I hated that.
I hated more that I was grateful to be the one standing there.
“Astra Verita,” I said.
Her attention came back to me completely.
“Caspian Ashford,” she replied.
My name had never sounded right in my father’s mouth.
In hers, it sounded like something I might still be able to salvage.
My Mark answered so hard the basin water darkened around our hands.
Linden leaned forward but didn’t intervene.
“I am going to ask you a question,” I said. “You may refuse it.”
Astra arched a brow.
“How generous.”
There she was.
My smile broke the surface before Icould stop it.
My father saw that too.
He probably disliked it more than my refusal.
“Caspian Ashford,” Magnus boomed. “You will stop.”
The old answer moved again.
Obey.
I let it pass through me.
“I will not,” I said.
The words were plain.
Simple was sometimes harder than dramatic.
Quill’s voice cut in before my father could answer.
“If you proceed outside approved language, the Council cannot guarantee protection of the bond.”
Astra laughed once, small and bitter.
“There it is.”
Quill looked at her.
She kept her hand under mine and looked back.
“Protection,” she said. “You always say that right before you take something someone can never get back.”
