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KYRIE

“L ook at me, girl,” Sola says.

The tip of the knife at my throat digs into the soft part of my chin, nicking the skin open there and forcing me to do as the goddess says.

“You think to use the very gifts I’ve bestowed upon you to try and fool me?” Her eyes narrow, a cruel slant to her lips.

“I offer myself in exchange for the boy. My blood is more powerful than his.” I shrug a shoulder. “If you don’t want it, that’s your choice as the head of our order.”

I school my expression into careful insouciance.

“She speaks the truth, goddess. I can feel it coming from her.”

Sola’s brow furrows, and the sight turns my stomach. There is something incredibly vile about her beauty, her eyes as dead as a shark I once saw brought to market and sold for meat.

Swearing by Sola’s dead eyes would be a handy curse to add to my collection, and I mentally file it away for later.

“Why?” Sola asks, tilting her head. Platinum blonde hair spills over her shoulders, catching the light just so.

I get the feeling she meant for the light to do just that, and while I’m slightly impressed by her awareness of her best angles, everything about the woman reeks of falsehood.

“Because my life was molded by the order, by your hand. What else do I know?” Truth.

She blinks as the truth shimmers in the air between us, my direct answer to her question linking the two of us.

Her face goes blank again in a heartbeat, those dead fish eyes taking me in.

The hair on the back of my neck raises.

I avert my gaze, knowing anyone else wouldn’t be able to look her in those freaky eyes as long as I have.

That, and every time I look at them, I feel something under my skin trying to get out.

I have a sneaking suspicion I very much don’t want to let that thing out at the moment.

I need her to believe me.

“You have a mate bond with Arek Hrakan.” She spits, a gob of goddess saliva landing next to my foot.

By Sola’s spittle, another good curse to use later.

“Why would you agree to hurt the one you’re fated to?”

I sneer, summoning all the anger I’ve harbored for weeks now. “He stabbed me in the heart to make me his. He stole everything from me, my humanity, my life, my freedom.” I pound a fist against my heart, pushing down any feelings I have for him and focusing on how I felt when he thrust that goddess-damned knife straight into my chest.

“I died thinking he loved me, while he made me bleed out for his own purposes. He manufactured the mate bond. I never asked for this.” It’s a snarl, and Sola blinks at me, ole fish eyes taking me in.

It’s also completely true, and I know, I fucking know, she can taste it the same as I can.

“If I died, I would rid myself of the bond I didn’t ask for,” I continue, choosing my words oh so carefully. “And it would hurt him like he hurt me.”

“It would kill him,” Sola tells me, her eyes glittering at the prospect.

I have her.

Han chuffs in amusement in my mind, and I try not to react in any way that she might pick up on.

It is nice to know my absolutely bloodthirsty dragon friend approves of my harebrained scheme, though.

Hope’s edge is sharper than the blade against my chin.

“You want him dead?” she asks me outright, pale blue eyes flickering across my skin.

Sweat beads on my forehead, my brain flicking through response options.

I need to tell the truth.

“I want him to know how it feels.” The words grate out of my subconscious and I force myself to look her in the eyes.

“Good.” Sola’s eyes flash in approval, and then she snaps her fingers. “It will be done. Release the boy and tie her up.”

Release him? I keep still as my eyes dart around wildly. Release him, into the wilderness?

I swallow hard, trying not to telegraph my dismay.

“ Don’t worry, golden tongue,” Han’s voice rumbles in my mind. “I’ll take care of the child.”

He’s going to shit his pants when he sees you, I tell him.

“ I’ll keep him downwind of me.” Han’s laughter is rough as sandpaper, but my spirits lift nonetheless.

Maybe I will pull this whole fucking thing off.

I have to cling to that.

The alternative is unthinkable.