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D aisy’s breath hissed through her teeth, and her head whipped back and forth, as if attempting to knock those appalling words away.

He knew you were his mate. He would do whatever it took to bind you to him. Forever .

And it was… true. It was true, just like the rest of it was true, too. Yes , Filak had suffered for his father, and for his kin, and for the actions of the horrible humans who had attacked and harmed them. He’d still tried to do the honourable thing, to help his people, to support them, to find them a new home, to grant them that light in the darkness.

And, gods curse him, Filak had also trapped Daisy in that cave, on purpose. He’d been fully prepared to do whatever it took. To lie to her, to draw on her, to make all those false promises about the morning…

He was still dangerous. Deadly . A devil.

And this, surely, was where Daisy should leap up, and run. This was where she should finally forget Filak , forget this whole mess, and stop being so damned stupid. This is ridiculous and immature behaviour, appallingly unscientific, foolish, dangerous…

But somehow, Daisy couldn’t seem to stop staring at Filak . Seeing Filak . And then… frowning at Filak , while her hand gripped at his harsh pale face, and the anger and disbelief choked in her throat.

“ Nei , Filak ,” she snapped at him, as she gave his face a sharp little shake. “ If you want to prove something to your people, and freely gain yourself a mate, you cannot go around trapping women in caves, and lying to them! Making false promises about the sól ! And morgun !”

Filak blinked at her, his face reddening beneath her hand’s grip, and gods bless Julian , curse Julian , he was quietly translating what Daisy had said. While Filak’s nostrils flared, and his lip curled, his face slightly twitching beneath her touch.

“ Tetta var ekki falskt lofore !” he snapped back toward her. “ ég vere ae hafa sól til ae sjá steininn !”

Daisy blinked, and then shot a searching look toward Julian , who was looking distinctly pained. “ Filak says this was not a false promise,” he told her. “ And he must have the sun, in order to see the stone. The stone-seeing is always strongest for him during the daylight, even if he is deep underground.”

Really? Daisy blinked again, but then frowned back at Filak , and huffed an exasperated groan. “ Well , you still trapped me in there!” she shot back. “ And you pretended to be all concerned and solicitous, when in truth you were just trying to trick me, and own me!”

Filak’s low growl rose as Julian translated, and then he again shook his head, and spoke more rapid Aelakesh . “ It was not a trick,” Julian’s voice translated. “ And Filak was concerned. He could not bear for you to be harmed, and he wished to gain your trust. He wished to be a good mate to you.”

“He is not my mate!” Daisy countered. “ Nei , Filak !”

But Filak didn’t wait for Julian’s translation this time, and his growl rumbled between them, his teeth bared. “ Tú ert mín, Daisy ,” he said, as he raised his own hand, and roughly palmed at the kraga on her throat. “ Daisy mín. Sólin mín .”

Daisy growled straight back, and shook her head. “ You don’t get a mate just because you’ve decided it, Filak !” she snapped. “ And just because you’ve locked them in a cave for a night! I barely even know you! And you barely know me !”

Her voice rang far too loud through the room, through her own ears, and she barely heard Julian’s low translation. But Filak growled again, harsh and deep and sustained, and in a swift, sudden movement, he pushed Daisy onto her back beneath the fur, and heaved himself over on top.

“ ég tekki tig, Daisy ,” he hissed. “ ég sé tig .”

I know you , he meant, I see you , and Daisy understood it even before Julian’s quiet translation confirmed it. And she shook her head again, raised her chin, glared up toward him, so close…

“You do not,” she countered. “ Until this morning, we’ve barely had a single conversation together!”

Filak didn’t even wait for Julian’s translation, and again began rapidly speaking in Aelakesh , his eyes flashing on Daisy’s face. His ragged breaths shuddering through his long bare body over hers, hot and heavy and bizarrely enraging, again speaking its own truth, even if she didn’t want to hear it.

“Filak says he does know you,” came Julian’s quiet voice. “ From the first instant he saw you had found the Skyli , and chosen to enter it, alone. He knew you were clever. He knew you were brave. He knew you would see much that others did not.”

Clever. Brave . He knew you would see. It all caught and quivered in Daisy’s chest, and she fought to shove it away — but Julian was still speaking, faster now. “ And in that night with you, he also learned you were kind. You were eager and curious. You did not run from him or curse him, or reek of revulsion and fear. You welcomed his touch and his pleasure. You granted him great and shining joy. The light he had so long been seeking.”

Daisy grimaced, glared harder, while Filak glowered straight back, and pinned her tighter to the bed. And why was she still here, why wasn’t she finishing this, shoving him off and running away…

“You saw him, also,” came Julian’s soft, inexorable voice. “ You knew his aims. You knew his hungers. You spoke oft and long together, and learned one another, without words or sight. You welcomed his care and his seed, and his mark, and his mating-bite, and the promise of his sun. You welcomed his vow as your mate.”

His vow as your mate . Daisy’s clamouring thoughts flashed backwards to that night in Lew’s apartment, on her back on the kitchen table, with Filak thick and powerful between her legs, and beautiful in her eyes. When he’d spoken the way he had, and put his mark on her throat, and asked her to come away with him. Forever .

And she… she’d understood. She’d … agreed .

“W-well,” Daisy stammered, toward Filak’s watching, glinting eyes. “ Then — then Filak kidnapped me! Locked me in a dungeon! Put a chain on my neck! Stuffed my own — my own art in my mouth!”

The hurt of that memory still rang through her voice, shuddered in her chest. And as Julian translated it, Filak’s lips twisted, and he then drew in a breath, and spoke his own rushed, rasping reply in return.

“Filak says he ought never to have done this,” Julian translated, with a sigh. “ He shall regret this until the end of his days. He thought he had failed his kin again, and forever bound himself to their enemy. He did not wish to hurt you or grieve you or frighten you as he did, or to cast darkness upon your art. He did not know the strength of your art when you first met, but he has now seen that it is your own great gift. Your art shall be part of the sun you make together, bright with your beauty and your kindness. Your seeing .”

Her own great gift. Part of her sun. Her beauty, her kindness, her seeing.

Daisy’s mouth opened and closed, and she swallowed hard, took a deep, shaky breath. “ But — it’s not,” she whispered. “ I’m not. I’m just…”

Stupid , she’s been perhaps about to say, foolish, not a real artist — but Filak’s hand clapped over her mouth, his lips curling back to bare all his sharp teeth.

“ Nei, Daisy ,” he hissed. “ Mín . Daisy mín. Sólin mín .”

Gods, not this again, but Daisy’s groan was muffled against his hand, and even her attempt at rolling her eyes earned her another low, spitting growl from his throat. And with another firm, decisive movement of his tall body, Filak kicked aside the fur covering them, baring both their naked bodies to the open air, as his knees shoved up strong and purposeful beneath her sticky thighs.

“Filak!” Daisy hissed into his hand, her eyes snapping wide and panicked — and then darting sideways toward Julian , who was watching this development with unmistakable curiosity. “ You — you —”

But Filak’s growl burned deeper, his brows rising high on his forehead. And his legs shoved Daisy’s even further apart, and then tilted her hips up and back, too. Opening her wide and exposed, baring her enough that anyone who walked by in the corridor could see, too…

“ Mín ,” he breathed, hungry and hot, his eyes glittering on her face. “ Mín , Daisy . Artistinn mín . Ach ?”

And for a breath, Daisy could only blink up at him, at this powerful, dangerous, unpredictable orc, this stone-seer, this fallen son who had failed his kin, and been failed by them in return. The orc who’d seen her, given her his jewels, locked her in his dungeon, called her his sun, his artist.

His hand slid away from her mouth, caressing her cheek, wanting her to speak. Wanting her to see him, just as he saw her…

And he saw her as an artist. Beautiful . Her own great gift. Part of her sun. His . Hers . Her own marked magical devil, come to whisk her deep into his thrall, his hope, his dream…

And finally Daisy let out a breath, and… nodded. Saying … yes.

Yes .

Filak’s eyes blazed with triumph, with feral dangerous glee — and with a sharp snap of his hips, his hard cock plunged deep inside her. The shock wrenching Daisy all over, escaping in a harsh little cry from her mouth, as her fluttering eyes glanced wild and alarmed toward Julian’s watching face.

But Julian’s expression was still only curiosity, and far stronger was Filak’s rumbling growl, the caress of his strong hand around Daisy’s throat. The touch snapping her eyes back to his face, to his bared teeth, to the silent words he might as well have shouted toward her. You look at me while I fuck you, my sun.

So Daisy looked, gasping and trembling and taking it, as Filak’s swollen, demanding cock slammed in and out between her legs. Even harder and faster than the night before, fluid squelching and bollocks slapping and skin striking against skin. Because this wasn’t lovemaking, this was Filak speaking to her, hollering at her, circling his hand close around her throat, wringing up pain and fear and shock and pleasure.

He was saying, You are mine. Mine . Mine . You swore it, now see it. My sun. My light.

And when he yanked himself fully out of her, and sprayed out of his pulsing, marked cock, spewing his thick white fluid brazen and messy all over her bare breasts and her belly and her brand-new bed — that was speaking, too. Spreading his very essence all over her, covering her, showing her, needing her to see…

And maybe Daisy should have been offended, or humiliated. Maybe she should have still leapt up and run away. She should most certainly have not grasped her hand at Filak’s jutting tattooed hipbone, and guided him up and forward, closer, even as she drew herself up to meet him. To meet that oozing, dripping, softening cock, and then sucking it smooth and easy into her mouth. Speaking back to him with her tongue and lips and teeth, telling him yes, yes, she saw him, she understood.

And gods, the way he moaned. The way his soft cock shuddered between her lips, squeezing out yet more fresh sweetness, just for her. The way his claws skittered against her hair, stroking, caressing, marvelling. All of it speaking, a dozen urgent clamouring voices at once, and when Daisy met his eyes, they shouted even louder than the rest, caught wide and stricken and reverent on her face.

Daisy mín. Sólin mín. I need you. You grant me such hope. Such peace.

It was too strong, too much, and finally Daisy dropped her eyes, and drew away. Fighting not to look at Julian , but then doing it anyway — and he looked just as flushed as she felt, with a distinctive bulge in his trousers. But upon catching her eyes, he twitched a soft smile toward her, looking indulgent, or maybe even approving.

“I am glad this has helped,” he told her. “ It is clear you two needed to discuss this, ach? You ought to know the truth of your mate, and the sun he longs to grant you.”

Your mate . A distant voice was shouting, chanting, waving at the back of Daisy’s thudding skull, but she was too caught in that claim, or maybe even… that truth. Your mate .

And in this moment, somehow, she couldn’t find the falseness in it. She had said yes to Filak . Not only that time in the apartment, but many, many times. And she had seen what it meant for him. She’d known. And she’d still done it anyway.

Stupid , a distant voice chanted, but Daisy shoved it away, drew in a deep breath. She’d already seen so much here, learned so much. And what did she want now? What did she want to see next? What did she want to learn, for herself?

“Are mates… permanent?” she finally asked Julian , her voice surprisingly steady. “ Can I set… a trial period with Filak , as his mate? To see what it’s like for myself?”

Julian blinked, but repeated the question toward Filak . And oh, the way Filak’s eyes lit up, the grin flashing sudden and stunning across his face. As if he wasn’t at all insulted by such a request, but instead saw it as a challenge. As … hope. Light .

“ Ach, sólin mín ,” he told her, his voice low and reverent, as he swept up her hand, and brought it to his mouth. “ ég mun vinna mér inn traust titt aftur og endurheimta hjarta titt sem mitt eigie. ”

The words were again familiar — that same pledge he’d made twice before, back in the sickroom. He would prove himself as Daisy’s mate, and gain her as his own.

And blinking at his shining, hopeful eyes, at the worshipful kiss of his ink-stained lips to her trembling hand, Daisy’s thoughts were scattering again, into longing and fear and need. She wanted to see it, wanted to follow him into the fantasy — but he was still dangerous, and she needed to not be foolish. Needed to put some kind of boundary on this, a time frame, something she wouldn’t ignore or forget…

“Two weeks, then,” she blurted out, before she could catch it. “ We can be mates for — two weeks. And then I’ll decide whether or not to stay.”

Too late, the possible visions of Lew’s impending attack blared behind her eyes — the gas, the belladonna, the danger — all in two weeks, too. But in truth, did Daisy even want to leave here before then? Did she want to be trying to run away to the city, knowing that Lew was still back here in Dusbury , plotting with Sybil to commit mass murder? Trying to hurt all these people who had been so kind to her? Trying to feed belladonna to their children?

No. No . Daisy wanted to know. She wanted to see. But after that… what?

“But after that, if I decide to leave,” she said, slower, to Filak’s watching eyes. “ You — you’ll let me go. You’ll help me go north, back to the city. And ” — she took a deep inhale, as her hand fluttered up to the kraga at her throat — “you’ll let me keep these jewels, too. In case I … need them.”

And curse her, maybe it was too greedy, too demanding, and Daisy held her breath as Julian translated it all for Filak . As Filak’s head slowly tilted sideways, and something she couldn’t read flickered through his shadowed eyes. Something dark, searching, uncertain…

But then, oh gods, he nodded. Slow , but certain, telling her… yes. Yes .

“ Ach, sólin mín ,” he told her, with a faint twitch of a smile. “ tú vereur hér tangae til á morgun. Tangae til sólin kemur. ”

Daisy’s heart skipped as Julian translated it, because it meant — she would stay until the morning. Until the sun. Just like back in the cave. And if she wanted it, Filak would again lead her to the sun, and let her go.

And if nothing else, he had shown her he could do that much, hadn’t he? He could keep his word to her. He would . Right ?

The relief simmered through Daisy’s belly, and she smiled back at him, cautious but true. She’d made a plan. She would see.

“Ach, Filak ,” she said, hushed and maybe even hopeful. “ Until the sun.”