Page 82 of The Fate of Black Hearts
Lyra bounded away.
“God and the Devil?” She chuckled and shook her head.
“At least she’s happy with her tea parties. I’m not entirely sure they’re imaginary, though.”
“Come on.” She waved a dismissive hand. “God and the Devil? In one room?”
“It’s ludicrous. Agreed. What’s Ian up to?” Efrem drummed his fingers on the table. “Whatworries me is how he disappeared off the face of the planet decades ago. I used every detection method possible and couldn’t find him until he showed up fifty-eight days ago.”
“I’m not sure he’s the same Ian we remember. He showed no interest in us after Willem died. Why now?”
He swiveled to fully face her. “Do you think this has to do with Dom?”
“It might. Ian seemed interested in taking over the family, which makes no sense. He never wanted to be mated to anyone or have a family. He liked sleeping around and doing whatever he wanted with no ties.”
“What did Dom do to all of us?”
“He cast a forget spell. Before he did it, he told me he had to in order to keep us safe from the Mage Conclave.”
“Why?”
“There’s a prophecy about a child of his doing something terrible. They would apparently do anything to keep him from having any sort of attachment to a woman that might lead to a child, including kill any female he talked to more than once. They had him monitored the entire time I’ve known him.”
“A child like Lyra?” He cast her a pointed look.
She nibbled on her lower lip. “He doesn’t know about her. I wonder how that is since I bet he’s been watching over us since the spell was cast. I think Cora did something to keep her invisible to him.”
“Smart lady. Do you think Dom would hurt her?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. I can’timagine he would, unless he’s changed.”
“Are you willing to bet Lyra’s life on that hunch?”
“Of course not. I’ll see where his mind is.”
“With you entering the decline…my research says the longest surviving mated lycan who truly mated and loved her partner soul-deep survived six years and three days beyond his death. That can only mean?—”
She swallowed. Breaths only came shallowly as she whispered, “I bonded with Dom and didn’t realize it.”I knew it. Didn’t want to recognize it, though.“I forgot him and didn’t know about the bond.”
“If we calculate backward, that would put you at almost exactly six years since you reassured the bond. The only way to reverse the decline is to bond with him again. Only, it’d have to be a true bilateral acceptance of the bond. Not just you.”
Her core clenched at the mere thought of even touching Dom again. Her logical mind pushed sexual desire aside in favor of protecting her children.
He crossed his arms. “If you don’t get him to mate you properly and allow yourself to accept him as it is meant to be, how much time do you think you have?”
She sighed and tried to calculate in her head. Each day, her level of fatigue increased. “Maybe a few weeks or a month? Who knows.”
“Go to him. Please, do what you need to. Buy us time to figure out this mess.” He stacked breakfast dishes as if trying to distract himself. “I don’t like that he deserted you. He doesn’t deserve you for doing that.”
“I doubt he every truly left us. I’ve sensed him lurking in the periphery of our lives for a while. Watching. Protecting.”
“We all need you alive, especially if there are mages coming after us. We need you strong. Even if you reassure a bond, there’s no guarantee it’ll reverse the decline.”
“Let’s remove my health from our calculations.”
He hit the table, which knocked over his stack of dishes. “Damn it, Evie. Your health is critical. Without you, this family falls apart.”
“Don’t be dramatic. I’m old. Death is inescapable. This is complicated. Dom doesn’t know about Lyra. I don’t know what to do. If he might hurt her… I’d never allow that. He would know that.” She could barely move air through her lungs and dropped her head. “I don’t know if he’d choose me over his stupid code of morals. That means I either choose myself and bond with him—but lose Lyra —or I die, but before I do, I figure out some way to save her.”
