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“You get to live,” Mab said, interrupting the moment with a chuckle. As if it was ridiculous for me to expect anything more than that—as if my life was the most valuable bargaining piece she had.

But it wasn’t.

“If you want me to play your game, you’re going to have to do better than that,” I said, keeping my words careful. I crossedmy arms over my chest in challenge, watching as her eyes narrowed at my body language.

“What is it you want, Little Mouse? I have given you every luxury—”

I cut her off, braving her outrage as the crowds of Fae watched our interaction from above—their ears perked, as if they could hear every word. “I want to complete my mate bond with Caldris. I want to be given access to the Cove, so that we can finally unite ourselves as one.”

I would deal with the potential consequence of pregnancy once it was done, seeking out the remedies necessary to prevent it. We could not sever her bond over Caldris and challenge her until we completed our bond, and I wasdonewith watching them abuse him—with watching those he despised lay their hands upon him like he was a thing without will.

Mab pursed her lips as she considered my terms. She couldn’t say no, not when I’d laid down the challenge so publicly. To do so would imply she believed I could win this battle, that I would stand a chance of beating the Minotaur.

I would, if I could use my magic. If I could access that part of me that saw the threads of life, severing the Minotaur’s and ending him without ever laying a hand upon him.

I shuddered to think of what it would take to bring that part to the surface, and I would avoid it at all costs. The golden threads connected to Caldris’s magic were still there when I passed by water, and I’d learned to pull from our bond.

But he was weakened by the iron—his magic a dull throb where it normally shone brightly. I had to hope it would be enough for me to use either of those things in the Labyrinth, that the bones of his previous victims might litter the ground to form an army.

“I’ll need more than a victory to agree to those terms. I’ll need my Minotaur’s head laid at my feet,” Mab said.

I swallowed, disappointment flooding through me. Reaching the center first would have meant merely outrunning him. Delaying him long enough to reach it first.

Killing him…

Shit.

“Deal,” I said, pushing aside my fear in favor of the opportunity it presented.

Caldris met my gaze, his eyes wide with fear as he pushed against the blade at his throat. The iron cut into his skin, forcing him to wince back for a moment before he tried to struggle against his iron bonds.

“Estrella,” he whispered, horror coating his voice as the Minotaur stomped his hooves and glared at me.

I nodded silently to my mate, turning my attention away from him to face my opponent.

A moment of understanding flashed between us.

Only one of us would leave the Labyrinth alive.

27

Estrella

I sprinted forward the moment Mab’s guard announced the start, using my smaller size to my advantage as I sprinted through the pathway. The Minotaur knew the way; he knew the paths that would connect us and allow him to reach me sooner.

He knew how to get to the center.

There was nothing within the Labyrinth but the unending maze of hedges. Their leaves and brambles jutted up out of nowhere, forcing me to slow enough to round the sharp corners. I didn’t hesitate in my decisions, keeping left and then right as I allowed some sort of instinct to guide me forward. I couldn’t be sure where it came from or how I knew the way, but a voice whispered in the back of my mind with every turn I took.

If I’d hoped to find the remains of the Minotaur’s victims, I was sorely mistaken. He’d either eaten them—bones and all—or removed the remnants of their bodies from the Labyrinth.

The sound of snapping branches reached me first. My heart pounded in my chest, jumping into my throat as I snapped my head to the side. An axe cut through the hedge to my right, the gleaming silver of the metal shining against all that green.

Time slowed to a crawl as those hedges were cleaved in half. The axe came straight for my face.

My feet stopped. I skidded along the dirt.

Throwing my weight to the ground, the leather of my pants protected me from the thorns and rocks as the axe cut the hedge away. I landedon my knees—bending my back and flattening myself to the ground. The axe swept through the air above me, narrowly cutting through just above my head. The wind from the motion blew across my face.