“Your people are safe. The Protectorate won’t come after them for what I did to the stormbreakers.” He steps closer. “This is a private matter between members of the Imperial family. To involve outsiders would be a complete breach of propriety.”
The Imperial family. My mouth goes dry. Inside me, the black pit opens up again.
Ygdris frowns. “What is—”
“What Ygdris is trying to say is that your friends here are safe. But you’re not. Protocol keeps outsiders safe, but—”
“Damn it, Raechtar—” Ygdris hisses.
“How long were you planning on keeping it from her, Ygdris? How long has she been working for you and not known?”
“Less than a day.” Ygdris’ voice could have cut glass.
“Less than a—” Raechtar squeezes his eyes shut. “I thought…”
The wall between us fades, but I don’t dare reach out again. Regret whirls around him, so thick I can almost see it. A pained look crosses his face.
“You’re not an outsider,” he says gently, his eyes on mine. “Tell her, Ygdris.”
I shiver under the full force of Ygdris’ gaze. I don’t dare to look at him. My skin thrills at his attention, every electric glance sending shocks of arousal to my core.
And, God, where our fingers touch…
My knees tremble. Give in. Be his. Don’t question, don’t fight. Obey.
He looks away and snatches his hand back so quickly I almost lose my balance. I shiver, suddenly cold, as he curses under his breath.
“No. Sun and stars, this is – Tay, I swear I didn’t know who you were when I tracked you down. I found your name in Raechtar’s notes—” Raechtar growls something I don’t catch— “—but I thought you were one of his agents, not…”
I gulp. What did he say, just this morning? You’re so much more than I expected?
He does know who I am, after all. Maybe he only suspected it then, but if Raechtar knows who I am then he could have telepathed Ygdris about it anytime.
I cradle the orb against my chest. My hand is aching with the loss of Ygdris’ touch and inside me, the black pit of despair cracks wider open. Black tendrils climb out of it, winding around my rib cage, squeezing into my veins until I can hardly breathe. Broken, disgusting, depraved—
“Not what?” I choke out.
Raechtar’s eyebrows draw together. He opens his mouth to say something, but Ygdris is already talking.
“I didn’t realise you were my mate.” He rests his forehead against the side of Raechtar’s head, just for a moment. *Our mate.*
I take another step backward. The blackness inside me fills my lungs. “That’s impossible,” I whisper through. They stare at me, and their disbelief crashes off the choking despair taking over every vein in my body.
“I’m already mated.”
My vision goes dark. My legs collapsing under me is the last thing I feel before the blackness consumes me.
“It’s a compulsion. Soul-deep. I haven’t seen anything like it before. I don’t know how I didn’t see it…”
“Too busy not looking at her.”
Ygdris’ bark of laughter is laced with pain. “I told myself I wouldn’t be like him. I thought I was saving her, and this – thing – was growing in her the whole time. Like a cancer.”
Lightning races across my skin, light as summer rain. I gasp.
“She’s awake. What do I do?”
Raechtar chuckles. His palm settles on my cheek, as careful a caress as Ygdris’ gaze. I feel his breath on my skin. “Come back, Tay. Fight the darkness. Come back to us.” He draws back. “Now you.”