Page 17

CHAPTER 17

Talon

Sage disappeared through the door at the edge of the recess, her small, battered form dwarfed by West’s massive frame. My shadow writhed beneath my skin, desperate to protect her from the knight, but I forced it to stay contained. At least Quill was with her.

For some reason, the High Priestess hadn’t forbidden him from escorting Sage, which was surprising given her earlier dismissal of our offer to protect her.

Perhaps she sensed how fragile Sage was after the attack and didn’t want to completely isolate her. Or perhaps she had other motives. With Her Brilliance, there were always other motives.

My shadow squeezed tighter within me, its worry and anger matching my own. The pressure was almost unbearable, but I couldn’t risk letting even a whisper of its presence show. The courtiers would notice immediately, and the High Priestess would demand my arrest for not being able to control my magic.

I turned to leave with Rider, Ash, Onyx, and Zinnia, eager to get away from the throne room and the too-intense stares.

“A word, Captain Talon.” The High Priestess’s voice froze me in place.

She stood from her throne and strode toward the stairs at the edge of the dais. Her three mates fell into step behind her as she descended to the marble floor and glided to the door on the opposite side of the recess from where Sage had exited.

My stomach clenched. I didn’t want a private audience with the High Priestess. I wanted to go to the entrance to the Sacred Grove and wait for the magister that was going to release Sage from the artifact binding her soul to the Garden.

I glanced at Rider, but his silver gaze remained hard. His wolf had been unstable before Sage had been attacked, and even if he wasn’t going to mate her, his primal drive to protect all females had to be driving him crazy.

“I’ll meet you at the grove’s entrance,” he growled, indicating with that simple sentence that he’d take care of the magister if the High Priestess decided to keep me.

I suppressed a shudder and followed the High Priestess and her mates through the door. Her Brilliance had already bonded to all her mates, and she wasn’t inclined to invite other men to her bed, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t change her mind. Summoning me to entertain her and her mates could be a way to punish me for showing an interest in another woman.

She hadn’t cared before who I’d slept with, but I’d also spent decades avoiding the High Priestess’s court. With my looks, I was a highly sought-after prize, and Her Brilliance liked her prizes. My interest in Sage now could make her feel she was losing me even if she never had me to begin with.

The hall behind the throne room was just as impressive as the hall leading up to the throne room. The High Priestess and her mates stepped through the first door on the right into her private receiving room, and I forced myself to follow them inside.

My shadow writhed within me, tiny jerky movements around the core of my being, its anxiety and anger making my stomach churn. I didn’t know what Her Brilliance wanted, but I doubted it was about Sage’s well-being.

The private receiving room was a miniature version of the throne room, complete with a smaller version of her throne and the stained glass window behind it. Unlike the throne room, this throne didn’t sit on a dais, but there still weren’t other chairs or places to sit in the room.

The High Priestess took her seat and her three mates — the Lord Commander of the Order of the Sacred Grove, the Goddess’s Magister, and her personal bodyguard — took up positions standing beside and slightly behind her.

As a member of the Black Guard, I stood at attention and tried to ignore the collective weight of their gazes boring into me.

The High Priestess’s diamond gaze drifted down my body and I fought to keep my expression blank.

With a sigh, she sat back, lounging on her throne. “What do you think of the new arrival?”

I tried not to frown at the question.

The new arrival, Sage, was stunning and strange, and my shadow had realized something about her that I hadn’t figured out yet.

She didn’t have the confidence most women had, but her inner strength, her spiritual spark was strong. She hadn’t given up or run away when she fell off the rock wall in the sacred pool’s chambers. Instead, she’d grabbed that knife off the ground and killed Wells, stopping the unnatural bond forming between them.

My soul said I had to protect her, even if that meant protecting her from myself.

“I don’t know her very well, Your Brilliance,” I replied, keeping my tone neutral.

The High Priestess turned her attention to her long fingernails. “Come now, Talon. You must have some impression of her.”

Oh, I did. And I didn’t want to tell the High Priestess. This woman had put Quill through hell and I refused to let her play with Sage.

“She seems shy, Your Brilliance,” I said, stating the most obvious thing about the new arrival.

She’d tried to hide her discomfort in the throne room, but it was obvious the attention from the High Priestess and her courtiers had made her uncomfortable.

“She does give off that impression,” the High Priestess purred, still staring at her nails. “You’re handsome and charming, Talon. I want you to bring her out of her shell.”

“Your Brilliance?” I had a bad feeling about this.

“I want you to court her.” She snapped her attention to me, locking me in place with her gaze and the threat of power radiating around her. “You’ve been without a mate for too long.”

No.

Oh, hell no.

I loved Quill. I refused to take a female mate unless she was already mated to Quill. Except even then, I couldn’t afford to mate her because she and her other mates would find out about my shadow. And if the High Priestess learned I was infected with a shadow entity, she would kill me or send me to the White Tower to be experimented on.

“Your Brilliance, my position in the Black Guard is dangerous.”

“Many a guardsman take a mate, Captain Talon, and your term is complete. You can retire your commission at any point.” The High Priestess’s smile turned cold and calculating. “Your magic is strong. Her magic will be extraordinary. Your child will be a boon to this realm.”

My shadow coiled tighter within me, its anxiety and rage suddenly gone as if it were hiding not just from the High Priestess but me as well.

The High Priestess couldn’t know for certain that Sage and I would have a child. Her Brilliance was powerful, but she couldn’t see into the future — that was a magic so rare it hadn’t been seen in generations. Still, I couldn’t refuse her because we might not have a child.

I needed something better. At the very least, I needed to stall for time until she found more suitable mates.

“Your Brilliance,” I said, “The?—”

“The next words out of your mouth better be ‘I’d be honored,’” Phoenix, the Lord Commander of the Order and the High Priestess’s largest mate, growled, and his hand dropped to the hilt of his longsword.

“Despite her bedraggled appearance,” Fen said, a flicker of his immense magical power snapping around him, “the new arrival is passingly attractive.”

“She is,” I said, keeping my back straight and refusing to bow to Fen’s power. “And I’m very honored. I’m just?—”

“Are you questioning Her Brilliance’s wisdom?” Phoenix added. “Her insight comes straight from the Goddess.”

Shit. This was quickly spiraling out of control.

“Lady Sage is traumatized from her attack,” I said before the High Priestess’s mates could interrupt me again. “As shy as she is, I’m concerned aggressively courting her would fail to win a mating bond.”

“That’s why you’re perfect for the job,” the High Priestess said. “Your duties at the Black Tower will ensure you won’t be able to court her nightly, giving her time to adjust. I can make no guarantee that the rest of my court will be as sensitive to her situation.”

“If they’re not sensitive, they won’t win her heart, Your Brilliance,” I said, the words leaping out before I could stop them.

The High Priestess jerked forward her power eclipsing Fen’s, squeezing around my chest, and stealing my breath.

“In her condition, she’s easily manipulated,” she hissed. “You will make her mate with you by the end of next season, or you won’t be around to mate with anyone, ever.”

Her power shoved me to my knees and bent me forward, pressing my forehead to the cold marble floor.

Fuck fuck fuck. I couldn’t do that to Sage. I couldn’t do that to anyone. But if I didn’t, I was dead.