What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(33)

“I don’t know what she is,” Caldris said immediately, Mab’s control over him tearing the words from his throat. He gritted his teeth against them, fighting back as I barely resisted the urge to grab Mab’s hand and throw her off him.

“Then I’ll have to figure it out for myself. How brutal these tests become will depend entirely on you and your mate,” Mab said, removing her finger from Caldris and stepping away. She looked at me, raising her brows as if she waited for me to protest. I knew that nothing I did would stop her from getting answers, and nothing would prevent her from brutalizing me to do so.

“Use me instead. She’s just as likely to respond to my pain as her own,” Caldris said, making me snap my head to look at him. I shouldn’t have been shocked that he would volunteer himself to suffer instead of me, not after all the times he’d chosen his own pain to protect me, but this was different.

“No,” I said, ignoring Mab’s twisted laughter in the background. I stared at my mate, refusing to allow him to make such a sacrifice. Pain was one thing, the guilt of knowing Caldris’s pain was my fault was another.

“You two are so dreadfully predictable. If you both sacrifice yourselves for the other, who am I to play with?” she asked, lifting her finger to her face. She tapped that long, black nail against her cheek thoughtfully, studying us intently. “Perhaps both?” she asked, looking over at where Malachi waited in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I like both,” he agreed, a cruel smile lighting his face.

I leveled him with a glare, repeating the promise I’d made to kill him in my head and only pausing for a moment to question that humanity I wanted to cling to. That deep well within me seemed to throb with need, like it was thirsty for the blood of those who wanted to harm my mate.

I didn’t want to think about that well, about the emptiness that lurked there waiting to strike.

Caldris’s fingers turned to ice, freezing the fabric of my dress with his anger. I didn’t look up to follow the path of his gaze, knowing instinctively that I would find it settled upon Malachi. Caldris was limited in what he could do to fight Mab, but Malachi was less of a hardship.

Mab interrupted the moment, drawing my attention back to her as she cleared her throat. “I meant every word when I said it did not need to be like this. I’ve no interest in being your enemy, Little Mouse. Not when we would be so much stronger united.”

It might not have been a lie, but it felt like one. A lie by omission, at the very least. It was such a Faerie game to play that I snorted, shaking my head in annoyance.

“And what happens if I do not cooperate?” I asked, putting the reality out there for all of us to acknowledge. Caldris and I both knew that Mab’s interest in me meant she could never know the truth of my magic.

I couldn’t give her the bow with which she would launch the arrow that ruined the world.

“Then you will not see him. Perhaps if I grow tired of your antics, I will send him away or allow my companions to enjoy him as they once did. I do not suggest we explore that option if we can avoid it,” she said, studying me as I nodded simply. It was no less than I’d expected, though her constant willingness to wield rape as a weapon only worsened my opinion of her. “What? No thank you for the kindness I have shown you? Where are your manners?”

“I know better than to thank a Faerie for anything. My human sensibilities will only get me into trouble here,” I answered, causing her to raise a brow at me in a moment of respect. She turned toward the ornate door, allowing Malachi to lead the way.

“Enjoy your night together. We begin tomorrow, Little Mouse. I suspect it will not be pleasant for you.” With those final words, she retreated through the door, leaving Malachi to lock us in together from the outside.

One night.





10


Caldris


Estrella turned to me the moment the lock finished turning, her eyes wide as she pressed closer into my chest. I wanted nothing more than to rip the shackles from her wrists, to allow her to heal the wounds they’d left behind. To bind her in such a way for a prolonged period of time was unnecessarily cruel, especially when Mab would need to release her from the irons if she wanted to explore Estrella’s magic at all the next day.

My fingers coasted over the sharp edges of the iron, nearly brushing against her raw, burned skin.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, shaking my head. I couldn’t believe I’d been foolish enough to think I could tuck her away before Mab learned of her existence. I’d failed to protect the one thing that was the most important to me in this world, and perhaps Mab was right in some ways.

Death would probably be the humane fate compared to what waited for us, and perhaps we were better off with Estrella killing me in my sleep. With our blood vow, she’d follow me into the Void.

“Don’t,” Estrella mumbled, touching her forehead to my chest. She drew in a deep breath, wincing when the scent of the dungeon filled her lungs. “You stink.”

“I am the God of the Dead, Little One. Does my very nature make you uncomfortable?” I asked, smirking as I ran a hand through her hair.

She tipped her face up, giving me her eyes as a playful little smirk toyed at her mouth.

“We both know that you do not normally smell of the decay of death. I want you to smell like you when you take me to bed,” she said, lifting her hands.