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“He has a tendency to run off, but if you see him, feel free to strongly encourage him to stay the fuck away from me.”
“My dragon hasn’t claimed him, Lorn. I don’t have a fucking dragon!” “Ever, you are a fucking dragon! Just because you can’t reveal or manifest affinities doesn’t change what you are at your core. Aeson is your Bonded Mate and you’re his.”
“I know you’ve been fighting practically your whole life, Ever, but you don’t have to fight him. Aeson is the best male I know, next to our father. He’d do anything for you, but not if you won’t let him in. I know you think you’re doing what’s right, that your silence and impenetrable walls are protecting you, but at what cost? You’re not alone now. Let your mate help. Let us help, as your new family.”
His offer both touches and terrifies me. It sounds so simple, and yet the opposite is true.
Aeson Noctis is my Bonded Mate. My. Bonded. Mate.
“I thought bad ideas were your bread and butter,” he replies nonchalantly. “What’s one more to add to the list of many?”
“I can handle your sharp edges, Claws. Now be still before you set off my prey drive and we give the audience a very different kind of show.”
“Cut me. Hurt me. Destroy me. I’ll happily bleed for you, Ever. Every drop is yours already.”
Our relationship so far has been rooted in mistrust, posturing, and testing the waters, but we don’t have to continue down that path, not if we don’t want to. He’s giving us a chance to recalibrate and move forward from a place of mutual understanding and sincerity. He’s giving me the illusion of choice, even though we both know it doesn’t really exist, and it warms the dark recesses of my broken little heart.
“That doesn’t scare me, Claws. I like a challenge,” he professes, the glint in his gaze eager and determined. “I’m counting on it,” I murmur,
“You may not know this about me yet, Claws, but I’m a man of my word. I do not make idle threats, and I do not back down…ever.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll send a wish you were here postcard to your blue balls when I’m done.”
“You want to own my orgasms?” I dispute. “Then earn the privilege. I’m not agreeing to shit unless I know I’m in good hands. Then we can talk.”
I know this will change things, shift things, and as stupid as it is, as selfish as this choice will undoubtedly be, I’m making it.
“Your dragon feels the same way that you do…like you were made for me and me you. Like the metric of my happiness rests solely on yours. Like I could never be complete without you by my side.”
Because I can feel his dragon. It’s coiled in the center of everything he is, and somehow…wrapped around everything that I am too. Realization falls into me, stealing my breath. I don’t think Aeson Noctis is my Bonded Mate. I think he might be my Soul Tied.
“I’ve been here for weeks, and not one of you assholes has bothered to ask me what I want out of all of this, or even how I feel about it. You’ve ordered me around, lectured me, made decisions on my behalf, treated me like I’m nothing more than a pawn or a puppet, and then had the audacity to get mad at me for protecting myself, for ensuring that I get what I need from this fucked-up situation.”
“If you want to be pissed, go for it, but aim that shit at each other where it belongs. I’m doing what I’ve always done. I’m surviving. I’m looking out for myself because no one else is. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to pack…and
“But Aeson,” I call as he turns to leave, “you’re my mate not my master. Be sure you don’t get those two mixed up, or you’ll be nothing to me at all.”
“We know you’re more than capable of guarding your front, especially with your new arsenal, but know we’ll always be here to help guard your back. Happy Naming Day.”
It doesn’t matter if we’re Bonded or Tied if neither of us will ever trust the other, and it’s clear that’s off the table. My dragon rumbles a disagreement, but I’m obviously more pragmatic.
I’ve gambled with the king to save my people; now it’s time to see if that gamble pays off.
“They’re no butter knives, but they’ll do,”
“I know we gave you shit about wanting weapons, Frills, but if I’d known you’d look like that wearing them…wooo eeee,
“In my experience, it’s never a good idea to get your hopes up; life proves to be less disappointing that way.”
“Of course I’m up to something, I’m trying to break this stars-forsaken curse.
want to be whole. I want what was stolen from me. I don’t know what else you think I’m doing here, but you’re wrong. This is about the curse. It’s only ever been about the bloody curse!
there were a way to belong to both Aeson and my people, I would take it. If I could fix what was done to us without hurting him, I would. But it’s not possible. I won’t choose him over the Syphons. I won’t choose him over me.
Slowly the light fades, until it blinks out altogether, and I find my gorgeous, deceitful, lying little mate standing at the center of the room.
Shock, fury, and pride fight for dominance of my thoughts when I zoom in to confirm that I’m seeing what I think I am. “Ever has a dragon mark,” I murmur, and everyone goes still, stunned by my declaration.
