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I slumped forward, gasping for breath as the pain ended. How long had I been screaming? Every inch of my body felt like it was frostbitten. My thoughts were scattered, darkness swimming in and out over my vision. Shouting surrounded me, but I didn’t have the strength to lift my head. The chains that held me to the chair were the only thing that kept me from dropping all the way to the floor.

“I will kill you for this!” Luken’s voice.

Luken was here.

Weakly, I lifted my head. Where was he? The pain had been so all-consuming I’d forgotten he was there. My blurred vision focused on the shape I knew was him. He was… fighting? A body hit the floor. Another man was shouting, too. I struggled to understand what he was saying.

“Don’t you idiots know how to bind magic?” Draven’s voice.

A flash of light blinded me. White spots drove away the darkness. I pulled myself up more, blinking rapidly. This time, when the spots cleared, my vision was clear. Luken was being driven back to the floor, several elf mercenaries pinning him in place. Draven stood over him, speaking spells and weaving magic around him. Bodies were strewn over the floor. I tried to count them, but there were too many pieces.

“You know what you have to do to stop this,” Draven snarled, stepping on Luken’s chest. “If you want the pain to stop, give up your throne. That’s all you need to do. Is your pride really worth it?”

Luken snarled up at him, trussed up tightly with the magic. “I won’t forgive you for this, Draven. I’ve tried. I wanted to give you a chance. No more. I am going to kill you.”

“I have the gods on my side. How do you think you can defeat me?” Draven asked. I expected mocking, but he sounded angry and frustrated. “I thought that even if you won’t do it for her sake, you wouldn’t want to hold the pain. You, who have never lived through hardship!”

I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breath. This was only a respite from the torture. It wasn’t what I expected. Rather than branding irons and car batteries, Draven had been using magic. There was nothing I could do to protect myself from it. I’d tried not to scream. I really had. I didn’t want Luken to know how much it hurt.

It was useless. I couldn’t control my body when Draven was using his magic on me, and I screamed. I wasn’t even sure that I had kept the bond closed. It was as though he froze every nerve ending in my body, then lit them on fire one by one.

“Are we ready to start again?” Draven’s voice was cold as his footsteps approached me.

I whimpered, shying back as best I could. My mind whirled, but what could I promise him to make him stop? He wanted everything Luken had and I was just a tool to get it. Everything I could offer him was something he already believed he’d get eventually.

Draven brushed his fingers on my arm, and pain exploded through me.

“Stop!” Luken howled. “Stop!”

Draven withdrew and turned. He breathed heavily, excited.

Luken had been brought back to his knees. Now he slumped, his massive shoulders sagging. “I’ll give you my throne. Just let Elara, Thessa, and Darcie go.”

Let us go? My heart hammered. All three of us?

Draven growled softly. “That’s not the deal I offered. Give me your throne, and I will stop the pain. I’m not giving them up when I can take the crown. Oh, it might be a bloody civil war if you don’t abdicate, but I can still have it!”

“You can have more than the throne, then,” Luken answered. His voice was low and pained. “I’ll take on oaths. I will swear to serve you. I’ll be your slave, bound my magic to serve you. You can have forever to torment me. Just let them go.”

“No,” I whimpered. “Luken, don’t!”

Draven whirled on me with a snarl. He lifted his hand, but when I flinched back from him, he froze. He stared at me with wild eyes. Was he considering the offer? Or was he thinking that if Thessa and Darcie went free, I wouldn’t be ‘purified’ for him? I understood now why the gods had demanded his celibacy. It was to control him. He’d spent centuries like this, and now they dangled the possibility for his loneliness to be ended.

I didn’t feel sorry for him. Not when I knew he didn’t care about me. I was just a body to him. But I understood what the gods did, and the full extent of their manipulations made me sick.

“Let them go, brother,” Luken whispered. “They’re innocent lives. There’s no reason to treat them this way. I’m the one who hurt you. I’m the one who deserves punishment. Strip away my magic, humiliate me, do whatever you like. But please, please don’t hurt them for my crimes.”

He loved me. Even more than I realized. He was begging, giving up his pride. He was willing to sacrifice everything for me. Not just his crown, but his dignity, his freedom.

Draven answered angrily. When he lifted his hand this time, he let it swing forward, punching Luken hard in the mouth. The gathered crowd laughed and mocked as Draven beat on Luken. A cry tore from my lips, but Draven ignored me.

“Stop it! Stop, please,” I begged. “If you hurt him, I’ll hate you forever.”

Draven drove his fist into Luken’s stomach and whirled on me. “You beg for him?”

“I will burn for him,” I answered, snarling.

“Elara—” Luken started, but Draven punched him again.

We were going to die. Draven wasn’t going to stop until he got what he wanted, and he wasn’t going to release me. Not when I’d been promised as his property. Luken wasn’t leaving this hall alive and I would not face what Draven had planned for me. My heart ached for Darcie and Thessa. I could only pray that they would die quickly.

I couldn’t let Luken die without knowing the truth. I wrenched open the bond, letting the last traces of my self-preservation fall aside. Luken gasped as I let my feelings flood between us. I let him feel everything, every thought, every emotion. His head lifted and wonder crossed his face as he stared at me.

I love you .

Our eyes met. Oh, I wished I had let him in well before this. My flood of emotions was met with his own. I felt everything, the obsession he’d had with me since we first met, how it melted to something softer, more protective, the more he got to know me. How the need to protect me had grown while he struggled with the fear that he’d ruined my life completely. The determination he’d had to save Darcie even before I ran away from the palace.

Tears welled in my eyes. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I’d been just a little less stubborn. Even if he’d told me all of this before, I wouldn’t have believed him.

Forgive me, I begged through the bond. Please forgive me.

A tear rolled down his cheek, dripping onto his chest. His shirt was torn, and it splattered on his skin just as my tears dropped. Our tears touched our tattoos at the same moment. Draven was shouting again, but his voice seemed to be coming from a million miles away as heat flared through me. It felt like the sun coming out after a winter of snow. Warmth radiated through me, chasing away the lingering pain from Draven’s torture.

Magic swept through me. I knew what it was instantly, knew how to use it. Luken and I gasped as one. The magic reverberated between us, reaching a crescendo like the climax of a song. I reached out with this magic, sliding it through the air as easily as if I was reaching with my hands, and brushed aside the bonds around Luken. He leaped to his feet and hurled one of the elves into Draven, then relieved the second of his sword and ran him through.

The chains snapped away from me, and I sprang through the air at the nearest enemy. It was a vampire, and they dodged to catch me, but I flicked a hand out. Magic flashed, blasting the vampire’s head clean off. They burst into flames, and the hall erupted into chaos. I snatched up a sword and moved methodically, three hundred and fifty years of experience supplementing my assassin’s training. Though we were on opposite sides of the room, Luken and I moved in tandem, quickly cutting down the bastards that had been mocking us moments ago.

They weren’t laughing anymore.

Draven was the last one alive. He shot a blast of magic toward Luken, but Luken turned the spell around. It wrapped around Draven’s legs and arms, driving him to his knees. He howled as he fought. I walked to Luken’s side, both of us covered in blood. Draven’s eyes bulged, his fangs long as he struggled against the magic holding him.

“No! I was chosen! You can’t defy the gods!” he screamed, spit flying from his mouth.

Luken’s hand trembled on his sword. Through the bond, I felt all the guilt he felt. I sensed memories of a small boy following around his older brother, desperate for a scrap of affection. I sensed the resentment and anger that was not Draven’s fault, but that he was forced to bear.

I reached through the bond. I’ll do it. You don’t have to.

Yes, I do.

Draven screamed curses at him as Luken strode forward. He lifted the sword and brought it down. Silence fell as Draven’s headless body slumped to the floor.