A promise.
Our futures forever intertwined.
He owned half my soul.
“I’ll protect her,” I heard him saying. “Always.”
“Then our deal is done,” another voice replied. Lighter. Feminine.
“Mom?” I asked.
But no one heard me. They were too busy enacting a blood vow, with my life at the center of the puzzle.
Something sharp bit into my neck. His teeth. He swallowed. Binding us as one in a forbidden claim.
“Aflora!”
I couldn’t open my eyes, my world painted in shades of black. Of a destiny I never desired, but chosen for me by another.
“Aflora!”
The voice had begun to change, the deep quality one I recognized.
My vision wavered, someone shaking me to awareness once more.
And I opened my eyes to see bright green orbs of horror staring down at me, his beautiful lips reddened by my blood.
“Zeph?” I whispered, my voice a rasp of sound. Had his been the bite I felt?
“Fuck,” he breathed. “You scared the shit out of me.”
His mouth touched mine, my essence sweet on his tongue.
He’d bitten me again, tying us closer together.
Yet it wasn’t his image in my mind but one of a male cloaked in white.
My other half.
Then everything went black once more, Zeph’s curse the last sound to grace my thoughts.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kols
Tadmir was late again. He sauntered in with a muttered apology to my father, then took his seat with a flourish, his white hair sprawling haphazardly against his shoulders.
None of the Seconds were invited to this emergency meeting, but Shade and I were included. I met his icy gaze across the table and noted his trademark boredom. The Death Blood really was skilled at hiding his intentions. Unlike his father, Aswad, who appeared to be brimming with annoyance beside him.
“Right, now that we’re all accounted for, we can begin,” my father announced, drawing the focus to the head of the table, where I sat beside him. Tray hadn’t been allowed to attend, which prickled my nerves. My twin usually kept me grounded, and his absence only seemed to enhance the sense of foreboding in the air.
Something’s coming.
Something I’m not going to like.
The Council rarely called upon the Elders, but this was the second time this week they were requested to join us.
My father reached out to them in the old ways, using his magic to summon the guidance of the ancient ones who ruled before us.