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S hock reverberated through the room.

Marjani slowly shook her head from side to side. She had to stop this. She tugged at her hand but Fane tightened his grip.

“Trust me,” he mouthed.

“Be very certain,” Sindre said. “You’ll have nothing. You might as well be a human. And your name will be known far and wide as an oath breaker.”

Fane swallowed audibly, but when he spoke, his voice was strong. “I’m certain.”

“ No ,” Roald growled. “He takes it back. No grandson of mine breaks his word.” He swung to Fane. “Have you no honor?”

“I can speak for myself,” Fane retorted. “And I will not serve a man who would force my mate into his service. ” He glared at the king. “There is no honor in that.”

“Honor?” His grandfather spat the word out. “Where’s the honor in breaking a vow made to the king himself?”

“Sometimes,” Fane returned, “you have to choose the lesser of two evils. Yes, I’m breaking a geas , and I’m truly sorry if that reflects on you and Arne.

But Marjani doesn’t deserve to be kept here against her will.

Her only crime was to enter the ice fae court without permission.

If the king is merciful, he’ll accept my bargain and let her go. ”

“It’s a tempting offer.” Sindre tilted his pale blond head. “But doesn’t the woman have to agree? According to fada tradition, the female must accept the claim.”

“She will,” Fane said. He raised his voice so it rang out in the huge room. “I, Fane Morningstar, am mate-claiming Marjani Savonett now, before all of you and the God and Goddess.” He glared at the king. “Try and touch a mated fada and she’ll kill herself rather than let you have her.”

Marjani’s mouth fell open. The man was mate-claiming her now ? But he was correct. If they mated, her animal wouldn’t accept anyone’s touch but his.

Mate , the cougar agreed with satisfaction.

“But it’s not up to you, is it?” the king responded. “It’s up to our guest.”

Everyone looked at her. Fane’s grip on her tightened. “Jani?”

Gods, she was tempted. Her whole body yearned toward him. A fada might go centuries without finding her or his mate, and some never did. When you were fortunate enough to find your mate, you accepted it as the gift from the gods it was.

“You bloody fool,” Roald ground out. “You’ll lose everything. Your money. Your honor. Your chance to have children with a pureblood.”

“Not everything.” Fane didn’t take his gaze from her. “I’ll have Marjani.”

“You leave me no choice, then.” Roald crossed his arms over his massive chest. “If you persist in this foolishness, I’ll disown you.”

Arne made a shocked sound. “Father. You don’t mean that.”

“I’ll not claim an oath-breaker as my blood,” the fae warrior returned.

Fane whitened. “That’s your decision, of course.”

Marjani’s lungs squeezed. She couldn’t let Fane give up everything for her. It was bad enough that he’d lose all his money, but she refused to let him throw away his chance to be accepted by not only his grandfather, but the ice fae court.

Make the wrong choice, and you’ll never get home.

What else could it mean but that she must make the sensible choice? Not the one she might want, but the one that was best for them both.

She gently extricated her fingers from his. “You're right,” she told Sindre. “I haven’t accepted his claim.”

“Then accept it.” That was Fane.

“I can’t,” she answered, her gaze on the king.

“Why the fuck not?”

She turned to face him. “I don’t owe you an explanation. This is between me and King Sindre.”

Fane’s head jerked back as if she’d slapped him.

Her throat closed. She swallowed thickly. “I propose a game,” she told the king.

His eyes sharpened. “A game?”

“Yes. A competition.”

The king was bored, a weakness she could use against him. Fane had told her that right at the start. Fane had wrecked her chance to quietly assassinate Sindre, but the tingle in her gut told her this was even better. She just had to tempt the king into making a promise.

Fane grabbed her arm. “Damn it, Jani. Don’t you see this is exactly what he wants?”

“Be silent,” Sindre snarled, “or be gone. The choice is hers.”

Fane jerked her around to face him. “Jani?”

She gulped. Inside, the cat lashed its tail in agitation. She dug her nails into her palms and ruthlessly forced it down.

Fane reached for her through the bond, but she slammed her heart closed to him.

He uses mates against each other.

“You and me?” She shook her head. “It would never work. No, I think I’ll strike my own bargain with the king.”

Fane’s mouth twisted. He looked from her to the king and released her. “I see.”

No, you don’t .

But she didn’t say it. Instead, she raised her chin. “It’s what I want.”

Sindre turned a slow, I've-got-you-now smile on Marjani. The falling snow glittered on his hair and shoulders like magic dust. “A competition, you said?”

“Yes.” And suddenly, she knew exactly what to do, her Gift settling on the perfect strategy. “A test of my skill against yours.”

“Explain.”

“Me against your maze. If I find my way through the maze and escape the castle, I go free—forever. No tricks, no loopholes. And you give me a half-dozen of those diamonds you showed me the other day.” Even six diamonds would go a long way toward getting the clan back on its feet.

“If you escape the castle,” Sindre repeated.

He didn’t think she could do it. It was clear he controlled that odd maze, but what he didn’t know was that she could use her quartz as a GPS. Of course, she’d still have to make it through a portal. She’d just have to hope that her plan to escape as her cat worked.

“Yes,” she said.

“Very well. But I have a condition, too. You will only have until dawn tomorrow.”

Her palms were sweating. When she’d come up with her plan of escape, she hadn’t expected to do it under the king’s very eyes. She rubbed her palms on her skirt and opened her mouth to agree, but Fane interrupted her.

“What if I offer my Gift for her freedom?”

Sindre didn’t even look at him, just flicked his fingers. Fane jerked and grabbed his chest. He doubled over, his breath juddering in and out.

This time, the ice didn’t start at his feet. Sindre had gone straight for his heart.

Arne swung to face Roald. “Stop him, damn it.”

The burly redhead set his jaw. “The boy has chosen his path.”

Arne cursed and turned to Sindre. “My lord, please.”

Fane gave a strangled moan.

Arne continued pleading with Sindre, but she didn’t hear them. Something dark and red filled her head. Fane was dying. She felt the clench in her heart.

Mate.

And just like that, something inside her broke open.

Fane was right, and so was the cougar. It was Marjani who was wrong. She and Fane were mates. They did this together, or they didn’t do it all.

In one smooth movement, she pulled her switchblade from her bra and launched herself at Sindre. Grabbing him by his long blond hair, she jerked back his head and pressed the tip to his carotid.

“Stop it— now . Or you’re dead.”

The king hissed in pain as the iron seared into his flesh.

Inside, the cougar snarled to be let out. Kill. Death. The man had attacked their mate, and it wanted blood.

She pushed the sharp point in a little deeper. “I mean it.”

“Fine.” Sindre flicked his fingers.

Fane’s breath sucked in and she felt his pain lessen. She eased off the pressure of the point against Sindre’s throat.

Roald made a move toward them, and she whipped her head around, teeth bared. “Come any closer and I’ll shove this blade into his fucking brain.”

Gripping her wrist, Sindre forced the switchblade a little away from his throat. At the same time, Fane staggered toward them.

Hell. He was going to just keep coming until he either died or got her away from Sindre. He was that determined to protect her.

She had to do something. Now.

“Change of terms,” she gritted, her voice barely human. “Fane Morningstar goes with me. If we escape, then you free us both.”

“And if you fail?”

“We’ll both stay here and serve you. That is, if Fane agrees.”

“I do,” he managed to gasp out.

Behind her, she heard the hum of powerful magic. She glanced over her shoulder. A light glowed in Roald’s palm as he conjured up a fae ball.

Arne stepped between her and his father. “Let them work this out.”

“Get out of my way,” the warrior ordered, “or I’ll blast you, too.”

“No,” Arne drawled. “I don’t think I will. She won’t hurt the king. If she meant to kill him, he’d already be dead. This is her way of bargaining with him.”

Sindre squeezed her wrist. Her fingers went numb and ice spread from her hand up her arm. Then as quickly as it had started, the ice melted, and she realized it had been a demonstration, a taste of what he could do if he really wanted.

She stared back, unblinking. She was fast, and almost as good with her left hand as her right. Maybe he’d win and maybe he wouldn’t.

“Let me go,” he said, “and we’ll talk.”

She jerked her head in assent and released him, switching her knife to her left hand. Her right hand prickled painfully as the feeling returned to it, but she ignored it, her gaze locked on the king.

“I accept your terms,” he said. “But you both must escape the castle by dawn. If even one of you fails, you’ll accept my geas for a fae year and a day, and Fane will serve out the rest of his term, plus an additional ninety-nine years.”

She and Fane exchanged glances. Then Fane gave a firm nod. “Done.”

“Done,” she echoed.

“But Fane Morningstar still loses everything.” The king turned an icy stare on his envoy. “His wealth—and his Gift.”

“His Gift?”

“He offered, and I accept. It makes the game more interesting.”

Her stomach sank to the soles of those stupid satin heels. “No! That’s not part of the bargain.”

“Then he stays with me.”

Fane’s body went stick straight. “Take it.”

Sindre’s lips pulled back in a smile that made it very clear he wasn’t human. “I already have.”