Page 33

Shards, that word—wife… Why did that word hurt so much? Why did it make her stomach turn? She had always known that Skye would eventually take a wife—a proper lady that would make a proper Duchess. That was a certainty. That was his duty.

“It’s thatwifeof his—so possessive.”

Taly hugged her arms around her body, swallowing past the painful lump that had lodged itself in her throat. They had only kissed a handful of times over the course of a single day, and he had thought her human at the time. There could never have been anything between them. Was never going to be anything between them, though she realized now that a part of her had begun to hope. Now that she was fey, like him…

“It’s thatwifeof his—so possessive.”

Apparently not.

Someone began to clap, slow and mocking. “Well, well, well…”

Taly whirled around at the sound of the voice, only to find—Azura. She leaned against the windowsill, smiling and looking entirely too pleased. “This is a nice little hole in the fabric of the cosmos you’ve managed to carve out for yourself.”

“What the hell?” Taly breathed. Her head whipped back-and-forth between the two women.

One unmoving, still repeating that cursed phrase. The other had begun to pace around the room, occasionally stopping to inspect something of interest.

Taly stabbed a finger at what she could only assume was a fake—an echo. “Did you do this?” she said to the woman who had stooped to peerunderneath a table. At what—Taly had no idea. “Is this a trick?”

“No, my dear. This was all you.” Azura moved to inspect her double, picking at the duplicate’s clothing, then her hair. “It seems you created a time loopinsidea pocket universe. And if you consider that you were already inside a time loop inside a pocket universe…” She chuckled and shook her head. “Well, it truly boggles the mind.”

The image of the duplicate Queen stuttered, and for a moment, Taly thought this hellish torture was finally over. Either the spell had exhausted itself or maybe Azura had taken pity on her and intervened.

But then the echo began to flash, and all hope died as its words slowed, the syllables becoming long and drawn out.

“I think,” Azura began, “that you were attempting to cast a snaring spell—to slow time.” She glanced at Taly, who simply nodded in reply. “If that’s the case, then I’m almost impressed by how badly you messed this up. It took me a moment to figure out just where you’d popped off to.”

Another flicker of magic rippled through the air. “It’s thatwifeof his—so possessive.” Faster now, and the woman’s voice was starting to turn shrill. “It’s thatwifeof his—so possessive.” The words repeated before the sentence was through, blurring together into a high-pitched whine.

Taly winced at the sound. “Would you just shut her up already?”

Azura pointed to her second self, and her grin widened. “This really bothers you, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” Taly threw her hands up. “Yes, it does.” It more than bothered her. It made her heart hurt,and her eyes sting with tears. Shards, a few kisses, and apparently, that was enough to turn her into some pathetic, love-sick fool who completely lost her shit over a predetermined inevitability.

“It’s th-that w-w-wife of his—so p-p-possessive,” the duplicate began to stutter.

“This is marvelous!” Azura waved a hand in front of her double’s face. “What else does she do?”

Taly’s fists clenched at her sides. “Please, just help me,” she growled, trying to muster anger because anything would feel better than this empty, hollow feeling that was ripping a hole in her chest. “I don’t know how I did this. I don’t know how to undo it.”

Azura looked up from where she had been picking lint off her double’s coat sleeve. “Oh.Nowyou need my help? Now that you’ve trapped yourself in this lovely little pocket universe?”

“Well, maybe I wouldn’t have messed this up so badly if you hadn’t been distracting me?”

Azura rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, but do you really expect your enemies to give you complete silence while you’re trying to cast a spell? If this is what happens when you’re confronted with a little friendly gossip, I shudder to think of just what you’ll do when you have an army of shades at your door. Create a black hole? Rip open space and time itself and end all life as we know it? Should be interesting, to say the least. If only there was something that could help you improve your concentration and focus. Something like, oh I don’t know…meditation?”

“I said I would meditate!” Taly nearly shouted. “I already agreed to meditate!”

Azura tsked her tongue. “Come now, my dear—do you really think I can’t tell when you’relying? You were never going to meditate. You were going to go digging through libraries and practicing spells. You were going to do everything you thought was more important than the things I told you to do, never considering thatI know you, Talya Caro. I know that you were educated by one of the greatest living shadow mages of his generation, and I know how much you hate being ignored because it reminds you of all the times during your life when you felt mortal and small and utterly invisible. I know that you let your emotions cloud your judgment, and I knowexactlyhow difficult it’s going to be retraining you to think with your head rather than your heart.”

Reaching over, Azura thumped her on the forehead, making Taly jump. “We’re time mages. We’re offensively weaker than every other class of mage, which means we have to fight with our brains. We have to be smart, able to manipulate our battlefield, our enemy, but all you showed me today was how easyyouare to manipulate. A few weeks of isolation, and you lose all control of your temper. One mention of Skye and a woman I could’ve made up, and you would’ve been stuck here without me to come find you.”

The image stuttered again, and Azura glanced over her shoulder. “Now she’s getting on my nerves too.” Holding up a hand, the Queen’s aether flared, plunging the room into blessed silence. Her eyes found Taly’s. “Well, dear? What will it be? Will you do everything that I say—without question? Or should I leave you here to think about it?”

Taly stared at the double that now stood frozen. “Fine,” she sighed, because what else could she do? “I’ll study. I’ll train. I’ll be a model student.But in return, I want your word. No more disappearing for weeks at a time. No more ignoring me. If you’re going to teach me, then teach me. No more games.”

Azura arched a brow. “You’re not really in a position to bargain,” she said, clearly amused.