My mind flashed to the day Hudson had jumped into a literal hellhole to save me. “Is Hudson at risk?” I asked.
Liz tilted her head. “You are the first documented Roberts woman to fall for a shifter. The mating bond, while predictable for shifters, is a complex element for you. Our current thinking is that it would never put either of you at risk.”
“Unless one of us wrongly believed taking the power would protect the other,” I muttered.
Dayna held up both hands. “There’s a loophole. Not quite a cure, but more a… clause. Mary, the more powerful wife, wrote in a counter-weave that can happen if certain conditions are met. It’s rare and messy, but it’s there, hidden in the subtext.”
Liz tilted her chin in the air. “The conditions are insane.” She air-quotedconditionsto ensure she communicated her feelings about them.
“I love insane,” Rebecca said. “Go on.”
I did not. I wanted routine, calmness, and for the biggest decision of the day to be which shirt I wore, not which world I saved.
Dayna counted on her fingers. “One: consent from both parties, spoken and sealed. Real consent, not ‘I suppose so.’ Two: a truth witnessed by a member of the line. Any of us qualifies. Three: a gift, freely given, from the one who holds the rights to channel the power.”
I stared. “You want me to give Hudson a… what? A gift certificate forDon’t Panic, I’ll Never Drain You?”
“It has a nice ring,” Rebecca murmured.
Liz shook her head. “You can’t be explicit in any of these conditions. Hudson would need to stay in the dark. Otherwise, you’d encounter unpredictable power imbalances and most likely close off that loophole forever. Magic knows when it’s being manipulated.”
“I don’t want information about the future of the curse. I need it about the history. There’s clearly more to it, since you’ve already uncovered a loophole. Why would she even put that in? And more importantly, how can I use this to help us wrest control from Eloise?”
Liz pressed her lips together and glanced at the floor. What now? “Spit it out,” I snapped.
“There is a fourth condition,” she said. “An exchange.”
Dayna winced. “I wasn’t going to mention that.”
“An exchange of what?” I asked, flicking my gaze between my aunts.
“Of risk,” Liz murmured. “You anchor half of the cost in yourself. He anchors the other half in himself. Then if either of you were tempted to pull the other’s power, it would give you a not-so-subtle kick.”
Rebecca’s gaze unfocused. “Like a prenuptial for power. You’d both be affected and receive backlash.”
Liz slapped a hand on the desk. “If it fails to break the curse, it will result in pain every time either of you wields power. A reminder that you meddled with a curse not made to be broken. It’s made to doom you both, to foster resentment, not love. I forbid it. As you say, this doesn’t help our goals.”
“It keeps her alive,” Dayna said. “If he loses control?—”
“He won’t,” I snapped. Acid coated my tongue, and my vision blurred. “He—” My throat tightened and flashes of memory spun in my mind. The Hound circling me with a blade as he decided where the next cut should land. My voice breaking against a scream that wouldn’t summon my savior anytime soon. He did come… but it was too late. My body was alive, but my mind had checked out and fought against those trying to persuade me to stay. I just wanted peace, and they were tearing it from my bloodied fingers.
I shook my head, dispelling the memories, and took a breath. “I appreciate the research and the cabbage rolls. But what I do not appreciate is feeling like a body you are planning around. I am not a battlefield. I am a person. You cannot continue to move me like a chess piece, keeping me in the dark from nightmares that find me, regardless.”
Dayna’s face crumpled. “We know, Cora.”
“Do you?” I asked. It came out sharper than intended. “Because right now, I am a thesis. A problem. A project. And that’s before we get to the part where my mate is—” Absent. A liar. A thief. “Busy.”
“Do not mistake his absence for neglect,” Sophia warned. “He’s giving you the space to make decisions.”
“Seriously? Because he disappears when the choices are linked to food choices and reappears to assert himself in my life decisions. I’m drowning in a world set to implode and being distracted by cabbage rolls.” My heart thudded. “If the weddingis important to him, then he can make the thousand decisions while I concentrate on the impending war.”
Rebecca took my hand, cool fingers anchoring me. “I can take the weight of the wedding decisions,” she murmured. “Whatever you need.”
“She needs to be present for her future,” Dayna pointed out. “And stable.”
I shot her a look. They had already decided on my strength and stability when they stole that which haunts me. They didn’t respect me, not one bit. Everyone wanted to control me.
The temperature in the room changed by a few degrees, enough that everyone noticed. Aunt Dayna’s curls lifted in an unfelt breeze. The wards pricked, alert. Bella’s fur rose along her spine, and she did that soundless hiss cats make when they have seen the end of days and weren’t a fan of the future.
