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I make a low, aggrieved sound. All I can see of him from this angle is his wavy black hair and his broad back. He lies there, unmoving.

Memnon? Are you all right?

I wait for some sort of response, but the bond between us is idle. I let out another noise, and the guard who kicked me scowls down at me, taking a step in my direction.

“Leave it, Dain,” one of the other guards says, “Sophia is already on her way, and she wants the girl terrified, not beaten.”

Memnon, wake up!I push what magic I can down our bond.

Nothing.

I can still feel the eyes of the guard, Dain, on me. “Sophia wants the girl terrified?”

For the love of your gods,est xsaya, wake up!I command.

On the other side of our connection, I feel his awareness flicker, and his body stirs a little.

“I can give her terrified,” Dain says darkly.

Sybil cowers as he passes her, and I swear I see my friend’s nails elongate before quickly retracting. Dain stops at the edge of the chalk circle encasing my mate. He assesses Memnon curiously before lifting a buffed black shoe as though preparing to kick the back of the sorcerer’s skull.

Memnon!

My power flares out of me and fills the spell circle as Dain’s leg snaps out.

Faster than I can follow, Memnon rolls onto his back and catches Dain’s boot in his hands. With a jerk of his arms, he twists Dain’s leg.

Snap.

Dain screams as bone breaks, and he topples into the circle.

One of the other guards rushes after Dain, who Memnon now has by the head. My mate twists hard to the right?—

Snap.

Sybil screams as the lifeless body of Dain slumps against Memnon, partway in, partway out of the spell circle.

The sorcerer is already angling the body to try to get some part of it to smudge the chalk and break the circle when one of the guards grabs on to Dain’s legs.

In the distance, I hear an elevator ding, followed by the click of heels, but I hardly pay it much attention.

I rise to my feet, placing my palms on the translucent walls of my cage as I watch my mate play tug-of-war with a corpse.

Est amage, are you all right?Memnon asks down our bond. His concern is so at odds with the merciless way he’s handling what’s left of Dain.

Now that you’re awake, yes.

You honor me,Memnon says.

“What the fuck is happening here?” Sophia’s voice echoes from the hallway beyond Memnon. A moment later, she enters the room, two more guards in suits flanking her.

Her eyes fall to Memnon, Dain, and the guard tussling with my mate.

She lifts an arm toward my mate. “Sleep.” The spell hits the sorcerer square in the face, and I cry out as he falls back against the invisible wall of his cage, his eyes closed.

The other guard stumbles back with the lifeless body of Dain.

“You fucking fool,” Sophia spits out at him. “Do you realize this is asorcererwe have trapped? Had I not shown up when I did, you’d be dead and my family’s chance at revenge would’ve been squandered.” Her magic is unspooling out of her with her anger. “Get the hell off the ground, and take the girl”—she gestures to Sybil—“upstairs to the auction room.”