Page 144 of Tempt

My eyes cut to the ground and my claws itch to extend. “We have bonded. And I know that Lucie is your⁠—”

“No,” he snaps with a growl. “We are not.”

“I know you hear his thoughts. I know you know what that means,” I press.

He waits for me to look up. “I have not taken him. I will not take him. I will not enter him. I will use his cum and eventually his thoughts will fade, and I will set him free.”

“Foolish,” I say.

His eyes narrow. “You were almost destroyed when they took Kori from you. You survived because of me.”

“I know,” I whisper.

“And now you would willingly die for your human because of this bond. There is no sense in it! No logic.”

“If they took Lucie from you now as they took Kori from me,” I start, but his growl nearly shakes the room. “I am only saying it’s not as foolish as you think. We have been lied to about who we are as Vyastil. We have been lied to about what we need, and what we are capable of. And what makes us strong.”

“Humans make us weak,” he says.

I know I will not convince him of the truth. Not yet. Not now. But once we take the power back and give it to the Vyastil who deserve to hold it, there will be time for him to see and to understand.

And to feel safe.

To believe that not everything will end in pain the way it did for Kori.

“Will you help me?” I ask him.

He takes a very long time to answer, but eventually he rolls his shoulders back and flicks his ears. “Yes. If only to remove that monster from the council and from the eventual throne.”

I know he means Jyrion.

“Have you spoken to the Vorthex?” he asks. “Will they stand with you?”

“I don’t believe they will stand with anyone. They are too vulnerable without humans. They will not risk an all-out war that could destroy their stock.”

Their stock of humans.

Of…holes.

Dhoryn looks unsettled, much the way I feel, but I do my best not to judge what the Vorthex need. “If you believe we can win this, then you have my pledge.”

Everything in me feels lighter suddenly. “Thank you. And I am sorry I did not protect you better. You should have never seen me that way. You should have never had to⁠—”

“No,” he says, cutting me off. “Without me, you would have died. And I would not find the world as pleasant if you were not in it.”

My hearts twist in my chest, and I’m unable to stop myself from approaching and offering my forehead. He takes a moment, but for the first time in so, so many years, he touches his to mine.

It lingers there with an affection I did not expect, and when it is over far too soon, I feel the space between us. It’s a tangible thing.

“Thank you. We can discuss more once I speak with Prince Sabik. And if you would like to join us, Luca is having a visitor soon. Another human. Perhaps Lucie might⁠—”

“I will think on it,” he says, his voice back to icy.

I nod, then gesture to the door. “I will send you a message and speak to you soon.”

He casts one look back at me before letting himself out, and I allow myself long, indulgent moments inside the room, entirely alone, to feel the tiny spark of triumph. I have no idea if it will last, or if we will see victory at the end of this.

But if I do die in the end, at least I know that I will go down fighting.