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“Est xsaya!” The ancient words rip from my throat. “Stop!” I shriek. “For me. For us. Stop before I must use my magic and stop you myself.”

My soul mate falters. Slowly, he rotates to face me.

His eyes are still glowing, and they still appear unseeing.

He studies me for a long moment.

“It didn’t work,” he finally says, taking me in. “Your command didn’t work.”

I halt in my tracks, and the two of us stare at each other across the auction hall. Above us, his magic begins to lower its hostages to the ground.

“Youloveme,” Memnon breathes.

I blink, and another tear rolls down my cheek. His glowing eyes flicker as he watches that tear. His gaze returns to mine, and he begins to stride across the room, his expression growing purposeful. The sorcerer’s magic pushes aside chairs and tables as he goes.

Memnon’s power finally releases the supernaturals, and the indigo magic leaves them to swirl around us like a vortex, hiding me and the sorcerer from the rest of the room.

“You love me,” Memnon repeats, daring me to deny it. His gaze still burns with his power.

Another tear slips out.

“I do.” I give him a shaky smile. “I love you.” I always have. I just managed to bury it for a while. He’s my friend, my monster, my one-time enemy and lover.

There’s no more tightly wielded control. I’m free-falling.

Memnon closes the last of the distance, his eyes dimming to their normal smoky amber, and his hair lowers to the nape ofhis neck. But though his magic has waned, the intensity of his expression has not.

He brushes his knuckles over my cheekbone. “Te amo in aeternum,” he says softly in Latin. His eyes search my face as though trying to commit this moment to memory.

Memnon leans in and kisses me, the stroke of his lips desperate. I reach for him, my hands cupping his face. I feel a tear drip onto my hand, and I realize he’s shaking, his whole body trembling.

“A love like ours defies everything,” he breathes against my lips. “I am yours forever.”

The Politia do eventually come, though by then, the fight itself is long over.

Initially, I expect the supernaturals in the room to point fingers at Memnon, who held them all hostage for a time. Instead, the shifters seem to focus their wrath on the auction guests, and those individuals in evening wear seem to be defensively arguing back. I don’t think any of them recall that they were held captive by a raging sorcerer.

Once it becomes clear the officers want to detain everyone in the room for hours longer, my soul mate alters a few minds so the two of us can slip away and find Sybil.

Memnon and I find her sitting on the sidewalk outside the Equinox Building, near a line of ambulances with flashing lights. Sybil’s nestled between Sawyer’s thighs, an emergency blanket covering her, and her new mate is murmuring something to her and holding her close. It’s startlingly tender.

“Sybil,” I say softly, stepping away from Memnon. I pull the suit jacket he placed on me tighter around myself, trying to keep out the chill of the evening.

My friend glances up, and a small noise escapes her lips when she sees me. Shucking off her blanket, she rises to her feet, and then the two of us are moving toward each other.

We meet somewhere in the middle, and I sweep her into a hug. My best friend immediately begins to bawl in my arms.

“I thought—thought you w-were dead,” she chokes out.

I laugh a little as a few tears trickle out of my own eyes. “You can’t kill me that easily.”

I pull back, brushing her hair away from her face so I can see her better. Her earlier wounds are gone, but there are shadows in her eyes, things that not even magic can heal.

“We survived,” I whisper.

Her face crumples, and she nods, gripping me tighter.

My hands move to her upper arms, and I give them a squeeze. “Thank you,” I say softly, “for trying to protect me for so long. You are the best damn friend there ever was.”