Feeling restless again, I returned my attention to whatever he was doing in my brain. But… he was gone. At some point during my inner struggle, Collith had finished weaving his magic and carefully extracted himself. I opened my eyes, startled by the action. When did I close them?
Collith looked back at me silently. Did it work? I wondered, darting a glance over the rest of the cell.
I jumped when Collith answered, Yes. His mouth didn’t move when he said it, which meant our minds were still connected.
Suddenly I remembered what it felt like to have a mating bond between us. To feel what he was feeling, to be attached by something that felt like fate but was even more inevitable. I remembered that night he’d showed me his house and we danced in the dew-filled garden.
“Can you walk?” I asked abruptly, making a point to say it out loud.
This time, Collith didn’t answer. From the hard set of his jaw, I knew he wasn’t ignoring the question—he was using every drop of strength left in his veins to stand. I didn’t move to help him. Instead, he used the wall for support, his long fingers splaying against the stones. I found myself staring at those fingers, remembering how beautiful I used to find them. Reliving the things those fingers had done to me in bathtubs, beds, and forests.
Shaking myself, I retrieved Thuridan’s sword from the ground, quickly outlining the rest of Laurie’s plan. Collith finally managed to straighten. A vein stood out in his throat and he was pale with strain.
“Ready?” I asked, my tone heavy with meaning.
Collith’s gaze didn’t waver. “Ready,” he said.
The word felt like someone had pressed down on a gas pedal, launching my engine of a heart. Tightening my lips to hide how they trembled, I nodded and turned to leave. But then I saw Thuridan. He was at the part of the conversation with Lyari when he’d deliberately chosen words to repel her. Tell me, do you keep the Nightmare’s bed warm for her?
I slowed to a halt in front of him, and Thuridan stared back with glassy eyes. I studied his features and thought about his fear. I’d used it because I knew firsthand how powerful the avoidance of love could be. Especially when love felt undeserved.
There was no time, but for this, I’d take the risk.
“I’m not going to free you,” I told the warrior, knowing some part of him would hear me. “Consider it a… peace offering. Because what I’m giving you is a gift, Thuridan Sarwraek, no matter how shitty it may feel right now. Most people don’t know this, but if someone breaks out from a Nightmare’s magic, it usually means one of two things. One, they died. This is the most common outcome, and if I’m being honest, it’s probably yours. You did just try to kill me, so I don’t feel too bad about it. The second outcome, and the more rare occurrence, is that the morsel has overcome their fear. My power stopped working on them, because they were no longer afraid of the thing I’d created, you see? Basically, if you manage to survive this, you’ll be free… to love her. And if she loves you back, you’ll be the luckiest asshole alive. So good luck, asshole. You’ll need it. Oh, and I’m keeping the sword.”
I turned away from Thuridan and fixed my eyes on the door. Here goes nothing, I thought. I took a small breath and moved toward the darkness, fighting the instinct to kick Collith out of my head. He appeared at my side, and strangely enough, being able to see him made it easier to let his magic have me. I looked back at the yawning tunnel, the torches even dimmer now.
Together, Collith and I walked out of that small, terrible room, and neither of us looked back.
The wall of cells loomed ahead. Collith matched my pace without complaint, his stiff gait the only indication that he was in pain. He almost had me convinced of his recovery, but we were halfway to the stairs when he stumbled. I caught hold of him again, no small feat when I was carrying Thuridan’s sword. The movement made something catch my eye. I frowned and shifted to see Collith’s back. Fresh blood dribbled down his skin, and I knew this was the splotch of darkness I’d spotted.
“Did someone stab you?” I breathed, staring at the wound. Had it torn open when I was sitting in Collith’s lap? Damn it. Nothing good ever came from making out with Collith Sylvyre. When would I ever learn?
He raised his gaze and started to answer, but then his attention flicked to something over my shoulder. “Behind you,” Collith said, making a move to shove me.
I raised my sword just as Nuvian’s came down. The blades clashed, sending a ringing sound into the stillness. The reflection of a nearby torch flickered in his eyes, which looked black in the gloom. In a move that made it abundantly clear I was outclassed, Nuvian swung his sword around and sent me stumbling back. I bared my teeth and instinctively delved inside his mind, using my power like most people take a breath.
But then I remembered that damn promise I’d made, and I stopped. In that frozen, silent instant we found ourselves staring at each other, our faces inches apart, I saw fear flare in Nuvian’s eyes. No matter how much he probably wanted to hide it, he knew I was stronger than him. His life was in my hands.
I may have promised not to use my abilities on him, but I hadn’t said anything about swords.
In a swift, skilled move, I used the instincts Adam had ingrained in me and maneuvered Nuvian’s blade around mine, using his own weight as momentum to force him backward. Nuvian recovered in an instant, but it was too late. I held the tip of the sword I’d stolen against the golden column of his throat.
“You shouldn’t be scared of what I’ve done—you should be scared of what I can do,” I told him quietly. I lowered the sword and stepped back. “You saved my life, and now I’ve spared yours. We’re even.”
Slow clapping disrupted the hushed tension between us.
Nuvian and I moved apart, and I swung to face whoever was making that sound. Viessa stood farther down the tunnel, half in shadow, a contingent of Guardians at her back.
Lyari Paynore was one of them.
It was the first time we’d seen each other since Belanor’s cherubim had taken me from the hospital. I briefly met her gaze before returning my focus to the new queen. My mind raced with questions. Was Lyari pretending to be loyal to Viessa? Or had she been pretending with me? Was that why she’d ignored my summons?
“I knew you’d come for our boy sooner or later,” Viessa said by way of greeting. Tonight, the Ice Queen was wearing black. A gown of glittering, endless black. “You didn’t kill the guard on duty, did you? Because I’d have to hurt you for that, and I really don’t want to hurt you.”
Thankfully, she seemed to have left Paul somewhere else this evening, so Viessa’s threat didn’t worry me as much as she meant it to. As Collith moved to stand beside me, I made a sound of contempt and gestured at the Guardians with my sword. “What is this? A game? Some twisted form of entertainment? If ruling the Unseelie Court is that boring, let me tell you, you’re doing it wrong.”
“I can’t let you save him, Fortuna,” Viessa said, ignoring the sarcasm that dripped off my words. “He still has supporters, and if Collith goes free, it would only be a matter of time before he comes back for the throne. Except next time, he might be smarter about it and bring an army with him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “We have a problem, then, because I’m not leaving him down here to be tortured.”