Sentries stepped into our path, forcing me to focus on them instead of the world seeming to close in around me.
“Vaeron, head of House Räviel, and Maelsar of House Caerelith request entry,” my mate called out. “We have with us a new Seer.”
“Ah, Her Radiance has been awaiting you. She’ll greet you in the rose garden,” the leader said, and the twist of his lips had unease raising the hairs on the back of my neck.
My mate’s shoulders, already straight and held with noble refinement, tensed. “As she wishes.”
The soldiers stepped aside, framing the road as we continued onward. I stole a glance at them as we passed, noting the gleam of their polished opaline armor. A sign of their purity and commitment to the Goddess.
My mate only wore midnight—a deep, defiant color. He’d even dressed me in the same, though it wasn’t nearly as dark. Seeing it contrasted here, him a shadow in a city of light, only reinforced that he was the ultimate predator in the Angel Realm.
Heavy metal gates swung open, revealing a lush garden. Apebbled path veered to the left, and Vaeron directed the cart along it. Ilae swooped down and landed beside my mate, clicking a series of notes. Then, he headbutted his master and flew away.
“Are you certain she doesn’t know?” he murmured to Maelsar, who perched beside him in the driver’s seat. He was my mate’s second-in-command, I’d learned after he’d held me in place so Vaeron could stick his fingers in my throat.
The warrior had joined us on the final day of our journey, the two of them speaking in low tones late into the night, their words the background to my nightmares of being caged in this palace and forced to See.
Nerves fluttered in my belly.
Was Vaeron asking Maelsar if his sister was aware of our bond already?
If she didn’t, would he reveal that we were mated immediately upon our arrival?
Fine fabric bunched in my fists. No matter how Vaeron had dressed me, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being an animal led to slaughter. The skirt covered my bound knee, hiding the worst of my injury, but a slip of fabric wasn’t enough to actually help me walk again. I still needed the crutches to maneuver.
And I hated that I would appear before the Korona looking like a helpless lamb.
Worry didn’t have long to worm into my mind. The divine scent of roses flooded my nostrils, so floral, so fresh, that I wanted to bury myself among it and lie for hours.
The wagon slowed to a crawl, then halted altogether. My mate wasted no time in leaping from the driver’s seat and rounding to the rear. He tugged the latches to the lip in tandem, dropping it with a thud. Vaeron held his hand out to me, so steady when my entire body quaked.
“Breathe,”he spoke into my mind. That one word anchoredme in the storm of my anxiety. I dragged in a lungful of humid air, then exhaled it slowly.
Hands on my waist, he lowered me to the ground. The place we touched seared, and the heat of his palms lingered even after he released me to grab the crutches.
My mate cradled my gaze as I secured them beneath my arms. Anguish twisted his lips, and he parted them like he wanted to say something.
A moment passed, then another. He sighed through his nostrils, jaw tightening, and forced his focus elsewhere. The mate who had kissed me languidly before we rose from bed that morning disappeared with a roll of his shoulders.
In his stead, the Issaraeth appeared. Cold. Calculating. Cruel.
Yet through our connection, I sensed the maw of rage opening. A protective, beastly anger that froze the air in my lungs. Because his face was smooth as glass otherwise.
I opened my mouth to ask him about the shift, but before I got the chance, his hand found my lower back, a light pressure guiding me forward.
The loose rocks beneath my feet made for slow going, but I managed not to slip as we approached the horses.
Beyond them, a line of elegant, well-dressed males and females waited.
From the nobles, a specter decended—a waiflike Angel, her hair the color of the mist that covered the forest, curled and falling to her waist. Atop her brow rested a crown of silver, glittering with diamonds so large I couldn’t have held them in my closed fist. Blue gems dripped from a collar around her throat, and the silk dress whispered over the ground as she stepped away from the soldiers that flanked her.
Somehow, she was far more terrifyingthan the group of them.
She stretched her arms out wide, flashing bracelets and rings, as she strode toward her brother.
“Vaeron,soglad you returned in one piece.” Yet despite the kindness of her words, sharpness edged them.
He left my side without hesitation, leaving the space beside me achingly empty. The Issaraeth approached his sister, dropping to his knees and flattening his palms over his heart. “Korona, I have completed the mission you requested of me. The most powerful Seers in the realm now rest under your watchful care.”
