Page 44

Aurora sniffed and rose from the floor where she’d been crying. She flew at the doors, pounding and tearing at the handle. They remained unmoved.

Frantically, she scanned the space for another exit.

“Don’t bother,” Diana drawled. “We’ve already looked everywhere.”

“Shut up,” Maggie snapped. “ I looked everywhere. You sat in there with her like a turd on a log.”

“ Bump on a log.”

“What ever .”

Aurora blinked between the bickering women. “Her?”

“Some woman the king has also decided to fuck with. She crawled in there,” Maggie pointed to a curtained alcove in the back corner of the room.

Aurora stepped toward it, but Maggie grabbed her arm. “Wait.” She glanced at the alcove, then silently eyed Aurora while twirling her finger in a circle near her temple and mouthing an exaggerated, She’s crazy.

She shrugged her off and peered into the dark small space, finding a couch with someone curled atop it. Heart beating in her throat, she breathed, “Ishara?”

The woman stirred. She lifted her head, and in the darkness the veins of her eyes glowed red. “You,” she whispered.

A shriek was the only warning Aurora had before Ishara was on top of her, lifting a deadly clawed hand ready to slice through her skin. Screaming, Aurora tried to buck the woman off but only managed to throw her slightly off balance.

It was enough to give Maggie and Diana time to tackle her around the shoulders and pull the hissing spitting woman away. “What the hell?” Aurora cried.

“Where is he?” Ishara shrieked, making both Diana and Maggie slide forward a step as they tried to hold her back.

“I told you,” Maggie snapped. “Crazy.”

“Who? Rhaego?” Aurora asked Ishara. “Why do you care? You’re the reason he’s here.”

Ishara’s thrashing stopped. Her glower was enough to make Aurora shiver. “ You made him leave me behind. I waited and waited, and he never came.”

Aurora stilled, rattled to her core. “We never came because you got someone to destroy our carriage.”

It was Ishara’s turn to look confused. She blinked at Aurora like her translator had stopped working.

“Let her go.” Aurora waved her hand at Maggie and Diana, who appeared doubtful but slowly released the woman.

“Ishara,” she began, taking a step toward her. “You didn’t want Rhaego to leave, so you found someone to wreck our carriage…didn’t you?”

“No,” she chuffed. “I waited. All night.”

“You didn’t tell the king he was planning on escaping?” Aurora’s mind raced.

Ishara paled, and she rushed Aurora again, this time slapping a hand over her mouth. “Shut up, you stupid, stupid human.” It was as though she’d just realized they were talking about secrets out loud. Was she flaring worse than normal? Ishara drew close, nearly pressing her lips against the hand covering Aurora’s mouth. “Don’t say such things here. He might hear you.”

Tears rose to Aurora’s eyes. The woman was confused. She gently pried her hand off her mouth and whispered, “The king knows. Someone told him. He took Rhaego away and brought us here.”

Ishara blinked again. Her brows knit and she shook her head, eyes bouncing around the room like the understanding of where she was was hitting her for the first time. A wail tore from her throat. “Who? Who told Yaskan?”

“Didn’t…didn’t you?” Had the poor woman done it accidentally? Did she even know?

With an imperious lift of her chin that made her tears stream down her face, Ishara looked down her nose at Aurora. “I would never betray my buckling. Never. I can keep secrets.”

“But you were the only one who knew and…” Aurora’s gaze drifted to Maggie’s bewildered expression and then to Diana.

Eyes resolute and mouth firmed, Diana stared back.

The air in the room cooled. Ice traveled a path down her throat, crystallizing all the way into her belly. Diana looked away.

“You?” Aurora breathed.

Maggie glanced between the two. “What’s happening?”

Diana crossed her arms over her chest, chewing on her lip. She shrugged. But the movement was too jerky, it undercut the nonchalance of the gesture.

Pain built in Aurora’s heart. “Why?” she croaked, voice breaking.

“I just did what you told me,” Diana whispered, defiant gaze drifting back to meet hers.

Aurora stared, waiting for whatever bullshit she was about to spew.

“I found a way to help myself and those I care about.” Her throat bobbed with a swallow. “Including you.”

“Our carriage? That was you?” Aurora’s skin crawled at hearing the sentiment she’d offered to comfort Diana twisted and thrown back at her. Her mind raced. “How? How could you have gotten to our carriage in the first place?” Her words tumbled out all on one infuriated exhale.

“It wasn’t hard.” She lifted a brow. “I just told one of the guards at the luncheon I’d marry him next if he trashed your boat.”

The guard who’d watched her, Aurora realized. When had she done this? She thought back to the luncheons and tried to recall a time when Diana had gone off on her own. To her disgust, she remembered that Diana had always lagged behind when it had been time to leave.

“You sat there, listening to all our plans…you helped make them!” Aurora scoffed. “And all the while you were thinking about how to sabotage us? Why? Why would you do this?”

Maggie finally caught up with the situation and breathed out a quiet curse. “Diana. No.”

Her eyes flicked to Maggie faster than lightning. “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt or caught. I just wanted to stop you. I knew no one would suspect you of destroying your own carriage. It seemed like a safe plan, and that guard was happy to do it.” She bit her lip again, fingers gripping her elbows so tight her knuckles turned white.

“Oh.” Maggie lifted her arms wide and spun in place, showcasing the room. “Your plan worked out perfectly, then!”

“It would have if you weren’t so set on trying again,” she argued, taking a twitchy step back. “But you didn’t, so I had to do what I had to do. I made a deal,” she admitted with a swallow. “For us. No forced marriages. We’re free.”

“We would have already been free,” Aurora screamed, incensed.

“ You would have been free,” Diana screeched back. The tendons in her neck jumped. “ I would have been delivered to some stranger who didn’t just think he owned me for a few weeks. Forever . Don’t you get that?”

“That’s not how it works. I told you…” Aurora extended her hands and curled her fingers, looking for a neck to wring.

“Proximity. Okay. Right. Sure,” Diana said in a sarcastic laugh. “And I’m just supposed to take your alien’s word for it, am I? Why would I trust anything he says?”

“I know you don’t know him, but you know me . Why didn’t you trust me ? Marsol will die. That didn’t affect your decision?” Aurora said, unbelieving that she even had to remind her.

“I’m supposed to submit myself for a life sentence because your husband told you it’ll be all good? I don’t know Rhaego,” she argued, nose wrinkling “And no offense, but I don’t trust that your bright and shiny self is a good judge of character.”

Diana waved her hands in front of her. “Look, I feel for the guy—really, I do—but it’s not my problem. I don’t owe him anything. I especially don’t owe him my nearness for life, assuming that’s all he wants, which I highly doubt.” She let out a hysterical laugh. “They talk about matehood like it’s inevitable. Inescapable. Do you really think he’d be cool with a roommate? No. He’d push and push. Or people like you who believe in mystical bullshit would push and push and make me feel guilty for not giving him a chance .” She said the last bit in a mocking whine. “I’m not doing that. I didn’t choose to be here, and I found myself an out. I found us all an out.” She took a step closer, brows lifting like she was urging Aurora to see the upside.

“Wait,” Maggie breathed. “You said you made a deal. With who? How?”

Diana chewed on the inside of her cheek again, and dread slithered down Aurora’s spine. “Answer,” she demanded.

“I made my husband bring me to the king after you came back raring to try to escape again. He didn’t want to, but…” She shrugged again. “He did. I’d decided staying in Tuva was the better of two evils, and I knew I couldn’t tell you . Your husband’s brainwashed you into believing he’s a saint. So I told the king. I didn’t say who was gonna try to escape,” she said, as though that made it better. “I just told him that he needed to put out a proclamation or put more security on the carriages or something . Next day, he calls me back to the palace and she’s here.” Diana’s eyes flashed to Aurora, then the floor, guilt screaming across her face.

“Can’t swallow. Gotta spit it out, you two-faced sack of—”

“The Queen,” Diana cut Maggie off, resigned.

Aurora’s knees threatened to buckle. “You made a deal…with her ? The Queen?” She gasped. “The same Queen who sent us all here in the first place? The Queen who doesn’t care if we live or die except for what it would do to her voter support? That one?”

“I made a deal for all of us,” Diana pressed, eyes growing glassy. “That’s why we’re all here right now. She said if I told her who the traitor was, she would let us all go back to Tremanta and live how we want. No marriages. No mates. She promised she’d never force us into anything like that again.”

Laughter burst out of Aurora. “ She promised . Just like you promised that guard you’d marry him, right? Wow. What a deal. Did you have to haggle? Did you throw anyone else under the bus to get us good parking spots at her castle?”

Tears spilled down Diana’s cheeks, but Aurora kept pushing. “You did, you know. You threw three new women under the bus. What do you think will happen if we go back to Tremanta? Three new terrified humans will be sent here. So what have you really done? Who have you really helped? Don’t act like you were trying to do something benevolent. You made this deal for you because you’re selfish, and you threw us into it to so you could tell yourself you did it for us. Well, guess what? You’ve ruined my life,” Aurora choked, tears streaming. She pointed to Ishara, who’d curled into the throne, expression vacant. “You’ve ruined her life.” Her voice broke as she spoke. “And if the Queen takes Rhaego away, you’ve likely ruined the lives of every dissident trying to help us. You think she won’t try to torture their whereabouts out of him? You selfish, opportunistic, waste of friendship.”

“He’ll be okay.” Diana chewed roughly on her lip, drawing blood. “The Queen said—”

“He’s my mate!” Aurora’s voice lifted to a near bellow at the end. “She’ll use me to get him to do what she wants. You’re delusional if you think otherwise. And—” Her voice shook, and she took another breath before speaking. “I love him,” she breathed, chin wobbling. “And now I may never see him again.”

Diana’s lips parted. She stepped back, glancing between Aurora, Maggie, who glared with watery eyes, and Ishara, who gazed blankly at the floor.

“I didn’t know,” she snapped. She pointed an accusatory finger at Aurora. “I was trying to help.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself.” Aurora laughed derisively.

The heavy doors to the room swung open, and all heads turned. King Yaskan swanned in, expression grim. His eyes landed on Ishara in an instant, and he rushed to her side, whispering words of comfort Aurora couldn’t make out. Oddly, she let him help her up, gripping his hand.

“Where’s Rhaego?” Ishara implored. The king ran his fingers over her hair but said nothing.

“Where is he? Is he still here? Did the Queen take him? Stop her, please.” Aurora rushed toward the king but stopped at his warning growl.

“It’s out of my hands,” he grated. “Rhaego will be fine,” he whispered to Ishara, ushering her to the small alcove in the back of the room. She pulled away, clearly not wanting to go any farther.

“That’s a lie,” Aurora shouted, rushing toward Ishara. She didn’t want to hurt the woman anymore, but she needed to know what this man had done to her son. “The Queen will want to get information out of him. How do you think she’ll do that? By asking nicely?”

Ishara let out a sob, and the flare pulsed in her eyes.

The king stomped over to Aurora, grabbing her by the shoulder and wrenching her away from Ishara with a low growl. He eyed her wearily. “It’s my duty to keep our city in line.” His brows drew together, a look of regret flashing across his face. “I did what I had to.” Three guards entered the room and waited, drawing the king’s attention. “The Queen has a cruiser ready for you three. Your bags are aboard. Follow them.”

Both Aurora and Maggie took a step back. Diana, on the other hand, strode toward the men without a second thought. Running away.

“Hey, Diana,” Maggie called.

She turned with raised brows, sniffing as a guard held one of the doors open for her.

Maggie’s face fell. “Get fucked.”

Diana scowled and slipped wordlessly through the door.

“I hope you fall vag-first onto a telephone pole, you slimy, sneaky, selfish twat,” Maggie yelled through cupped hands. But Aurora’s focus was fixed on the two remaining guards who’d begun slowly moving toward them.

“Maggie,” she snapped, nodding toward the men to draw her attention. “Wait. Just wait.” She lifted her hands to the guards, and thankfully they paused. She turned to the king. “Tell me where he is. He’s my mate,” Aurora begged. “Did he tell you?”

Yaskan froze midway through urging Ishara to walk. He took in Aurora’s tear-streaked expression, then his eyes narrowed. “I saw no marks.”

He thought she was lying. “They haven’t come yet, but,” she panted, “but his eyes changed.”

His heavy brows drew together as he retracted and brandished his claws. After a long moment of silence, he shook his head. “He’s being prepared for transport. There’s nothing I can do. You have a better chance of seeing him again if you go with the Queen.”

“But you can stop it. We’re in your city, aren’t we? You’re the king. I—”

“Is it true?” Ishara called, shrugging out of Yaskan’s hold and crossing to her. She gripped Aurora’s arm hard enough to leave a bruise. “Is it? He’s recognized you?”

“Yes.” Aurora smiled, eyes watering. “His eyes changed.”

Relief seemed to sweep through Ishara, though Aurora couldn’t understand it. She grinned, eyes beaming with rippling red light. “Then don’t worry,” she whispered. “He’ll come for you. He’s a good buck. He’s strong. Just hold on.”

Despair tore at Aurora’s heart. Ishara didn’t understand. She opened her mouth to explain, then stopped.

Wait. Rhaego was a good buck—man. The best man she’d ever met. He was determined, powerful, trustworthy. His devotion was preternatural. And though he hadn’t told her he loved her, she knew in her heart that he did. They were destined to be together.

She sniffed back a tear, meeting Ishara’s happy gaze. She was right. Hope warmed Aurora’s chest. Rhaego would come. Tears burned in her eyes. He’d try. But what if he couldn’t make it before mate deprivation killed him?

The king’s eyes flicked between her and Ishara, and his jaw stiffened. He waved the guards forward. Her muscles tensed to jump away, but if Rhaego was really being taken to Tremanta, then that’s where she needed to be too. As close to him as possible. She tried to say as much to Maggie, but something in her throat stopped her, made her wait.

And then a bellow boomed from somewhere in the distance and was quickly cut off.

Everyone in the room fell silent and stared at the door. Another scream and loud crash made Aurora flinch. She pulled Maggie close with a hand on her elbow and grinned.

“He’s a good buck,” Ishara repeated in a murmur behind her. Aurora flashed her a wide smile.

They listened as the sound of pounding footsteps and shouted orders from the guards manning the doors outside got louder and louder. Yaskan glanced to her, eyes wide.

“I told you,” she sneered. “He’s my mate.”

The soldiers in the room hauled long weapons off their backs, and Aurora’s insides vibrated with anger. They were the same ones they’d used to shoot him in front of their den. “Not again,” she promised in a whisper through bared teeth.

“Hubby needs some backup?” Maggie eyed her, then squatted at her right, balling her fists as if ready to box the enormous Tuvastan men. “Thoughts on a plan?”

She dug in her pockets and covertly handed the broken horn to Maggie. Aurora reached back in, fingers closing around the item she was really looking for. She dragged it quickly behind her back. “Only one that’ll stall and give ’em hell,” she said quietly. “You?”

“Stalling’s good enough for me.”

“Barricade the door,” Yaskan called, shoving Ishara behind him and extracting his own blade from a hidden pocket. The soldiers leapt to a long handle and began dragging a heavy bolt into place.

“Let’s go,” Aurora whispered to Maggie.

The king’s eyes caught on them as they crept toward the two soldiers’ backs. “Secure the humans!”

The guards whirled on them, leaving the bolt fastened only halfway. But that was fine. Better, even. She wanted them facing her.

“This’ll only work once,” Aurora warned as they stomped forward. Blood roared in her ears, her hands shaking. She fiddled with the object behind her back, scrambling to work the cap free. “Turn away and close your eyes.”

The guards stepped close and stretched their claws toward them.

“Aye, aye, captain.” Maggie ducked without argument, and Aurora held her breath, closed her eyes, and hurled the contents of the jar of black glothem powder at the two men’s heads.

They dropped, yowling as the powder hit their eyes. They scratched at their burning faces, and Aurora saw an opportunity. She grabbed Maggie’s arm and sprinted toward the door. “We need to remove—”

Yaskan’s roar rattled into her back as they ran. Before they could drag the bolt back even an inch, he grabbed handfuls of their dresses and hurled them toward the opposite wall.

They flew, weightless, then landed hard, the wind knocking out of both of them.

“Well, it was a good try.” Maggie hacked into the ground as she got to her hands and knees.

“Stupid impulsive little rodents, the lot of you,” the king bellowed in incredulity. Fever raged in his eyes.

The sounds of battle boomed now, bellows and cracks and clanging metal reverberating across the walls. The soldiers inside were writhing on the ground, clutching their throats. Just get through that door , Rhaego, she begged on hands and knees, fingers curling against the stone.

A roar echoed into the room, shaking the floor and vibrating into her bones. She smiled. That’s my demon.

In a flash, Yaskan leapt at her and dragged her against his chest, pressing his blade to her neck. She chuckled in his firm hold, eyes riveted to the door. “That’s just gonna make him mad,” she said in a singsong voice.

The cacophony of noise outside died as someone crunched—presumably against a wall—and slid to the ground. She could feel the thundering of everyone’s heartbeat in the room as though it were her own.

Something heavy hit the doors with the force of a battering ram. Clouds of dust she hadn’t known existed on the pristine woodwork puffed into the air.

Yaskan’s grip tightened.

The doors shuddered again with a second hit, a boom ringing through the space. The bolt, half dragged into place, cracked.

Aurora closed her eyes, turning her face away just as the doors flew off their hinges, their splintered remains crashing to the ground.

Standing in a cloud of dust was Rhaego, livid, clothes ripped and covered in splattered blood, though she didn’t know whose. His crimson, glowing eyes swam in pools of black and were already trained directly on her as though he’d known exactly where she’d be standing.

“Hi, baby,” she called with a grin.

Rhaego’s gaze lifted to Yaskan. “Let her go, and I’ll kill you quick.”

He chuffed behind her, but the sound rang with nervous energy. “You think more soldiers aren’t on the way? You can only take on so many.”

From the hallway beyond, another soldier stepped into view. Panic made her shrieked warning come out as a choked cry. But the man didn’t attack, and Rhaego merely glanced back at him. Wait—was that…?

The soldier’s fevered gaze landed on the king, and he pushed horns, or rather…pushed horn . Singular. “Perhaps that would be true if I hadn’t knocked out the communication circuits in this section of the palace,” the soldier said with a scowl.

It was Khurrik. The male who’d nearly caught her during the chase. The one whose horn was currently gripped in Maggie’s shaking palm. Affection for this guy welled inside her. He’d helped her mate.

Rhaego tipped his head toward the man like he was saying Get a load of this guy . “No comms.” He grinned. “I can take my time killing you if I want to.”

“Tuva is full of traitors, it seems,” the king growled.

Rhaego dragged a tongue over his fangs, head dipping until his eyes were obscured in shadow, but Khurrik stepped forward. “You see his hands, sire. He told you of the Queen’s actions, yet you kept him chained, and now hold a blade to his mate’s throat? If there is a traitor or a blight in this room, it is you.” He punctuated his words by shooting the blubbering, glothem-covered soldiers behind them with a dart each. They slumped, immobile.

“Yaskan,” a voice drifted from behind the throne. Ishara straightened to her full height. “Let her go.”

The king stared, but his fist tensed around the hilt of his knife.

“He won’t kill you,” she urged.

“Don’t make promises for me, Mother,” Rhaego growled, swollen muscles flexing. “I won’t keep them.”

Ishara stepped forward until she stood between the men. She lifted her chin, and her imposing gaze bore into the king. “Let her go. Now.”

Aurora saw a vision of the woman Ishara had once been. A powerful, devoted Tuvastan, who—like her son—was willing to stand up for what she believed. Even the king wavered under her stare.

At length, Yaskan did as she asked. Aurora jumped away and heard Rhaego roar as he charged.

One look at Ishara’s tortured expression was enough to make Aurora yell, “Rhaego, stop,” though she didn’t know why.

Rhaego halted, chest heaving. He snarled in frustration, hair wild and flowing around his horns.

Ishara stepped in front of her son, laying one hand on his chest.

“You can’t kill him, my little buck. He’s your father.”