seeing through me with unsettling clarity.
I groan. I don’t want to say it out loud, to expose this, but I’m tired of hiding.
“Yes,” I admit, the word feeling like it’s torn from somewhere deep.
“I watched my mother struggle. It hurt to watch her have to be strong with no help. When we got to Wintermoon and found out who we were, things changed. But it still lives in me. That struggle. That helplessness. I never want to see Mara struggle. I can’t handle it. ”
It’s the truth I’ve been running from. That my need to protect Mara isn’t just about her, it’s about me.
“Trust in your mate bond, not your fear,” he says. “She is stronger than you know.”
I look to him and nod.
“I have been waiting for an answer from you for a year. Now, you only have a week to think it over.”
I frown at him but nod.
Amir turns from the water and starts walking toward the royal cabin. He stops. His back stays turned, his posture suddenly rigid.
“I know the Witching Glen has been reaching out to you.”
My magic sparks at my fingertips, responding to the sudden fear that floods through me. I clench my fists, trying to contain it, to hide my reaction.
“I don’t know exactly what they stand to gain from you in particular. But I’m about one week from destroying the Witching Glen.”
He starts walking again. “Whether they live or there’s a great reset is completely up to you.” He disappears into the cabin.
One week. Eric, Wintermoon, my own life—and I’m the one with the say.
I close my eyes and reach for Mara through the bond, desperate for her presence.
It comes in glimpses, flashes of sensation and sight. The conjuring room in the faculty library. Bookshelves lining the walls. Tiana sitting on a plush sofa, hands wrapped around a mug, her expression serious. And Mara across from her, listening intently to something I can’t hear.
My eyes snap open, cold dread washing through me.
Shit. Mara didn’t listen to me at all.
She’s with my sisters.
Ah fuck.