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I want to ask her what she means by that, but an even bigger question plagues me. “How did you…?”

“Survive?” she fills in.

I nod. Last I remember, she was all but catatonic.

She shrugs. “Apparently, I wasn’t beyond the point of no return when they found me. I hear I have your mate to thank for that.” Her eyes drift to where she last saw Des. “He seems…intense.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

“I heard,” she continues, “that after he finished with Karnon, there wasn’t a spare tooth left of the man.”

Unwelcome memories of that final encounter flit through the back of my mind.

“I was going to try to thank him tonight,” she admits, her features hardening. “I’ve had dreams of gutting that horned bastard.”

“Who’s your friend?” Temper, who’s been hanging on the periphery of our conversation, now inserts herself into it.

“Aetherial, Temperance—Temperance, Aetherial,” I say, making introductions.

Aetherial takes Temper’s hand. “You must be the sorceress everyone’s talking about.” She brushes a kiss to the back of Temper’s hand. “Enchanted.”

Nothing takes the wind out of Temper’s sails quite like a little flattery.

“Who are you?” Temper asks, a touch nicer than she would’ve otherwise been.

“A fellow former captive,” Aetherial says.

Our conversation trails off when the noise in the room dies down. Dozens of fae look to the side of the room. I follow their gazes in time to see Mara, Des, and Janus filing out of the side door they previously entered, Des wearing a dark expression.

I tense when I see the King of Day behind him, my palms beginning to sweat. He might not have abused me, but he delivered me to my abuser. In my mind, there’s hardly a distinction between the two.

“I need to get back to my duties,” Aetherial says, excusing herself. “Temperance, a pleasure to meet you.” She dips her head. “Callie, I hope to see you again soon.” And then she melts back into the crowd, working her way back to the very man who made it possible for her and me to meet.

As soon as Des catches sight of me, he disappears and reappears at my side. His wings flare wide around me, pushing away everyone nearby—including Temper.

“I will go to war with him for this,” he growls. “I swear it to you.”

It takes me a second to catch up with the trajectory of Des’s thoughts. War. Janus. The Kingdom of Day. Revenge for my abduction.

“I won’t stop until I’ve toppled his throne and captured him,” Des continues. “I’ll imprison him in the Catacombs of Memnos, where my monsters will cut out his innards and feed them to hi—”

I press my hand against Des’s mouth.

Holy shit. I mean, ho-lyshit.

“Okay, so that’s super vivid, and I really appreciate where this is all coming from—”

He removes my hand. “Clearly, I’ve been too soft and you’ve been too lenient if you don’t believe—”

Hand back on his mouth. “—but I’d really just like to get through the week without any other incidents,” I finish.

This time when Des pulls my hand away from his lips, he’s gentler, clasping my hand between both of his. “I cannot undo what’s been done, but I want to make things right for you.” His voice drops low. “I don’t want you to ever have to go through that experience again.”

He’s legit going to make me choke up.

“I won’t,” I say, my voice hoarse.

It’s an empty promise. Neither of us managed to stop my abduction from happening once before, so who’s to say we could stop it from happening again? But sometimes you just need to make those stupid empty promises for the benefit of everyone. “I can deal with the Day King for a week.”