Page 33 of Twisted Ties

“He’s your boss. He employs you to keep the Republic safe. Shouldn’t you be telling him everything?”

Azlan halts and I follow suit, glancing up into his face.

“He would use it against me. He would use it against you.”

I shake my head. “Why?”

“My family has always been a threat to his position – a position my uncle believes should be his.”

“Then why work for him?”

“I’ve no interest in politics, Rhi. But I do want to keep our people safe.”

“From people like me?”

He frowns. “From the people trying to kill you. From the threat in the West.” He rests his hand against the small of my back and my body practically swoons. It’s like this every time. Every connection he makes, every touch, feels electric.

“But how about Lucinda? Or the other doctors at theclinic? This is gossip, Azlan, and one thing I’ve learned from this school, gossip spreads like wildfire.”

“They won’t be talking.”

“Because you threatened to break their necks if they did?” I roll my eyes.

“Yes,” he says simply.

“But what if–”

“Unless we tell the authorities, they won’t know.”

“But your family knew.”

“My uncle’s spies are far superior to the Chancellor’s or the Council’s,” he says darkly.

“But what if they have heard,” I insist, worrying at my lip. “What will happen to us?”

“Legally, we’ve done nothing wrong, Rhi.” He strokes his hand in soothing circles. “But the Chancellor won’t like the fact I didn’t tell him about this. He’ll look to punish me for it.”

Why didn’t he tell me this before? Why didn’t we plan this much better than we have?

“The labor camps?”

Azlan scoffs. “Ahhh, it won’t be immediate and it won’t be that obvious. But he’ll find a way.”

I really don’t like the sound of that. I think of all the warnings my aunt gave me about the authorities. She said they were cruel.

“And me?”

He slides his hand up my back, cradling the back of my neck. “If, and Rhianna I don’t think this is a problem, but if they have discovered our bonding, I will make it abundantly clear that you were ignorant, that you didn’t know, that as far as you knew, there was nothing to tell.”

“I didn’t,” I remind him.

“Yes,” he says quietly. “I don’t think you will be in any trouble for it.”

“But why would he care? Why would the Council care?”

“You’ve been reading all those magazines, Rhi,” he says, with a smirk. So he noticed that then? “Fated mates, bonded pairs, are rare. But according to some, they are also powerful.”

“I don’t remember reading anything about power.”