“An adequate summary,” I muttered, pacing and running my fingers through my hair. Ajax was strong. He could withstand a lot. But this… “I need to find him.”
“No,” he replied.
“What do you mean, no?” He had to know me well enough by now to realize that I didn’t adhere to authority. I managed my own life, made my own choices, and I wasn’t about to bend to his will in the process.
“I mean, no.” He reiterated, his tone all regal elegance. “You can’t go to him.”
“Fuck off,” I said, no longer interested in whatever he had to say. “Just because we’re bonded doesn’t mean you have a say in what I do and don’t do now.” Only Aflora had that right. No one else.
“Yet you felt the need to remind me of my purpose here when you felt my yearning to go to Tray, and that was all of what, thirty minutes ago?” His bronze irises narrowed. “Is this truly so different, Shadow?”
His words hit me in the heart, the rightness of them drawing a curse from my lips. Because fucking fae, he was right.
I gripped my hair by the roots and closed my eyes.
He pressed a palm to my lower back a half a beat later.
Then he pulled me into his arms, offering me a hug that I hadn’t realized I needed. Part of me wanted to punch him for touching me, for correcting my path before I could even walk down it. And a weaker part of me just wanted to collapse.
I’d played with time, nearly costing Kols his life.
And now Emelyn, Anrika, and Ajax’s parents were gone.
Never to return.
Dead.
Because of me?I wondered. Because of my altering of fate?
Because of my grandfather, Kols corrected, his opposite arm wrapping around my shoulders to squeeze me tight. Not you, Shadow. Never you.
I released a shuddering breath, my heart in my throat.
Then I buried my face into his neck and inhaled his spicy aftershave. It was underlined with roses, reminding me of Aflora. You smell like our mate, I mused.
So do you,he murmured. But not roses. I smell power and mint.
That could just be me, I drawled.
He chuckled and let me go with a shake of his head. “You wish.” Then he clapped me on the shoulder. “You good?”
“No,” I admitted. “But I will be.”
He nodded. “When we kill my grandfather.”
“When we kill your grandfather,” I agreed.
“Sounds like the perfect date,” Zeph said from the doorway, his shoulder propped up against the doorframe. “Will there be chocolates and flowers afterward?”
“Depends on our mate,” Kols replied, turning toward him with a grin. “Or maybe just some paste.”
“Mmm, now you’re speaking my language.” Zeph pulled Kols in for a searing kiss before meeting my gaze in challenge. Mine, he was saying.
I rolled my eyes. “He’s all yours, Headmaster.” Except for when Aflora wanted to play with us again. Then I’d indulge her desires because they were secretly becoming mine, too.
I heard that, Kols murmured.
I wasn’t exactly hiding it,I told him.