“The kraken?” Julian and Eloise said at the same time, him in surprise, her in disgust.
“—hope that however many years trapped down here haven’t left him so insane with loneliness and murderousness that he’ll actually listen to—”
“He’ll listen to me. He’ll be mymate,” Eloise snarled.
“That’s what’s in the vial, is it?” Francine paused a moment, then let her expression crack. “That’s … clever,” she said, the barest hint of a tremble in her voice.
Eloise jumped on the bait like a lioness on a wounded deer.
*Go. Please go.*Julian was begging her. *I can’t let her free the Soul-Eater. But I can’t lose you. This is the only way.*
*But you’d let me leave here without you?*
*You don’t—*He winced and looked away for a second before his gaze pulled back to hers, like the earth in orbit around the sun. *I know the nascent bond is stronger on my end. I’m the one who’s been stopping it from forming. You—you don’t have to pretend with me.*
*I’ve been stopping it, too,* she told him. *It’s almost the hardest thing I’ve ever done.*
*But—*
*We agreed to wait. Each for our own, self-sacrificing, miserable reasons. I wasn’t about to force anything on you that you didn’t want.*She laughed out loud, and Eloise stopped partway through whatever she was saying, confused. *Except for kidnapping you.*
*Except for kidnapping me.* His voice was soft with wonder. “Francine, you…”
“You didn’t want the bond to form.”
“I didn’t want—”
“Because when shadow dragons bond with their mates, their mates gain their magic. Not just the ability to walk in the shadows.Allof it. You didn’t want to trap me outside, only to have me wander back in of my own accord as all the walls came tumbling down around us.”
Guilt tinged the edges of his thoughts. *Correct as ever, Ms. Delacourt.*
*Do you want to save me?*
*I—*
*BecauseIwant to saveyou.*
“Are you even listening to me? Stopstaringat each other and look atme!”Eloise screamed.
*You’ve made it your life’s duty to save the rest of us,*Francine told him, holding his gaze. *So let me save you. Please.*
His eyes widened. Silver streamed between them, a cord made from a thousand twining strands—every thread they had cut before it could bind them together, twisting together to become even stronger.
The mate bond.Theirbond. The way it should have been from the beginning.
Peace washed through her. Her senses expanded, like breathing into a new set of lungs. All the ancient enchantments that had held the fortress together, here beneath the rock and ice, for a thousand years. A spider’s web of magic.
And those senses showed her something that burned that moment of peace to the ground.
“The fortress is disintegrating,” she gasped.
“Faster than I thought it would,” Julian agreed. “Our escape route is cut off.”
“What?” Eloise shrieked.
“And—” Julian’s eyes widened. “No—not yet—”
Ice shattered. Francine was on her knees, Julian above her. She looked up.
