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“Eislyn…you had warned me about her. I didn’t listen. She almost…she destroyed everything. If you hadn’t…” He draws in a shuddering breath. “If you hadn’t placed the curse—if you hadn’t given yourlife…” His voice breaks on that word. “I would’ve surely been damned to some awful fate. Instead, you did something miraculous. You bought us another life together.”

I gaze down at him as the shadows around Slain Maiden’s Meadow grow longer and darker.

“I see everything now,” he says. “Iunderstand. I punished the one person who tried to save my wretched life. My best friend and soul mate, the love of my life. I have treated you like an enemy and made you hate me, and I relished it all in the name of vengeance. But this whole time you were my savior.” He turns his face up, his glittering eyes rising to mine. “I’m sorry,est amage. It is not enough, but I am sorry.”

I study him for several moments, and then I do something I didn’t think I was capable of doing, given all that Memnon has so recently done to me: I reach out and wipe away his tears.The action makes him close his eyes tightly, and a few more unbidden tears slip out.

I’ve only seen this man cry a precious few times, and the sight of him broken and vulnerable twists my gut.

Memnon catches one of my hands and cups it between his. “I have committed too many evils against you to repair with a few simple words or actions. They will never be enough to repay the debt I owe you. There is only one thing I can offer you.”

Still kneeling, Memnon unsheathes his gold-hilted dagger from his side. I tense at the sight of it, my palm still stinging from the memory of that blade cutting through my flesh last night when I made my unbreakable oath.

Memnon offers up his own healed palm, and faster than I can follow, he slices it open once more.

“What are you doing?” I ask, alarmed.

His smoky eyes are steady on mine as he says, “With blood I bind, with bone I break. Only in death shall I at last forsake.”

Birds take flight from the trees around us as he finishes, “Your bidding be done, under moon and sun. My will is yours until your heart is won.”

CHAPTER 9

I starein horror at the proffered hand.

He’s giving me far more than a simple apology. This is abondhe’s offering up.

I don’t know much about bonds besides the fact that some are fated and some are chosen, and Memnon and I share the former connection.

But if I heard him correctly, he’s now offering me one that will grant me control over his…free will.

My heart beats fast. I was hoping for his help, but this is so much more than that. If the sorcerer were bound to me, he would very literally have to follow my orders.

Memnon stares at me with those steady, calculating eyes, waiting on me as his blood drips to the grass. I know he knows all this. The powerful, vengeful Memnon, who’s wiped out entire armies with his magic, is handing all that control over to me.

He wants to tie you as close to him as possible.This is just one more way. Even defeat he uses to his advantage. And then there’s the terms of the bond.

My will is yours, until your heart is won.

The bond would break if I ever fell in love with him.

I gaze at his hand a little longer, debating, debating…

It’s a mistake to think Memnon’s a tamable thing, but I’m discovering that I’m not what I appear to be either.

I need help, and I need power. Memnon has both.

Resolve straightens my back. Kneeling in front of him, I take his blade from his other hand. My own magic is already unspooling out of me, the smoky tendrils of it straining for Memnon’s dripping blood.

I take a deep breath, then before I can reconsider my actions, I draw the dagger down my palm, grimacing as I cut my skin for the second time in two days.

I reach for Memnon’s hand, pausing just short of it. My gaze flicks to the sorcerer.

“This doesn’t mean I forgive you,” I warn him.

“I’m repaying a debt. No forgiveness is needed,” he says smoothly.

Scowling, I finally clasp his hand in mine.