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“I didn’t break them,” I said, my lips twitching. “Just altered them to allow me to pass.”

“Devious little thing,” he said, his voice twisting with pain and affection as he looked toward his door. “You won’t be so lucky with the shields she’s put around Tar Mesa. You cannot shadow walk out of the palace, so we’ll have to sneak you out the doors the normal way, then you can go from there.” He left me, going to his wardrobe and rummaging around for a cloak as he eyed my nightgown in distaste. “You could have at least dressed before you came and been better prepared.”

“I’m not running,” I argued, turning to face him as I crossed my arms over my chest.

He froze in his rifling, turning to look at me over his shoulder. His hands still lingered on the clothes where they hung, his blue eyes flashing with rage. “Yes, you are.”

“What would be the point exactly? You’ll remain here, and we will have no chance of freeing you if we are not together. She’ll punish you and send you to drag me back, and then they’ll know that I can shadow walk out of my room whenever I feel like it if I do not wear that collar. We’ll lose our advantage, and forwhat?” I snapped, flinching back when he spun sosuddenly, he revealed the predator waiting withinhim. I wondered if he had that monster, that creature he saw when he looked inward, or if it was merely the way I imagined my power. My own fear of it that created that imagery.

Just as I saw the window from my childhood bedroom at the center of our bond, shutting us off from one another or letting our feelings flow freely to one another.

“The point,” he said, his mouth twisting into a snarl, “is that you would be free, and she wouldn’t be able to harm you. If you can walk through Mab’s shields, then you can shield yourself against our bond. I’ll never be able to find you.”

“It is offensive that you think I would just walk away from here and leave you to suffer. Is that what you think of me?” I asked, scoffing as my own anger rose.

“You tried to kill me in my sleep,” he said shortly, the words drifting into a chuckle at the end.

“So dramatic,” I purred, smiling as my gaze slid down his body. He raised a brow at me, as if to remind me that was exactly what happened. “I didn’t do it.” I rolled my eyes to the side, pursing my lips as I fought my own rising laughter at the incredulous look on his face.

“You didn’t do it,” he said, his nostrils flaring as his chest shook with silent laughter.

“How could I kill you when you whispered such pretty words to me?” I asked, my words far lighter than I felt inside.

Even with the laughter shaking his chest, that sadness lurked in his eyes as he watched me, stepping toward me. He stopped just in front of me but made no move to touch me as he blew out a breath.

“I want more for you. I have lived for centuries, andthisis all I’ve known. These walls and the cage wrapped around my heart have overshadowed my entire existence.Before you were born, I used to go to the hilltop and stare up at the stars,” he said, raising a hand to capture my chin between two fingers.

I smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t mean I needed more declarations of love,” I said in an attempt to lessen his intensity.

“Quiet,min asteren,” he said, the command soft but not lacking in authority.

I clamped my mouth shut, blinking up at him as he captured his bottom lip between his teeth.

“I wondered why I existed, if this is all there was for me. There had to be a reason my parents came together against the odds. There needed to be a reason I was a God when it went against the natural order of things. What good did that power do me when I was taken before I could speak?”

“Caldris,” I protested, trying to turn my gaze away from him.

He held me still, pinning me with that icy intensity as cold crept up my spine. The room filled with the vestiges of his power. From the corner of my eye, I caught frost sliding along the walls.

“You are my reason, Estrella,” he said.

I pinched my eyes closed to fight the torrent of emotions surging down the bond. The love that struck me in the chest, that poured off him in the silence where he stared down at me, waiting for me to open my eyes, was unfathomable.

“You are my reason for every breath. The reason every day I have spent as a prisoner has been worth it. Because it brought me to you.” He leaned forward, touching his forehead to mine as his head shifted to the side. Pain twisted his face, his thumb stroking over my jaw as he willed me to see. His voice broke as he murmured the next words, the sacrifice he would make for me.“That is why you have to go. I cannot let this be for nothing.”

“I’m not going to leave you,” I said softly, tailoring my voice to the difficulty he’d had in making the concession. In choosing to set me free while he lived a life of captivity, knowing full well he may never see me again.

He dropped his hand, stepping away as his body tensed. I turned from him, striding back toward his bed. This hadn’t been what I’d wanted when I came to him tonight.

“They thought it was me who could rise up to fight Mab, but it isn’t. If it hasn’t happened for centuries, it isn’t going to now. You are Alfheimr’s only hope for salvation—”

“Then let it burn!” I snapped, whirling around to glare at him.

My chest heaved with my heavy breaths as his shocked stare met mine. Never before had I spoken the traitorous thoughts in my head; had I told him just how much I was willing to ruin my soul for him.

“What good is it if it doesn’t have you?”

He blinked at me rapidly, as if he couldn’t quite believe the words I’d spoken. I’d always wanted to save every life. To protect the weak from those who sought to break them.