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“Let me be clear,” I said, my voice like a whip. “I will choose her over every one of you.”
“I am not an enemy you want, Eiran, but for her, I will become whatever I have to.”
“And all I’m doing is trying to save my mate.” I met him head-on even as murmurs rippled through the council. The word settled hard into the room, and it seemed to draw the very breath from each of their lungs as they stared at me in disbelief. “Mates are from storybooks.” My father cocked his head slightly as if he could see through me, see the lies he believed I told. “And we have grown tired of your lies.” “She is my mate.” I said each word slowly, letting them land as hard as I intended. “She is bound to me as I am bound to her.”
“You are not just the daughter of Marmoris, Verena. You are a daughter of Veyrith, the last daughter, and I bound your power to protect you. I bound your magic so it wouldn’t awaken until you found safety in someone who wanted you to have power, but did not wish to use it.”
When shadow swallows the golden throne, And rivers run dry where magic has flown., The cursed shall rise with fate-bound hands, A tethered soul to shifting sands. Born of ruin, blood, and war, Bound to take yet cursed to mourn. The tideborn’s gift, bound in chain, To break the bond or bind again.
“If you put her in a cell,” Dacre snarled, his voice thick with something dark and dangerous. “If any of you lay a single finger on her, I will burn this city to the ground.”
I met my father’s gaze, felt the weight of the choice ahead. He saw it too. This was no longer his rebellion. This was hers. “We either rise, or we drown.”
“The rest of the kingdom will fall to their knees before you, Verena.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss just below my belly button before he stared up at me. “But please allow me to be the first.”
“You are my father, but if you dare speak of my wife like that again, I will slit your throat and paint this city in your blood.”
“I should have known,” I murmured, my lips brushing against her skin, “that even as my queen, you would still be a little traitor.”
