He would not. He would not.
But Bane was losing the battle. Fighting the venom, fighting Harmon’s control. His grasp was slipping.
And Echo was laughing. “You think that his only tether is me? Fool. He was all that was good and kind and strong long before I appeared. He risked his life defeating your scourge. And now…he will finish it.”
Abruptly she was in front of him, her brow furrowed with concern, her hands cupping his face. “My king,” she said urgently. “You are fighting him and fighting yourself. You cannot do both.”
Her touch eased the burn. But he didn’t dare to stop fighting.
Her gaze searched his. “He’s frozen. He can’t move. But it doesn’t freeze his mind, so he still has hold of you. You have to stop fighting yourself.”
His chest heaved. He let up on the battle—a little. The pain of knowing what would come tore the words from his tongue. “Can’t control self.”
She laughed. “I hope you don’t. I need you to fight him.”
“Not afraid?”
“Of you? Never.”
Sweetness joined the agony as he embraced the burn, control returning to his limbs. On the other side of the table, Harmon sat frozen on the sofa. Shooting to his feet, he gripped his sword.
Echo grabbed his forearm. “Don’t kill him yet. He’s still controlling the beasts outside. And he might be thinking of releasing them”—she began directing her words at Harmon—“but he is helpless here in this chamber, and we left the keep’s front doors wide open.”
They hadn’t. But Harmon couldn’t know that.
But it wasn’t only the beasts outside. In a murmur, he asked her, “Do you think he can control our warriors as he did me?”
“I think not. Unless they were fighting themselves as you were.” Her own voice was as quiet. “And very soon, he will realize that he is dead either way, and release the beasts to take as many of us with him as he can. And as soon as he’s dead, the beasts Jorin has not yet killed will come for the meat.”
Hopefully Jorin had already found most of them. But this would not be the first time Bane and his warriors had faced a pack—and it would not likely be a substantial number. After all, it could not be more beasts that had been locked in one chamber. “I’ll drag Harmon outside with me and find Jorin and the others, and locate a defensible position—and I’ll kill Harmon then. The beasts will come for us, but we’ll destroy them. We’ve done that before and we can do it again.”
He saw her fear and worry…but she nodded.
Chest tight, he told her, “You’ll need to lock yourself in here until we’re certain the beasts are all dead. But only if you agree. You’ll have the key. Never would I lock you in against your will…and it will help me focus while fighting the beasts if I know you are safe.”
“I will stay,” she agreed. “But before your go, wash your hands and your face. The poison is all over my fingers—and I’ve been touching you ever since we came into this chamber.”
She’d also touched Harmon, he realized. When she’d offered her hands in greeting. And the sorcerer had sliced up a peach for her and licked his fingers. “You planned to poison him from the moment we entered the chamber?”
“Of course I did.” She grinned. “He was sitting on my throne.”
And Bane would make sure she always had one to call her own.
11
Echo
This…was not going how she’d planned.
When Echo had unlocked the door to the throne room, she’d expected Bane to burst through, lift her up, and pump his massive cock deep into her cunt. She’d hoped that he might even pick her up and throw her facedown over the table and replay the fucking from yesterday.
Then she would tell him that she loved him. She’d gathered her courage. So this time when Bane declared that he’d make her love him, she would respond as she should have before. Or when the fucking was done, and she was filled with his come, she would hold him in her arms and say those three words.
I love you.
But she wasn’t in his arms. Instead he was stalking back and forth in front of the door, growling. Not even looking at her. Just back and forth, his huge fingers clenching and unclenching.
Fingers. Not claws. Because unlike the previous day, when he needed her so desperately, he was controlling himself. As if he didn’t need her anymore.
Instead he seemed afire with new purpose…though that purpose didn’t seem to be her.
She watched. He stalked.
Back. Forth.
Was he protecting the chamber door from another threat?
Uncertainly she asked, “Is Harmon dead?”
“Yes.” Back.
“The beasts, too?”
Forth. “Yes.”
“And the castle is secured?”
“Yes.” Back.
Each abrupt answer weakened her courage. “So…what will you do next?”
“You need time to think. So I am leaving for Phaira.”