Chapter 22
Abram
Ipounded on the door again. Thomas had to be here. Something shuffled on the other side.
“Thomas,” I said the instant the door opened.
His eyes immediately went to Ezra, and he looked… scared. I looked back at Ezra, who had the friendliest smile on his face. But Thomas visibly shrunk back at the sight of him.
“Abram, god of gods, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, and you brought… Ezra.” He looked at me. “Why did you bring him here?”
Thomas looked over our shoulders as if we had been followed. His paranoia had me looking back to see if someone was watching us. No one was there. Gods, this old man was going to piss me off if he started this shit again.
“Let us in; you have some questions to answer.” I pushed my way in, and Ezra followed.
Thomas shut the door and turned toward me, frowning slightly. I stared at him because he looked like he had something he wanted to say.
“You found her then?” His head cocked to the side. “Your mate.”
“You knew I was going to see my mate bond as soon as I left this damn house.”
“I didn’t find it appropriate to say that in front of Elowyn.” His gaze flickered to Ezra.
Ezra’s body stiffened as he met Thomas’ eyes. He looked to me like I knew why the old man was fascinated with him.
“Can I help you?” Ezra snapped.
“Did Abram give you my message?”
Shit.
“I forgot.”
Thomas narrowed his eyes on me.
“Ezra, with love comes deception. But with deception comes the truth.” I told him. “Happy?” I asked Thomas.
“If we are referring to Farris, then save it.” Ezra’s voice became low and dangerous. “Her love was only deception.”
Thomas moved so quickly that I hardly registered that he was moving at Ezra. He grabbed Ezra by the collar of the tunic and got in his face.
“You do not get to dismiss her.”
“For fuck’s sake old man, let me go.” Ezra shoved at him. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“You,” he hissed. “Farris needs you to understand that she did what she had to, and it was never out of anything but love for you.”
Ezra froze for a moment.
“You know Farris?” Ezra was skeptical.
“Yes, and she is tortured every day that you think she purposely hurt you, that she is cruel.”
“She is cruel.” Ezra’s nostrils flared. “She married another man after I begged her to stay!”
Thomas laughed, and Ezra’s eyes burned red as his magic seeped around him—a misty red cloud that distorted the friendly Ezra’s appearance and turned it into a beast. What. The. Fuck.
Ezra’s power pulsed around us, thick and suffocating, like the air itself had turned to blood-soaked mist. His eyes glowed a molten red, rage flickering across his sharp features as a beast began to bleed through his human skin.
Muscles coiled and bulged beneath his tunic as clawed hands flexed at his sides.
His voice rumbled out, deeper and rougher, laced with something ancient and monstrous.
“She was mine,” he growled, each word vibrating through the floor. “She was fucking mine, and she left me for him.”
Thomas chuckled darkly, unfazed by the violent magic curling around Ezra. “That’s right, God of Souls, show us what you really are. No matter how sweet your smiles are, there’s still a beast under your skin.”
Ezra’s snarl was animalistic, his fangs elongating as shadows twisted around his body, distorting his form into something taller, broader, feral. His entire aura became suffused with raw death magic, darker than any I had ever felt.
“Her marriage is about as real as Abram’s godsdamn mate bond,” Thomas sneered. “She’s lying to herself, just like you’re lying to everyone about what you are.”
Ezra lunged forward so fast the air cracked, his beastly face inches from Thomas’ smirking one.
“She can marry a thousand men,” he snarled, voice vibrating with murderous rage, “but her soul already belongs to me. And if I have to rip apart the entire fucking realm to take back what’s mine… I will.”
I’d never seen Ezra like this. His body coiled tight beneath ashen skin, red-black veins of magic pulsing like something alive beneath the shadows.
His eyes glowed a deep, hellish crimson, a faint mist curling from them with every ragged breath.
Faint glowing sigils ran along his arms, chest, and neck like cursed tattoos pulsing with each beat of his furious heart.
He was still Ezra, but stripped of his playful grin and gentle aura—he looked like a demonic god, an elegant predator ready to destroy anything that dared take what was his.
“Wait, what did you mean—as real as my mating bond?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes at Thomas.
“I told you it would reveal your heart’s true desire; did it not?” Thomas turned toward me calmly, completely unfazed by Ezra’s looming beast form beside him. “You still chose Elowyn, which is the correct choice, by the way.”
“So… Elowyn is my true mate?” I asked, hope flaring in my chest despite everything.
“No.” He raised a brow before sighing heavily. “Will you call off your little demon-god pet so he’ll stop breathing on me?”
Ezra stepped forward like he was about to rip Thomas’ throat out.
“Ezra, stop,” I ordered sharply.
He froze instantly.
“Good boy,” Thomas mocked, smirking.
Without hesitation, Ezra smacked Thomas across the face. It was barely a tap with his clawed hand, but Thomas flew into the wall, cracking the stone behind him. Ezra smiled darkly when Thomas grunted in pain.
“Ezra…” I sighed.
He turned to me, pointing at his chest, his voice deep and rumbling with that terrifying edge. “Me? He started it.”
Thomas staggered to his feet, brushing debris off his tunic while glaring daggers at Ezra.
“So, Elowyn isn’t my mate,” I said, ignoring their antics, “but she’s the right choice?”
“Correct. She was always a fate tied with yours. But to keep her…,” he paused, eyeing me with that calculating gaze. “You must make a sacrifice.”
“Which is?” I asked, my tone clipped with impatience.
“The bond that was stolen can be returned if a heart untouched by fate chooses her freely. If true love is given without the thread of destiny, the heavens will recognize the injustice done and rewrite her bond.” He stared at me, noting the slight confusion in my eyes.
“You both need to lose your fated mates.” He tilted his head. “Kill them.”
“Done.” I nodded without hesitation. “And here I thought it’d be something hard,” I scoffed.
“You cocky god,” Thomas growled, stepping forward to smack the side of my head. “So eager. Tell me, God of Fate, do you even know what her death would cost you?”
I scowled. “Cost me? Loma’s life means nothing to me.”
Thomas smiled, sharp and cruel. “Choices, choices. Fate is a web, dear gods, and every thread you cut strangles someone else.”
“If it does not hurt me, Elowyn, or my family, I don’t care. It is worth it," I said quickly.
“What if it hurts your beast here?” He nodded toward Ezra.
My eyes shifted to my best friend… my family.
Ezra tilted his head, his crimson eyes narrowing. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Do you know who your mate is married to?” he asked Ezra.
“Lord Philip.” Ezra snarled. “You think I didn’t figure out everything I could about him?”
“How did that go for you? I bet you didn’t find out very much.” Thomas stared Ezra down. “He’s very evasive and keeps his true identity close. He is even able to shift his appearance.”
I stared at Thomas, trying to figure out what this had to do with Loma. Thomas turned toward me and a shadow of pity crossed his face.
“Lord Philip is Loma’s brother,” Thomas continued softly. “You kill Loma, and you will need to kill the brother too. In fact, you need to kill their whole family because if you don’t, you will have them storming Elloryon for retribution. But just know that killing Lord Philip will hurt Farris.”
Ezra staggered, clutching his head as if the thought of her being hurt had struck him physically. Then he straightened, eyes hardening as he sneered at Thomas.
“She will be fine. I was the only one she was meant to love.”
“You misunderstand, Ezra. She will not be heartbroken.” He stopped talking for a moment like he wasn’t sure what to say. “He is a vyrak. His sister as well.”
Ezra looked confused. But I stilled at the name. They didn’t exist anymore.
“You’re wrong,” I snapped.
But the words from the Book of Knowledge came back to me. Unfinished duty. The heavens had reshaped fate, binding me to it in a way that ensured I would finish what I had started. My eyes squeezed shut. I had been certain it was already done.
“I’m not.” Thomas studied me carefully. “Now you understand why the heavens intervened in your fate, Abram. You know how badly the vyrak can damage the realm. They were the reason you and your siblings had to get rid of Kilryn…or at least you thought you did."
Understanding crashed into me all at once. The heavens had known I would choose Elowyn over fate itself, and they made certain I would have no choice but to save her from the vyrak. That I would wipe them out once and for all, before they could threaten the realm again.
“What the fuck is a vyrak?” Ezra asked.
“It’s a creature with no true magic of its own—unless it binds to someone else.
A parasite. It feeds off its host until they’re drained dry.
It forms a bond with the one it steals from, one that can only be broken if the host dies.
But if the vyrak dies first… I don’t know what will happen,” Thomas answered.
Ezra whipped his head around to Thomas.
“That fucking leech is attached to Farris,” he hissed.
“Yes.” Thomas looked at me oddly.
“So, if we kill Loma, we have to kill her whole family, and we don’t know how that will affect Farris.” I sighed. “We’ll just take out Loma without it being traced to us.”
Thomas began pacing around us, muttering to himself. Ezra suddenly reached out and grabbed Thomas by the throat, slamming him back into the wall.
“You better start fucking talking.”
“You have to kill Philip.” His eyes locked on mine. “He is Elowyn’s fated mate.”
Everything stopped.