Page 17 of Claim Me

He’s claimed not to have one, and I haven’t corrected the lie.

But if they learn his identity as an O’Neely, they’ll know immediately that he came from the Outcast Coven, and I highly doubt Kaspian would be pleased with that revelation.

Telling them isn’t an option. As Issy’s warning stated—there are fates worse than death.

“Now on to the sentencing,” Kaspian says, drawing my attention to his handsome features. “The council and I have deliberated endlessly over how to proceed, as there are certain factors we needed to take into consideration.”

Me, I translate.Or I assume I’m one of thoseconsiderations, anyway.

“But we’ve ultimately come to the conclusion that there is no acceptable sentence for Mercenary Klas other than permanent death.”

I blink, the statement seeming to float into the air and fizzle around me.

It’s not a surprise. It’s entirely what I expected.

But now it’s accompanied by my own sentence—one bestowed upon me by the very coven that has ruled my entire existence.

I’ve done everything they’ve ever demanded of me, even at the expense of my own sanity and health.

I survived hell for them.

I helped Klas even when I didn’t want to.

Because they took away my choice. They bound me to him against my will, forcing me to be a good little witch mate and take everything he gave me.

Dying repeatedly.

Only to come back to life each time, thanks to an immortality spell—one Klas cast over me using my own magic.

That was my punishment when I tried to fight him last year. I discovered a foreign piece of magic that helped me focus my mind, to beme, and Klas’s solution was to bury me underground, making me suffocate on dirt over and over again.

I survived all that madness.

And for what?

To be told I have to take my own life and die with the very monster who destroyed my spirit these last few years.

Fuck. That.

There has to be another way. Some avenue I haven’t explored. An escape I haven’t contemplated.

Yet I’ve spent my entire life looking for an exit, only to come up short every time.

Because I can’t leave Issy behind.

“Fallon?” Nox asks, his Scottish accent gently caressing my name. His isn’t very pronounced, but it sometimes comes out when he speaks in lower tones.

“I’m fine,” I tell him as Kaspian informs everyone that the sentence will be carried out in three days.

“It will not be a public execution,” he adds. “The beheading will be private. However, his remains will burn in the central square—the same one he attacked last year.”

The memory of that day threatens my thoughts, my heart icing over at the acts that followed.

That was the first time I fought Klas’s hold over me.

And I lost.Severely.

Nox closes the screen as Kaspian disappears, his piercing blue eyes on me.