Chapter 14 #3
Cullen bellowed again. The sound was inhuman, stripped of everything but pure suffering.
I felt tears streaming down my face. Felt my carefully maintained composure cracking like ice under pressure. This was what Riuondo wanted—to see me break, to prove that even the Prime could be reduced to helplessness.
But I couldn't stop it. Couldn't stop the way my voice broke as I begged.
"Please. Please stop. I'll do anything. Just stop."
Riuondo finally looked at me. "Anything?"
"Yes. Anything."
He deactivated the stimulator.
Cullen slumped in the restraints, gasping. His body trembled violently, aftershocks of pain still coursing through him.
"That was level three," Riuondo said conversationally. "The device has ten levels. Shall we continue?"
"No." My voice was barely a whisper. "No, please."
"Then abdicate."
I looked at Cullen. His head hung forward, blood dripping from where he'd bitten through his lip. But even now, even through the haze of pain, I felt his presence in our bond. Felt him trying to reach me.
Don't. Don't give in. Not for me.
But how could I not?
He was my true mate. The other half of my soul. Watching him suffer, feeling him suffer through our connection, was worse than any torture Riuondo could inflict on me directly.
"I need time," I said. "To think."
Riuondo's smile returned. "No, you don't."
He activated the stimulator again.
This time, Cullen's scream was immediate. Louder. More desperate.
Level four.
The echo of his agony hit me like a physical blow.
"Stop!" I was screaming now, all pretense of composure gone. "Stop, please, I'll do it! I'll abdicate!"
But Riuondo didn't stop. He let it continue for another ten seconds—an eternity—before finally deactivating the device.
Cullen collapsed. His breathing was ragged, his body shaking uncontrollably. Blood ran from his nose, and his eyes had rolled back in his head.
"Cullen!" I strained against the restraints, desperate to reach him. "Cullen, please—"
His eyes focused slowly. Found mine. I felt his love. His forgiveness. His understanding.
He didn't blame me for what I was about to do.
"Will you abdicate?" Riuondo asked.
I looked at him. At this man who had murdered his way through the Prime candidates. Who had orchestrated a century of violence and manipulation. Who now held my mate's life in his hands.
I thought about duty. About the Alliance. About everything I'd sacrificed to become Prime.
Then I thought about Cullen's screams. About the way his body had convulsed in agony. About the echo of the echo of his pain still reverberating along our connection.
There was no choice.
There had never been a choice.
"Yes," I whispered. "I'll abdicate."
Riuondo's smile was triumphant. "Say it clearly. For the record."
I lifted my head, meeting his gaze with what little dignity I had left. "I will abdicate as Prime of the Alliance. Just... please. No more."
"There." Riuondo deactivated the neural stimulator completely, and it retracted back into the ceiling. "That wasn't so difficult, was it?"
He moved to the control panel and began entering commands.
"We'll arrange a formal call with the Alliance Council.
You'll make your announcement. You'll be very convincing—you'll tell them about your true mate, about your desire for a life free from duty.
They'll believe you because they'll want to believe you.
Because the alternative is too destabilizing to accept. "
He turned back to us, his expression cold. "And then, once the power has transferred, once I am officially Prime... well. Accidents happen. Tragic, really. The former Prime and her human lover, lost in a shuttle malfunction. The Alliance will mourn. And I will lead."
"You won't get away with this," Cullen said. His voice was hoarse, barely audible, but the defiance was still there. "Someone will figure it out."
"Perhaps." Riuondo shrugged. "But by then, it won't matter. I'll have consolidated power. Eliminated my opposition. The Alliance will be mine, and there will be nothing anyone can do about it."
He gestured to the guards. "Take them back to the cells. Let them rest. We have a performance to prepare for."
The restraints released with a hiss. I nearly fell as they hauled me to my feet, my legs weak and trembling. Across from me, Cullen could barely stand. The guards had to support his full weight.
Our eyes met one last time before they dragged us from the chamber.
I felt his heartbeat—still synchronized with mine, still strong despite everything.
I'm sorry, I thought, hoping somehow he could feel it. I'm so sorry.
But I wasn't sorry for agreeing to abdicate.
I was sorry that I'd ever thought duty mattered more than this. More than him.
The cell door slammed shut behind me, and I collapsed against the wall, my body shaking with silent sobs.
I'd broken.
The Prime, who had maintained her composure through a century of leadership, who had never let emotion cloud her judgment, who had sacrificed everything for duty—
I'd broken.
And I would do it again. A thousand times over.
For him.