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The stars shone down on him as exhaustion overtook his body. He barely registered the strong arms that lifted him, carrying him home. When he next opened his eyes he was being set, only semi-carefully, onto their sitting room rug. Blinking blearily, he caught a glimpse of Hemlock’s sharp gaze. >She’s alright?She seemed hopeful. Maybe even happy.<

Hemlock huffed a quiet laugh, tossing dry clothes and an extremely fluffy towel onto him. A smile tugged at his lips as he nodded and left Oleander to change.

Oleander managed to pull on clean clothes before he dragged himself into bed, burrowing under his covers before sleep overtook him once more.

Chapter

Forty

PERINE WILDER

She did not dream. Instead, darkness embraced her, soothing the restless worries of her mind, enfolding her in its velvet depths and cradling her gently, allowing her to finally have a moment of reprieve.

Then there were hands gripping her arms.

Yanking her up.

Dragging her from sleep.

Peri’s head lolled as voices blurred around her, gasping, calling for a healer. Her body refused to cooperate, limbs sluggish and heavy, her thoughts fogged over. She tried to protest, to tell them she needed to sleep—she was just tired. So tired.

But no one was listening.

Hands pulled her from her room. The floor shifted beneath her, and her muddled brain couldn’t make sense of where they were going. She stumbled, barely able to keep up with their pace. The world spun frantically around her, turning the corridor into a long, dizzying tunnel.

A flash of clarity.

Her father’s face—lined with concern.

Takar saying something.

Then the grip on her arms tightened—bruising, unyielding.

“She’s fine,” Valus said. “I’ll take care of her. That’ll be my job in a few minutes anyway. She can make it until then.”

A slow wave of horror crawled through Peri. Even through the thick haze in her mind, she knew.

It was Valus holding her.

Her breath hitched. She twisted in his grip, trying to pull away, but his hands only clamped down harder.

The dizziness surged. Her vision blurred and swam, and nausea curled through her gut, sharp and inescapable.

A familiar voice, cold and displeased, cut through the haze.

“Alright, let’s get this mating ceremony over with so I can go home.”

Peri pitched forward and vomited.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her shaking hand and looked up.

Moloch sneered down at her. “Is she ill?”

She tried to focus on the voices around her, but they warped together into a low hum, indistinct and useless. Frantically, she searched for her father.

Then—his arm came around her back. Strong. Reassuring. She melted into it, relief crashing over her.