Page 379 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

“Of course we’ll guard her. But it won’t fucking be for you.”

“You’ve gotten better with your poker face.”

“Product of shit circumstances.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” I flicked my gaze up as the first chain released. “I am who you made me. I’ll be whatever you sculpt again. Neither of us can pretend we didn’t see this coming.”

“I don’t want this.” He glared at the next shackle, arching a brow. “Is this really necessary?”

“Is that rhetorical? Because short of killing you now—and dooming us all, for reasons I’m still not entirely clear on—there’s not much either of us can do to change this.”

I turned back to the second manacle.

“Kill me.”

The key slipped from my fingers, landing silently in the carpet. My head snapped up to meet his smoldering stare…just before it turned distant. Pain crossed his face like a storm.

“What?”

“It’s the only way to keep them from using me. Do it now. If I could’ve done it myself, I would have. Believe me. I’ve tried. The witchlings were stronger than I anticipated.”

The Bond. It must have blocked him. My memory flared with the image of his horrified expression on that rain-soaked field—genuine, unguarded.

“You don’t believe that,” I said. “I remember. I remember the fear in your eyes.”

“I was thinking about them.” The word came out as a growl. “Didn’t know if you’d get to them in time. I can’t lie to him—but I can spin truths. Half-truths. Without my orders, my cousins would’ve been reassigned. Rest assured, it wasn’t fear for my own skin.”

I stared at him—at the embers of secrets burning in his eyes—and felt dread coil in my stomach.

“I’ve never seen us win with you dead now,” I murmured. “Not since the field. Why is that, Adrastos? Don’t you believe the tales you’ve spun?”

“I do.”

“Then why?”

“The cause may be just,” he said, “but that doesn’t guarantee the means are justified.”

He looked at me—unblinking. “And with all due respect, we’re out of fucking time. Did the little historian bring his sister’s serum?”

I nodded and shoved the key into the final lock. Would the Reaper’s serum suppress a command from Moros? The Paladins had never tested it against a Blood Bond. I reached into the tether, pressing my thumb into the mark we once shared on my forearm and pushed.

“August will get you to Aren. Show him everything. You harm no one who fights for Aren, for August, for me, or our allies. You so much as threaten a member of my family, I will skin you alive. Understand?”

“I love that you’re not speaking in euphemisms anymore.”

The door groaned open to reveal the hall beyond. August and Ansel stood opposite, arms crossed, death written in the angles of their scowls as they stared past me.

Not yet.

They dipped their heads in silent agreement and I bolted toward the stairwell.

As I rounded the corner, I caught a glimpse of Adrastos behind me—chained wrists extended toward August.

Magnolia

“Wake up!”