“You plan to mark her, make her your mate?” he baited, tilting his head.
“I didn’t know you cared so much about who warmed my bed,” I repliedsarcastically.
“It is of no interest to the Council who you have relations with, but it is of great interest whom the High Lord marks as his mate, as she would have monthly obligations we would oversee, of course, per Holy Law,” he snarled, driblets of spit forming at the corners of his mouth.
I loathed these zealots and their obsession with controlling carnal pleasures. If I were to mark Delilah and the Council found out, they would enforce the Law of Flesh and make sure Aurelius and Cercies fulfill their monthly duties, most likely in front of all seven members. Perverted fucks. I was not sure if I was okay with that now. After seeing the way Aurelius had hesitated to let go of her, he had been fighting feelings of possessiveness. That had never happened before when we had shared other females. Was I fighting feelings of possessiveness too?
She wasn’t the feeble, pathetic mortal to me now. She was Delilah, a dragon-riding queen, and after what she said to me right before Prisca barged in, “I’m yours,” her words still rattled around in my mind and tightened my chest.
Caddver continued, “You best respect Holy Law, Lord Titus, or you will start a civil war over a pathetic mortal.”
My flames ripped through my skin. From my shoulders down to my hands, my flesh ignited with furious, rolling embers. How dare he call her that. I know I had called her worse, but that was different. I had my reasons. I grabbed his feeble neck in my hand. It was so frail I could snap it easily. It was so tempting.
“You will address her as Lady Delilah, Council Member Caddver,” I snarled through gritted teeth.
A look of satisfaction took shape on his wrinkled face. He knew by my anger that I harbored something for Delilah, and I
fell right into his trap, showing my hand. Fuck. I released him abruptly. He straightened his crimson robe and pulled the hood overhis head, covering most of his face in shadow. His yellow, rotted teeth and black gums were all that remained visible.
“Good luck in the Kingdom of Terrain, My Lord,” he said dismissively. I did not dignify his statement with a response. He walked down the opposite corridor, and I turned, picked up Cercies’ scent, and followed it once again.
CHAPTER 18
Fated Mates
DELILAH
Ihad just slipped into a restful sleep when I heard my door open. I jolted awake to find a very distraught Calpurnia. Her breath was heavy, and she seemed to be shaking. She looked as though she had seen a ghost. She shut the door behind her, leaned against it, and began to nervously shake her hands as if she were flinging water from them. She looked down at the floor and exhaled a long, shaky breath.
Concerned for my friend, I quickly climbed out of bed, even though my fatigued body wasn’t happy about it.
“Cal? Are you all right? What happened?” I said, trying to sound comforting. She continued to pant and shake as if she hadn’t heard my question. I steadied her trembling hands with my own and looked up into her eyes.
“Calpurnia? Tell me!” I tried again.
She exhaled a long, slow breath, swallowed, and met my eyes with her big amber orbs.
“I…I… think I found my fated mate!” she said, stumbling over the words at first, but when she finished, her voice was focused and deliberate, as if she had been scanning every piece of information her mind held to understand what had just happened to her.
“What! Are you serious? Who? Wait, what is afatedmate?” I asked.
She calmed herself, cleared her throat, and began to explain. “Most high Fae create a mate bond with a chosen partner because fated mates are extremely rare. A fated mate is the other half of your soul in another person, and once you find each other, the pull is so magnetic, one of the most powerful forces known to our realm. We believe it is a predestined match set up by the Guardians themselves. I read many stories about it as a girl, but I never thought it would be my reality. I’m just a servant, and he’s… he’s a General.”
“The General? As in Cercies?” I swallowed the lump in my throat. Guilt forced bile up from my gut.
“Yes!” Her eyes beamed, and her smile exposed almost every white, sparkling tooth. She continued, “I’ve only heard about him but never seen him in person before. He rarely comes to the castle because he is stationed at Dragon’s Maw.”
She began to pace around the room, looking down at the floor, talking expressively with her hands, and increasing the speed of her words.
“I was summoned to help the fire sprites carry breakfast all the way up to the war room. I walked to the buffet table in the back, and when I was setting down a tray, I felt these eyes dig into my back. It was like a shockwave that flooded all my senses. Like an earthquake that only I could feel. It was so intense that it frightened me, so I slowly turned around, and then I saw the General’s eyes locked onto mine,and he looked just as startled as I did. That’s how I knew...he felt it too.”
She broke from the circular path she had been pacing moments ago and sat on the windowsill ledge. She stared out through the glass, longing. Her golden amber eyes burned with pain. I slowly approached and took a seat beside her. She began to cry.
“I’m a low-born, powerless servant, and he’s a high-born General who isn’t allowed a mate. The Guardians can be so cruel,” she said, while tears welled at her waterline.
My eyes began to mirror hers, as if crying could be contagious, but I knew mine were genuine. My tears came from the unrelenting ache in the pit of my stomach. Only a couple of hours ago, Cercies had been all over me and I had enjoyed it. Should I tell Cal what happened in the lounge? I did not have any feelings for him. I knew that for sure. Cercies is a military mastermind and the second sexiest Fae male I had ever seen, but he had the emotional intelligence of a potato. I began to say, “Cal, I’m so sor—”
(BOOOOM!)
