I gave up on getting my hand back and stared out the side window. “I don’t do relationships,” I mumbled.
Balen chuckled. “You do now.”
I TESTED THE THICK, gold bands circling my wrists and ankles. Solid and impossible to break. I paced the room, my footfalls driving into the floor with each step. The room was completely bare, not even a door, just gray marble walls, ceiling, and floor. I was in a cage with no bars. My nightmare.
They took my weapons and pills, I fought them on the latter, then Traced me here hours ago. I had no clue if Balen and Danielle had escaped or not. The problem was, I had to meet them in Spain for Danielle’s transition. A transition that had never been done before.
The walls closed in around me as I felt the rage building. Confinement was my nemesis. After years in a Lilac’s prison, any form of containment broke through my cool exterior and pushed at my control. I was breaking and it didn’t help that I was damn sure Edan had started this.
No doubt the fire Wraith had demanded retaliation against Balen before I was even consulted. If it hadn’t been for Genevieve’s warning, Balen would be in Rest and Danielle dead.
Genevieve. She had something to do with what was happening between Balen and Danielle. I knew there was something odd about her behavior at the Deaconry meeting. Her turmoil, the unease, the hesitation to decide on Balen’s fate. Then her sudden change.
I stopped pacing and jerked around as a mist of water formed then Genevieve stood before me in a classic, long, blue gown, low cut and sweeping across her curves like a caress.
“Come near me and die,” I said when I saw her take a step in my direction.
She stopped and lowered her head, her golden hair falling forward to blanket her breasts. “I didn’t want this. My intentions were—”
“What intentions?” A caress and burning sensation began on my neck as my Ink awakened. I needed my damn pills.
“I felt it the moment they met in those . . . cages. Their connection was so strong.” She backed up a step and her eyes blazed a brilliant green. “Then your Scar left with no intentions of returning. But Danielle, she was tortured with his memory. When he returned, I had to do something.”
“You Bonded them.” My voice quivered with fury. “You almost killed her with your meddling.”
“I meant no harm. I didn’t consider his punishment would be so harsh. I saved her life.”
“She’s human,” I shouted.
“Yes. But he loves her.”
“You were wrong. Undo it.”
“No.” Her chin tilted up and her shoulders stiffened. “It has worked out for the better.”
I ran at her, my rage taking control. I raised my hands to throw her back against the unrelenting wall. She remained immobile and I figured out why when the gold bands around my wrists and ankles tightened and yanked me backward like a sling shot and I slammed into the opposite wall. I tried to move, but the bands locked me in place.
A roar emerged. “Release me!”
“The bands know when you aim to harm. I can’t do anything.” She sighed. “If I undo the Bond, Balen will accept his fate and be sent to Rest then exile.”
“She’ll die if they capture him.”
“No. Now she will become a Scar.”
It was the only option and Genevieve very well knew it. “It has never been done before. You risk her life, for what—love? They don’t even know one another. What they feel right now is your Bond.” She was cunning, more so than I’d anticipated. “You planned this. You knew the moment judgment passed on Balen that your Bond would kill Danielle. You had Delara warn me. You set this in motion, knowing I’d never allow Danielle to die.”
“Yes. She will make the transition and they will have eternity together.”
“You believe in this crap, Genevieve? A love that can withstand centuries?”
“You’ve experienced it—”
“And it destroys,” I shouted. “As it will Balen. He’ll be weak and forget that he’s a Scar first and foremost.”
“You want your Scars to be just like you. Alone and with nothing to lose.”
“Balen betrayed us, his sister, and his blood for her.” The bands released and I lowered my arms.
“But you fight for them. Why?”
“Because he is a Scar and she’s a friend to our Healer. We’re here to protect humans. All of them.”
Genevieve stiffened. “I must go. When the time is right, I’ll come for you.” She closed her eyes, then dissolved into a swirling mist and vanished.
Within seconds, I discovered why Genevieve had taken off so abruptly. “What have you done, Waleron?”
The voice was soft with a sweet lull, but I knew beneath that voice was a spirit of power. The Goddess Azzurra tolerated nothing except her orders being followed. I’d met her two times in my life—when I was a child and again after I escaped the Lilac.
Coldness seeped into the room as if I were standing in a freezer. A hint of lavender and rose wafted into me, and then she appeared in human form.
I remained silent. She knew what I’d done; the other Wraiths would have informed her in detail.
Her long, floor-length hair was parted in the middle, half cerulean blue and the other half white. It was a stark contrast and, well, she knew it. She always liked being unique.
“You didn’t put him in Rest. Why?” Her features remained still and impassive, voice quiet and soft, but it was in her eyes that I read the anger. Their colors were constantly changing, never remaining the same for longer than a few seconds.