“You’re my mate. This is where you belong.”
She sat up, pulling away from him. “That makes it worse, don’t you see? They already know I’m a traitor. Now they’ll call you one, too.”
“I don’t care what they call me.” He pulled her back down, trapping her in his arms. “You’re my mate. Loïc is my son. You both belong here, with me.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She sounded doubtful because she didn’t realize he wasn’t asking.
“This isn’t a request.” He let command enter his voice, the tone that had once directed hundreds of warriors. “You live here. Both of you. Starting tonight.”
Through the bond, he felt her resistance crumble. Not because she wanted to live in the Tower—the thought terrified her—but because she saw it as part of her penance. Another price to pay for her betrayal.
“What about our apartment in the rookery?”
“They’ll give it to someone who needs it.”
He caught her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “No more arguments. You’re mine. The bond proves it. The entire Tower will know it. They’ll treat my mate with respect or answer to me. That is the end of the discussion.”
“You can’t fight the entire Tower for me.”
“Watch me.”
She laughed, but it was hollow. “You still don’t forgive me, but you’d defend me?”
“Yes.” No point in lying when she could feel it through the bond. “Part of me hates you. Maybe always will. But you’re still my mate. The mother of my son. That means you’re mine. We are a family. It might be a broken, angry, complicated one, but we’re still a family.”
“And families live together.”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly, although he could still feel her doubts. “All right.”
“I’ll tell the keepers to move your things.” He paused, then added more gently, “There’s room for a small garden on the balcony, if you want one.”
The hope that flared through the bond was painful in its intensity. “Really?”
The corner up his mouth tugged upward. “You realize that if you’re miserable, I’m miserable, too?”
She laughed croakily, and it made his stomach flip to hear her even a little bit happy.
“The bond. Feeling you again.” He struggled for words to describe the six different emotions flooding through him. “I know I did it to punish you, but it’s the first thing besides Loïc that’s felt right since I returned.”
Through their connection came her reaction: relief, joy, sorrow, and that endless love. “For me, too.”
Anticipating Loïc and Ghantal’s return, they dressed. Tomorrow, she would move into his nest. His first love. His betrayer. His mate. The mother of his son. They would be a family.
He didn’t know how to reconcile these things, how to love and hate someone simultaneously.
But then, he wasn’t sure he hated her anymore at all.
Chapter 29
Idabel
After living in the snug rooms of the rookery for so long, Brandt’s home felt uncomfortably grand. The ceilings were so high, and ornate carvings decorated all the door frames. They even had their own private garderobe instead of a shared one in the hall. Idabel couldn’t help but feel like she was an interloper, like she’d stowed away after one of her cleaning shifts and never left.
Her first morning in the eyrie, when she’d been making breakfast before school, a pair of keepers entered to clean. Theyhad shrieked and crashed into each other when she greeted them because they were so surprised to see her there. They were even more surprised to see a gargoyle fledgling awake during the day. The way they’d stared at Loïc like he was something obscene made her heart hurt.
She’d hurriedly explained that she was Brandt’s mate and Loïc was her child before they called a guard. Their expressions shifted between surprise, disgust, morbid curiosity, and pity as she answered their invasive questions.
