The rest go home disappointed, but they can always try again nextGrievanceDay.
I don’t expect anything for myself, of course—Ididn’t come here to claim aGrievance.Icame forElowen—Ijust need to be sure she’s safe,Itell myself.
I spot her again as she reaches the second set of guards—the ones stationed at the great doors leading into theCourtitself.Shepauses only briefly before they let her pass, disappearing inside without looking back.
My chest tightens—that’s it.Onceshe gets inside, she’ll find a quiet corner.She’lldo the spell.Andthen?—
I won’t be here anymore.
I’ll be back in my village, sitting in the smoky dimness ofTheAnvilwith a tankard in my hand, listening to the usual bullshit and not thinking about anything more complicated than my next drink.
I’ll never have met her.Neverseen her.Nevertouched her.Neverknown what it feels like to have her look at me likeImatter.
Never changed the color of her eyes by accident,whispers an accusing little voice in my head.
I try to push it away, but the bitter thought is like a blade sliding between my ribs.
My vision goes red for a second, rage and grief surging up so fast and hard it almost takes me to my knees.Itisn’t just mine, either.MyDrakerises with it—a furious, wounded presence inside me, lashing out at the idea.
“No!Wecannot let her forget us!Sheis ours!”
“No,”Imutter under my breath, forcing my feet to keep moving asIapproach the second gate.“She’snot.Shecan’t be.”
“She is!”
MyDrake’svoice—my voice, twisted into something deeper, more primal—pushes back hard.“Weclaimed her.Wetasted her.Shebelongs to us.”
“She doesn’t belong to anyone,”Igrind out, my hands curling into fists at my sides.“Andeven if she did, it wouldn’t be me.”
“Why?”
The answer comes without hesitation, sharp and certain and absolute—becauseIwould break her.
Because a fullBondisn’t gentle.Itisn’t soft touches and slow kisses in the grass.It’sheat and need and claiming so deep it changes everything.It’stheDrakerising fully, taking over, demanding more than she could ever be ready to give.
Demandingeverything.
My sweet, curvy little priestess would be terrified.Idon’t want that—Ijust want her to be safe.
I reach the second gate and stride forward, my focus fixed on the doors she just passed through.Iwon’t lose sight of her—not yet.Notuntil she works the spell and we both go back in time.
The guards step aside asIapproach, though one of them watches me closely, his gaze flicking again to my horns.Iignore him, moving through without slowing.
And then…it happens.
A sound explodes through the air, so sudden and overwhelming it feels like it’s inside my skull.Thousandsof bells ringing all at once—high and sharp and deafening—crashing together in a chaotic, discordant chorus.
“Fuck!”
I clap my hands over my ears, the noise slicing through me, my heightened hearing turning it into pure agony.Myvision blurs for a second asIstagger, looking wildly around for the source.
What the hell?Isit some kind of alarm?Ithasto be.
A magical one, maybe—something to alert theCourtif someone tries to steal or sneak in where they shouldn’t.Iturn, searching for whateverI’vetriggered, my heart pounding, my instincts flaring.
But beforeIcan move—beforeIcan even take a step, hands are grabbing me.
One guard seizes my right arm, the other my left—their grips like iron as they lock onto me.
