One of them hit her before I could tell her to stop time. I could have gotten her out of here, but now I am stuck.
“Give over the girl, Endymion,” my father says harshly. “Now.”
I grit my teeth and make no move to step forward.
“She belongs to me,” I say. “You should have known that the day I signed those engagement papers. She was promised to me. You can’t just take her away.”
“I can’t see her path.”
He steps forward. Not many people know what the Supreme Director’s powers are. It isn’t publicized, but the truth is that he is a Psychic—he sees the future. Every outcome is orchestrated to ensure he wins and remains in power. If the people knew, they would find it hard to trust a man who controls the game, who plays them like pawns on a board.
“And the second you tied your life to hers, I couldn’t see yours either,” the Supreme Director says. “I worked hard to build you into a leader worthy of continuing my legacy. But the moment you met her, your future changed.Shealtered it.”
He was blind to this. He never saw her coming. Haven was an anomaly.
He must hate that he can’t control her, and in extension, me.
“I reckon it is because she manipulates time that it hides her,” he muses. “Time and fate are so deeply intertwined that it is impossible to separate them. Our gifts are mirror-reflections of the other.”
Yet his was not considered ‘illegal’. Everything is rigged in his favor.
We were never meant to win because he always controlled the game.
“Give me the girl,” he demands.
“What are you going to do with her?”
He is silent. His lack of words speaks volumes.
“No.” I shake my head. “I’ll fix her. I’ll make her loyal, but I won’t give her to you.”
“I was afraid you would say that,” he says, disappointed. “We made adjustments to your Bind.”
“What?” I whisper. Unease slides down my stomach.
“It means in the next few minutes you will hold no attachment to the girl you protect,” he says with a satisfied look. “You will serve with no obstruction.”
I touch my neck, feeling where the implant is. Is this what the rebels feared when they rejected the Bind? Did they know that my father intended to turn it into a tool for control?
I feel foolish for trusting him when he said it was to ensure that powers were not used for destruction. Haven must have known this all along. Her mother was a researcher; she must have worked on it.
Is that why she protected Haven and rigged her test results? So, she could never be controlled by my father, by the regime.
“I’ll tear it out,” I warn. “I’ll die before I let you turn me against her. Haven Warrick ismine.”
I reach for the blade at my hip and press it to my throat, digging till I feel blood trickle down my flesh. It is impossible to remove the Bind. The second, one attempts it, it explodes in their flesh. It is a ticking bomb.
But I would rather die than hurt Haven. This is how I protect her. This is how I keep her safe.
I ensure that I never become the weapon my father wields against her.
The tip digs deeper, cutting through flesh, and my father’s brow raises in alarm.
“You are being unreasonable,” he says, between curled lips. “All this pain and misery will be gone. It is not a change to be feared, but rather embraced.”
“I was loyal,” I roar. “I gave you everything. I ask for one thing, and you deny me!”
His face tightens. “She will lead you down the wrong path. She will turn you against everything you believe in. Already she has softened you; she hasruinedyou.”
