Page 210 of The Chains You Defy

This wasn’t freedom, but loneliness.

I lifted my fingers to touch his wrist, more tears gathering in my eyes. “My—”

“Your neck looks the same. Still, I put your jewelry back on. Harc retrieved the choker for you, and I had a feeling you’d want to wear that.”

“Yes. Thank you.” I swallowed around the big lump in my throat. “We’ll just repeat the rite, right? We’ll do the ceremony again?”

“If that’s what you want, Nayana. As long as the gods allow us a second chance—”

My breath hitched. The rules of the binding were clear—one time and no more.

“—but since breaking the unbreakable shouldn’t be possible in the first place, I sure as fuck hope for an exception.”

“Yes. Yes, we’ll try.”

“My sweet.” He shifted, gently kissed my forehead, and I melted into his arms. “But there’s more.”

“Your tonescares me.”

“Do you recall when Ireas examined you?”

An icy shard stabbed into my chest as the gruesome reality returned, and a sense of dark desolation trickled down my spine. Still, I tried my best to stay calm, even though all the answers I needed were already written on Dion’s face. He appeared to be downright tortured.

“I’m going to die.”

“No.”

Wincing, I faced his stormy gaze. So many different emotions battled in his expression. Pain, anxiety, but also resolution. “So, did you find a way to get the parasite out?”

“We’re in the process of figuring out the correct removal procedure. But Nayana, stop assuming I’ll let that thing win. You won’t die, I simply won’t allow you to.”

With this fiery declaration, he tucked me into his chest once more, his chin resting on top of my head. That I’d gain more information was highly unlikely, no matter how much I prodded the male who believed a magical malady would simply cease doing harm because he’d decreed so. “That bad, huh?”

Dion hesitated to answer before he sighed, and his chin moved. “Yes, bad. But not hopeless. Ireas was involved in treating others who were infected, and thankfully, there’s a way to slow down the process. That’s what he does, remember? Wins more time for the sick to increase the span in which finding a treatment is possible.”

Nodding, I soaked in his presence. A feeling of safety enveloped me, despite the grim circumstances. Yet there was something else. “What if there’s no solution?”

“Then we’re going to Udiona together, and I’ll rain untold horrors upon Noelk if he dares to considerseparating you from me. Do you really think something as trivial as death will keep me away from you?”

What was I supposed to reply to such a declaration? “You say so because of that infatuation of yours.” Trying to smooth my insecurity with humor—a trusty method of mine. In all honesty, I should have guessed that Dion—the fae male who had just slaughtered not only a whole hall of his brethren but had also annihilated some of the most ancient beings in his world because, in his opinion, they’d done me wrong—wouldn’t let my attempt at a joke stand.

He tensed, then shifted. Suddenly, he’d grabbed my chin, still incredibly gently, and bent my head back so I was facing his eyes. His amethyst gaze was glowing brighter than usual, as if his irises had been ignited by a blazing flame. “Nayana, let me spell something out for you, because obviously, I haven’t done a very good job so far.”

Sucking in a deep breath, my heart flipped in my chest. “What—”

“No, listen to me. What you call infatuation…is as if you’d describe the Triad as a deluded, unimportant bunch of mystics. Thisinfatuationis burning brighter than the sun, hotter than the Breocharn, deeper than the depths between the Hungry Giants. What I feel for you is something I’d start wars for, or end worlds. And my feelings are infinite, without a single doubt. Don’t compare me to your fickle backwater boys, even if those are all you’ve encountered during your whole life. My love for you is true and eternal, and I need you to understand that I’d rather fight all the gods and godlings before I’ll ever give up on you. And one sweet day, you’ll finallybelieve me instead of pushing me away all the fucking time.”

His heated gaze was burning into my very soul, igniting something I didn’t understand. “Dio—”

“So, yes, a fucking parasite won’t take you away from me. You’re mine, and it’s about damn time you get that into your tiny pretty head.”

Again, my answer was cut short as Dion let go of me, and moments later, he held a small package out to me. “I despise that the Second Act of Courtship got interrupted.” Softly, he pushed the velvet-wrapped gift into my hands.

In secret, I was glad he presented me with an opportunity to distract both of us from his renewed declaration of the emotions he allegedly had.

Although the voice arguing that I was just clinging to a conviction I’d nurtured my whole life so I wouldn’t have to admit to myself I’d been wrong gained volume the longer this courtship went on.

Honestly, by now, I wanted to be wrong, and that revelation scared me more than the parasite happily munching away at the mystical energies inside of me.