Freya watches me with a complicated expression that I can’t work out.
I want her to rage like Daire is. Scream, shout, hit me.
I’d understand that.
Accept it.
Just anything but her breaking our bond.
Please, don’t let her break our bond.
“Did you know?” Freya asks, quietly. “Was this whole thing a set up?”
“I could simply tell you that it wasn’t,” I answer with a calm that I’m not feeling. “But that’s not proof. It’s why I didn’t enter your dreams earlier. Atticus’ attempt to seize power for himself in the Borderlands by defeating Lan and killing my fated mates, would have given him the power in my kingdom or else, created civil war. It was urgent that I discover who sold you out from within the court. I have barely slept, working with my network of spies and interrogators.”
“And my sleep has been just perfect, aye?” Daire drawls, slamming the tip of his wing against my neck like a blade.
I have seen his glorious wings dripping in blood during battles.
It distracts me to see them white like his curls. It makes my eyes swirl, as Hadrian rises up, darkly possessive to see my uncle’s mask on Daire’s face. I itch to rip it off and replace it with my own.
In this cavern, Daire had beenmyMasked Fae.
In the future, when he is back where he should be at my shoulder in the Draca Kingdom, I will keep him always masked in gold.
“Why are you smiling?” Daire snarls.
“Because,” I lean forward to whisper against his ear, “in a dragon’s dreamscape,theyare thegod.”
Daire blinks. “Whatever gets you off.”
That’s it.
Sparks spray from my horns.
I imagine chains winding out of the walls of the cavern, and instantly, they do.
Too fast for Daire to react, the golden chains wrap around his waist and drag him up into the air, before others drop from the roof to snake around his wrists.
He thrashes, dangling from the glittering roof like an ensnared dove.
I grimace.
“Stop,” Freya yells, rushing forward.
I raise my hand, and an invisible barrier shimmers in the air between Freya and me.
I regret that her rose scent is cut off from me and the way that her gentle gaze has hardened to fury.
Instead, she bangs on the barrier, howling wildly. “Let me throughnow.”
Regretfully, I shake my head. “I need you both to listen to me.”
“I can do that without the bondage.” Daire flaps his wings. “I bloody enjoy it when you allow out Hadrian. I understand that bastard. But this…? You’re reminding me more of Maximinus.”
My face drains of color, as though I've been stabbed.
A leather gag forms instantly in Daire’s mouth. I don’t even do it on purpose; it’s instinct.
