He took my wand, I remembered, frowning. No, he said it was his wand.
My heart skipped a beat at the memory and Shade’s aloofness as he just handed me over as though I meant nothing to him.
Why? I whispered at him. Why did you do this?
He didn’t reply. Not that I expected him to. I could feel the block in our bond—the one he’d placed there before giving me to Zakkai.
Zeph? I tried the other mate-strand in my mind, the one connected to my Warrior Blood mate. The ends of our bond felt frayed, his silence deafening.
Shade had created some sort of mental block to isolate me from them.
He’d warned me that I would hate him.
He was right.
I’d trusted him, loved him, mated him, and he’d repaid me by handing me over to the enemy.
There has to be a reason, I thought. He cares for me. I know he cares for me. I’d felt it in our bond, had witnessed it in his thoughts. Maybe Zakkai had coerced him? But why would Shade block my mating links?
My jaw ticked as I considered the endless possibilities of his intentions. Then I focused on the male beside me—the one who likely had all the answers I needed.
“Why am I here?” I asked, sitting up with the sheet clutched to my chest. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were? And how are you my mate? You never bit me in the dreams.” I also didn’t think a Midnight Fae could stake a claim in that manner.
If they could, that would be dangerous.
Fae, who was I kidding? Midnight Fae were danger personified.
The male beside me oozed lethality as wisps of power swirled around him. I could taste his essence in the air and sense it deep within my soul. He embodied the source in a similar manner to Kols. I mentally stroked it with my strands of dark magic, curious and wary.
His lips curled in response, his energy intensifying as though to welcome my prodding. “It’s fascinating, isn’t it?” His low voice rolled over me on a caressing wave. “Our gifts have more or less grown together over the years, creating an everlasting connection. I think that even if I were to break our bond now, you would still retain my Quandary abilities.”
“Years?” I repeated.
“Mmm,” he hummed, the response noncommittal. Just like everything else.
“Why am I here?” I repeated.
“Why do you think you’re here?” he countered.
My grip around the sheet tightened against my chest. “We’re mates.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“How?”
He arched a white brow. “Surely you’re familiar with how the mating process works by now? I mean, you did recently bond a Warrior Blood, yes? And Shade?”
“Are you always this insufferable?” Answering every question with a question. Pixie sticks, we will never get anywhere at this rate! “I think I liked you more when I thought you were a figment.”
“That’s because you enjoyed my tongue between your thighs, Aflora.” He tilted his head. “Would an orgasm calm you down?”
A growl slipped through my lips. “Where are my clothes?” Because I couldn’t continue having this conversation while naked in his bed.
He nodded to a silk robe twisted into the sheets. “You can wear that.”
“Yeah, I’ll take my clothes instead.” I couldn’t remember if I’d worn them here or if I’d lost them in the LethaForest. I really hoped it was the latter because the former would imply that he’d stripped me. And I really didn’t want to think about that right now.
Sure, he was a pale-skinned, godlike fae.