A fleeing couple cried out, light magic exploding from them in an attempt to shield themselves against the oncoming group.
One horse reared, his scream echoing through the clearing. His rider gripped his long, black mane, mouth set into a firm, furious line.
My hand flew to my throat. My vision tunneled into a single pinprick, focused solely on the male I’d seen far too many times—but only ever in the torturous throes of my power.
Iron-gray hair. Scarred brow. Eyes colder than a glacier.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t coerce my feet into unsticking from the ground. Horror had pierced my toes to the soft grass beneath my feet.
No. No. No. Please no. It can’t be him…
The lake shimmered beside him. But to me, it was a mirror shattering. A thousand shards of my fate. Glittering. Falling. Too late to catch.
After all this time, I finally knew who my mate was.
The male who haunted countless visions. Who drove me to drug my mind into silence.
The male the Goddess cursed to be mine.
The Issaraeth.
And so the breaking began.
2
Ican’t let him catch me.
That sole thought shattered the icy grip terror had over my legs. Zuriel’s next tug had me following like an obedient hound. My lungs burned as I pumped my arms in an attempt to keep up with his long stride and close the distance with Heraphia.
The couple’s screams stabbed into my back. They wouldn’t fight back. Didn’t know how. None of the Elessarum did—it went against our peaceful mandate.
They’d simply be captured and either executed or exploited, depending on whether the Issaraeth deemed their magic worthy. Pacifist Angels were traitors to the crown, after all.
But I couldn’t think about them.
Tall grass whipped at my legs. Heraphia leaped over a fallen log. In ten steps, I did the same.
“To the left,” Zuriel shouted, and we veered deeper into thewood. Brush thickened, which would make it difficult for the riders to follow us.
For my mate to follow us.
Bile rose in my throat. I shoved thoughts of him aside. So long as our eyes didn’t meet, he’d never know I existed. For Angels, that was all it took for our bonds to snap into place. One single moment, faster than a strike of lightning, where two souls bared themselves to one another. Two souls the Goddess had determined should exist as one in this world and all the others.
My vision blurred. My stomach heaved.
I stumbled to a stop.
“What are you doing?” Zuriel snapped, grinding to a halt.
I opened my mouth to speak, but vomit came out instead.
Heraphia was there, rubbing soothing circles into my back. “Love, I don’t want to be insensitive, but now is really not the time. We need to keep moving.”
I dragged my wrist across my mouth and gulped air. “I know.”
But when her aquamarine irises caught mine, concern simmered in them. “Why are you throwing up?”
