Why warn and threaten me to stay away from his sister only to take me to bed the next moment?
Because I won’t. And I told him that I wouldn’t.
His sister is to be my Maiden. The name carving ritual was done with their father the night I met with him, linking our fates.
Hopefully, he’ll understand that there’s no running away from fate soon.
My mate is going to drive me insane.
I’ve been gone for months, waiting until my Maiden’s twenty-first birthday to go back and pick her up to bring her home with me.
And he came here twice.
Two times, he’s given me options to try and undo the Maiden’s ritual. Two times he offered for us to seek Witches help to dissolve our mating bond, growing stronger with each passing day.
And two times, we ended up wrapped around each other in either my bed or the forest, his sister still my promised Maiden and him still my reluctant mate.
But I’m growing frustrated with his behavior, and I fear our last goodbye may have made things worse.
I shouldn’t have threatened to keep his sister as a prisoner if he kept pushing me away. Shouldn’t have threatened to forbid him to visit once she was finally here.
Because I didn’t mean any of that, and it certainly strengthened his belief that I was, in fact, like my despicable father.
I’m on my way to pick my Maiden up. I haven’t seen my mate in months, since I made those empty threats.
I hope he’ll forgive my harsh words. I hope that we’ll speak, and that he’ll give me a chance to apologize for everything I said.
Something isn’t right.
Alekrander and Nefertari are looking at me like I’m some insane child. My Maiden has apparently never existed and they swear they only have one offspring.
My mate is nowhere to be found.
Alekrander feels…strange. Like he’s not the man he used to be. They say my Mate is now the head of his own clan and left just a few days ago.
How dare he have a transfer ceremony without inviting me? Even if I weren’t his mate, I’m the chief of the Dragon’s clans. The Shard Carrier.
And yet, I can still feel him. I know he’s far away, but the bond linking us together is pulling me to him.
And my Maiden’s name is still carved in my skin.
I don’t know what is happening, but once I find him—or her—I’ll need some serious explanations.
She’s fucking gone.
My matehelpedher escape. With her fucking lover that turned out to be her own mate.
And, to top things off, the Soul shard was probably gone with her.
I needed to find Anastasia. I needed to give the shard back to Aghen. Because a woman couldn’t be the Shard Carrier without risking war between the Astral clans.
And if she didn’t have it?
It meant that the Phoenixes would go extinct. Without the Phoenix Shard, the Astrals would weaken against the rising forces of the Divines and Hellrisers. And they’d finally manage to decimate us, one species after the next, like they’ve been trying to do forever.
Chapter 27
Carter
