“Maybe I should stay with her.”
The words left my mouth before my brain approved them. It was the raw truth of what I’d been thinking since the moment we stepped through the portal.
Solomon turned.
I’d seen Solomon angry before. In centuries of existence, the man had perfected controlled fury. But I’d never seen his composure crack. Not once in my entire life.
It cracked now.
“You want to play savior to her?” The words came out low, jagged, a register I’d never heard. “You want to go back, defy the council, defy your king, and do what exactly? Hold her hand while the Order maps our defenses through her?”
“I want to not abandon our mate.”
“You’ll be banished as a rogue. Stripped of your position, everything you’ve built. And for what?”
“It didn’t have to be this way. You just chose it.”
“Because someone had to.”
“We’re hurting her!” The yell bounced off the stone walls and echoed down the corridor. Two guards at the far end snapped toward us. “She’s alone with a man who wants to destroy us, the bond is killing her, and you’re standing here talking about duty and sacrifice and you’re out of your mind, Solomon, you’ve completely lost your-”
His fist connected with my jaw before I finished the sentence.
The hit was precise. A single punch that snapped my head sideways and sent a bright burst of pain through my skull. I staggered and caught myself on the wall.
Solomon stood three feet away with his fist still clenched and his chest heaving.
“IknowI’m hurting her. You think you’re better than us? You think I don’t feel it? You think I can’t feel her through the bond right now, fading, reaching for us, hitting walls we put there?” His composure lay in shards on the stone floor. “You think this waseasy?”
Lucian was between us in a heartbeat. His hand on Solomon’s chest, pushing him back firmly.
“Enough,” Lucian said, quiet enough to end a war.
Solomon’s jaw worked. He looked at me. At the bruise already forming, the blood at the corner of my mouth. The anger cracked open and what I saw beneath it was worse. Grief. The specificgrief of a man who’d just hit the closest thing he had to a little brother.
“There are other things involved,” Solomon said, his voice steadied but raw. “Things you don’t understand yet.”
“Then explain them.”
“Not here.” His eyes moved to the guards. “Not now.”
“You need to grow up, Percival.” The full name landed a second punch. Solomon only used it when he meant business. “Not everyone has the luxury of choosing with their heart.”
He turned and walked away. Lucian’s hand remained on my chest until Solomon’s footsteps faded around the corner.
“What was that about?” I asked.
Lucian didn’t answer. His expression is one that I’d only seen a handful of times in two centuries. A king who knew more than he could say.
“Give him time,” Lucian said. Then he followed Solomon down the corridor and left me with blood on my chin and the muted bond aching in my chest.
***
The window in my quarters overlooked the Glowwood. I sat on the sill with my back against the stone frame, one leg dangling. A leather practice ball rested in my palm, tossing it up and catching it in a cycle.
The bruise on my jaw had turned purple. Solomon didn’t pull his punch. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to regenerate fast or let it stay and taste the pain.
I heard the door open behind me. Lucian’s scent followed with the staleness of a man who hadn’t slept in days.
