“Sort of, but no.” He held it up for me to inspect. It looked like an ordinary chain. I touched the metal, expecting it to zap me, yet I felt nothing.
“Okay,” I said slowly and gathered all my wayward curls into my hands, exposing my neck.
Zakkai gently drew the chain around my throat, allowing the pendant to hang along my breastbone, and clasped the chain at my nape. “How does it feel?”
“Like a necklace,” I whispered.
“Dad?”
Laki pursed his lip. “The beacon of power has dimmed.”
Zakkai grinned. “This will hide your mating bonds as well.” He showed me a watch on his wrist. “Just like this is hiding my link to you, in addition to dulling my power.”
I frowned down at the beautiful charm. “But I don’t feel any different.”
“Good. That means my spell worked.” He stepped to my side, his attention on his father. “Anything else, Dad?”
“It’s a risk.”
“So was taking me seven years ago,” Zakkai murmured. “She needs to see this just like I did.”
“Our duty to Aflora was to keep her safe, Kai. This is the opposite of safe.”
“As was letting her be bitten by Shade and taken to the Academy,” Zakkai retorted. “Yet you deemed that an acceptable risk despite my protests to the contrary. At least I gave her a choice in this instance.”
His comment jogged a memory, one where Shade indicated that someone had sent him to me. Something about how he had warned Shade that I would be beautiful.
I never did find out whom Shade was referring to. Had it been Zakkai or someone else?
The Midnight Fae Council had told Shade to bite me. But knowing Shade, he’d only complied because he wanted to.
Which left me wondering who really told him to bite me initially. And why.
Shade, I said softly, mentally knocking on the door he’d created. I could push through it, but I preferred him to answer willingly.
However, he didn’t this time, his mind oddly quiet.
I was about to try again when Zakkai linked his fingers through mine, distracting me. “Ready?”
“Yes,” I replied. None of my mates knew I was attending tonight. I’d kept Zakkai’s confidence in exchange for my ability to dream-walk without his interference. He’d upheld his part of the bargain, so I would now uphold my part of it.
These last two weeks—or that was my estimation of the time, anyway—had been eye-opening and engaging. Zakkai had spent almost all of his time teaching me more about Quandary magic while also explaining various points in Midnight Fae history. He was patient and disciplined. Kind yet stern. And a walking riddle who somehow managed to explain everything while explaining nothing at the same time.
We shared a bed each night, where he allowed me to play with my other mates in my mind. Not sexually, really. None of them were comfortable doing anything in front of Zakkai. He’d also kept his hands mostly to himself, aside from a few touches here and there.
Like tonight when he’d wrapped his arms around me from behind. He showed affection without making me uncomfortable. And he never demanded anything from me in return.
Our fantasies had been the same. He’d always provided me with pleasure without asking for reciprocation.
It left me feeling conflicted. I should hate him. He’d bonded me as a child and left. And yet, he’d been a child, too. None of it had ever been our choice. He was supposed to undo it now but refused. However, I suspected that if I demanded it, he would eventually allow me to break the bond.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted that or not.
So I allowed him to steer me toward the door. His father’s behavior more or less confirmed that Zakkai had nothing nefarious planned for tonight. Of course, it could all be an act, a notion I held in the back of my mind as we stepped out into the hallway.
“Be careful, Kai,” his father said. “You, too, Aflora.” His tone held a touch of emotion when he spoke my name, one that flickered in his gaze—there and gone in a second.
“I’ll keep her safe,” Zakkai replied. “Just as I always have.”