What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(75)

I knew the moment she recognized the gash across Skye’s cheek, the way she held herself across the middle, as if she could barely support her weight. The signs of brutality ran deep, though Skye did her best to disguise them.

“Pick someone else,” Estrella said, wincing as soon as she spoke the words. She knew as well as I could that she couldn’t subject someone else to Mab’s cruelty.

That she could never make that choice.

“Give me a name,” Mab said, a serpentine smile transforming her mouth. She knew what she’d done. She knew this was the first way to stain Estrella’s soul.

To break her.

The choice would kill her, end all the good parts of her that remained.

“I forbid it,” I growled, the command echoing down the bond. I put every ounce of myself into it, watching the moment it struck Estrella in the chest. It came with a sort of bleak understanding as the magic washed over her.

Still, her lips peeled back in a snarl, her hatred of being told what to do battling with the fact that she knew it was for her own good. If she truly desired it, she could fight the command. She could fight the way the bond made those words meaningful.

It was something I intended to use very rarely, especially given the fact I couldn’t be sure who would win if we resorted to an all-out battle of wills.

I smiled, softening the harsh expression I’d adopted when I sent the command. Begging her to see—to understand that I would only command her when she was in danger. She could tolerate the pain, but the hit to her goodness would destroy her from the inside out.

Estrella’s snarl faltered, melting away as she studied me. Slowly, she nodded, stepping into my embrace when I held out my arms.

“Such a bore,” Mab drawled, rolling her eyes to the ceiling as she stepped away to find someone else to torment over the choice they’d made. I pulled my mate in a little tighter, holding her a little harder, knowing I’d played my part in condemning Skye to death.

If it saved Estrella’s soul, I would shoulder the weight of that decision every day.





24


Estrella


Caldris guided me up to my chambers, with Malachi at our backs. He’d been granted the opportunity to spend the night with me, and I had no doubt that it was meant to be another torturous moment.

That we were meant to spend the night knowing the coming days would be filled with death and blood, or what would have been death if the opponents had been human, anyway. It was a slow, delicious torture. Knowing that this night could very well be one of our last together if he was chosen as the sacrifice.

I supposed, in a way, every moment Caldris and I shared had been the same, that our entire relationship had been precarious and riddled with danger. The knowledge of that did nothing to calm my queasy stomach as I moved to the window. Nila had pulled back the curtains, leaving the white sands visible to me just outside the window.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Princess?” Nila asked, coming over to stand beside me. She didn’t touch me as I stared out at the white sand, shaking my head subtly.

“Will you draw her a bath please, Nila?” Caldris asked, his voice tempered.

I turned to find him staring at me, his eyes soft as he turned them to my handmaid.

“Of course,” she said, nodding as she hurried to do his bidding.

“I don’t want a bath,” I protested, flinching away when Caldris wrapped his arms around me.

He touched his fingers to the unblemished part of my throat, where Mab hadn’t replaced my collar for the night. I couldn’t help but wonder if Rheaghan held more influence over her than I’d initially suspected. If his protest of my treatment had actually made a difference, perhaps there was a way that could be used to our advantage.

Fallon was his niece. If he had any kind of loyalty to her…

I turned in my mate’s arms, facing the window once again. His fingers dropped to the laces at the back of my gown, loosening them until air filled my lungs slowly. It was easy to forget how much the corset had restricted my breathing once I’d adjusted to having less, but the sudden shift made me vow to never wear another.

The loosened fabric and boning shifted away from my skin, gaping at the front as I slid the narrow straps down my arms. It caught at my waist, the fitted waistline taking some maneuvering as I shimmied it down my thighs.

I headed for my bed, stepping out of my heels as I raised my feet to get over the pile of fabric. Caldris moved with me, scooping me up and carrying me away from the monstrous, comfortable bed to lower me into the warm water of the bath.

I glared up at him, crossing my arms over my chest as I settled into the basin, and he lowered his fingers to the laces on his tunic. “I said I didn’t want a bath.”

“You’re cold,” he said, as if my chilled skin was explanation enough.

“The furs on the bed would have been plenty to warm me,” I snapped, shifting as he stripped off his clothes and moved into the water on the opposite side of me.

Nila peeked her head out from the little room where she stored any supplies she might need, getting an eyeful of my mate’s ass as he moved. Caldris was unbothered, settling himself into the tub and turning to look at the blushing Sidhe woman with a kind smile as she spoke.

“Will you be needing anything else, my Princess?” she asked, bowing her head.

I couldn’t fault her entirely, knowing that Caldris’s presence was almost too much for me to bear sometimes. Even when he was clothed, he cut a formidable figure, but when he was naked and the corded lines of his muscle were open to view…