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The memory rose up. The way Lorian had ordered me to live. And how he’d stayed by my side. When I’d finally started to recover, he’d even carried me to the bathing room.

“You can tell yourself whatever makes it easier for you to hate me, wildcat. But it was real. All of it.”

I pulled out the next letter. And my heart skipped a beat.

Dear C,

I’m taking the wildcat with me when we leave. She won’t be pleased by this, so I’m afraid you’re unlikely to meet her at her best—although, you’ve always enjoyed seeing me with my hands full.

And I have no doubt that she will make me pay.

Yes, she has the power of time. And has even kept me frozen for several moments.

Everything else is going according to plan. Apart from the fact that I still can’t find what we’re looking for.

L

Lorian had written this before he knew who I was. He’d told his brother I had the power of time, but he’d said it as if he was…proud. Not as if he was planning to use me.

On the back of the letter, Conreth had scrawled a quick note back to his brother. Likely the only reason Lorian still had the original letter.

I whirled, the letters still in my hands.

Lorian grabbed my wrist, and I let him pull me out of the clearing, away from the others. When we were close to the river, he let me go.

“You were planning to take me with you,” I said. “Even before your brother knew who I was.”

One sharp nod.

“Why?”

“I told you why. Because you’re mine.”

He said the words as if he were commenting on the weather. As if they were simplyfact.

Ignoring the way my traitorous heart thumped harder, I turned away. “You don’t get to decide that. You don’t—”

“Prisca.”

His voice was so gentle, I flinched. A callused finger brushed my throat.

“Wildcat.”

He took my shoulders gently, turning me to face him. My stomach tightened, my heart tripped, and my eyes inexplicably filled.

“Gods, don’t do that.”

“I’m fine.” I swallowed. “It’s just been a long day.”

“Talk to me.”

I gazed up at his face. The sharp cheekbones, strong jaw, those green eyes. Those eyes were dark now, concerned. But his expression shuttered as he watched me watching him. “You latched on to my brother’s words because you knew you needed something to help you keep your distance, didn’t you?”

I turned away, but he just crowded my body until my back hit a tree. “And if I did?”

“You can raise all the walls between us that you like. I’ll knock them down one by one. In the end, it will beus, wildcat.”

He spoke with such a deep certainty. Aknowing.It would be easy to get wrapped up in that if I didn’t remind myself of reality. “You know that’s not what’s going to happen here.”