“Well, are you alright? What happened?”
“He offered me a deal.”
“What deal?”
“He’s giving me two weeks. To say goodbye to everyone. And in exchange, he’s promised not to harm any of you. If you all agree to bend the knee to him.”
Zadyn laughs, releasing my shoulders. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
He scoffs. “Yes. It is. I don’t think I have to explain to you how fundamentally preposterous that is.”
I stare at the ground.
“Hold on. You’re not actually considering this, are you?”
“I’m not ruling it out.”
“Serena.”
“The other half of the star is in Vod. This could be our shot to get it and shut that portal down.”
“You are not fucking going with him.”
“Zadyn, if I don’t go willingly, he will use force, and he will kill you all.” I reach for his hand, but he rips it back.
“I don’t care! Don’t you get that? I’m not giving you up, I’m not letting you go. He will have to pry you from mycold dead hands,” he fumes, pacing in circles.
My shoulders slump. “And what about me? Don’t I get a say?”
“Not when your say is sacrificing yourself.Again.”
“No one wants a war. What if—what if it can be avoided? I can save you, I can save all of us. No one has to die.”
“I will never bend the knee to that bastard! Do you think Jace will? Do you think after everything that’s happened—after taking you, after Derek—he’ll just fling his sword away and fall at Kylian’s feet? You’re out of your mind.”
“So what’s your plan, Zadyn? Because right now we don’t have one.”
“We have you. We have a dragon.”
“Kylian said he has ways of dealing with Furi.”
“He’s bluffing.”
“What if he isn’t? Am I to risk her too? When we don’t know what he’s bringing through this portal? He ispowerful. I just watched him extinguish my fire like it was nothing more than a candle in the wind and then vanish into thin air, Zadyn. And I’m—I’m worried, okay?”
“There is no way in which this doesn’t end horribly. So what? We’re safe, but what about everyone else? Kylian is not the gentle giant type. He will burn through the kingdoms like a wildfire, no matter what he promises you.”
“I made a deal with him, Zadyn. It’s done.”
“Youwhat?”
“Before you came for me in Vod, we struck a deal. That I would marry him if he promised not to hurt you all.”
“Serena, what have you done? Faerie deals are binding.”
“I know that,” I snap. “I was doing what I thought was necessary. If I honor it, I keep you safe. That’s all I want—do you understand that?”
