Page 69 of A Kingdom of Broken Bonds

“You know my views on the brides, my friend. Nothing has changed,” he explains slowly, frowning as though he doesn’t understand why Finnik would believe otherwise. He takes a sharp breath and smiles at his friend. “Help me fight her. We can do this together.” Havoc seems more cautious now, having picked up on the strange tension in the stable, but a manic fervour shines in his eyes as he gets swept away by his extreme views once more. He truly believes he can convince Finnik to help him.

Finnik steps inside the stable, his boots clipping against the stone ground, one measured step at a time. “You rejected your mate, almost killing her, then you ran away like a coward. Now, after trying to kill her again, you want me to help you kill her?” He lists off each action on his hand, counting his sins for us to see. He comes to a stop several paces away and snarls viciously. “My mate?”

Havoc feels like a statue beneath my grip at this new revelation. When he finally returns to the present, he blinks several times, but horror has entered his eyes. The stale stench of fear wafts from him as he contemplates the consequences of his actions.

“What?” He starts to shake his head viciously, but I plant my claws against his neck, and he stills. “She cannot be your mate. She was mine.” Accusation, worry, and pride all coat his words. How chauvinistic of him to believe that I belonged to him, like a possession no one else could own. It makes me sick to my stomach. Although I wish the circumstances were different, I know a bond between Havoc and I would not have been a happy one. In a way, things have worked out better, because I have found the loves of my life, which I wouldn’t have if Havoc accepted our bond. If only the rest of the land did not have to suffer.

“I can only assume fae bonds are different. We also have multiple mates in the fae realm,” Finnik explains as I bring myself back to the present. “Her bond with Eli was the only reason she survived your rejection.” Anger simmers beneath the surface of Finnik’s neutral expression, and I know it will not take much for him to snap.

“I did not know she was yours, my friend,” Havoc replies quickly, sounding genuinely sorry as he shakes his head.

All he would need to do to make us waver is leave it at that, and I think the two of us would find a way to rehabilitate him, far away so he couldn’t hurt the land any longer. However, Havoc is not capable of leaving anything alone.

“I am sorry for that, but we still have to do this. We need to rid the land of the brides so we can all prosper!”

Havoc just dug his own grave, and he does not seem to realise it.

“No, Havoc!” Finnik snaps, flashing his pointed teeth and hissing with anger. “You were like a brother to me, but you have committed treason and are a constant danger to my mate!”

He paces behind me, his hands balled into fists as he attempts to calm down. At this point, I am surprised he has not struck his old friend for everything he has done, but they were close, more like family than friends. Hurting someone like that is like wounding a part of yourself, even if they deserve the punishment. No one benefits from it. For that reason, I am glad he is holding himself back. Although I know he would do it for me, it would hurt him too much to kill Havoc.

“What happens now then?” Havoc asks, bravado in his voice as he scowls at my mate, attempting to appear unbothered by his impending death. “You are going to kill me?”

“No,” Finnik replies, surprising both of us.

I whip my head around in confusion. Is he going to try and convince me not to kill Havoc? We do not have a choice in this, not when he is determined to destroy the prophecy. If we do not kill him today, then he will attempt to take my life again.

My prisoner’s eyes light with hope once more, and he struggles against my hold. It is pointless, he does not budge me in the slightest, yet I can see he believes he is about to be saved.

Before either of us can say anything, Finnik takes a final step forward, resting a hand on my shoulder and glaring at Havoc. Side by side, we stand against the prince.

“No,” he repeats, his eyes narrowed. “She is going to kill you. After all the hurt you caused her, the rejection and torture—she has earned this.”

It is now or never. I do not give Havoc a chance to reply, slicing my nails across his throat in one quick movement. Shock flashes in his eyes, but that quickly fades as he becomes limp in my arms, his face going slack. I feel the exact moment he dies, as his soul passes from this life to the next. A jolt like that of a skipped heartbeat thumps inside me, the absence of something I did not know was still there making me feel hollow. There is almost an echo of remembered hurt, both physical and emotional. It is nothing like what I have experienced before, and although it is uncomfortable, I finally feel Havoc leave my soul. I will never be fully complete, thanks to him, but he is no longer lingering within me. The shadow of his rejection and hatred lifts from me, allowing me to stretch my wings and be the female I was always destined to be.

With a gasp, I jerk backwards, slamming into Finnik’s chest as we both watch Havoc’s body fall to the floor. His blood drips from my hand, and I am covered in the blood of those I killed before him. I am sure I look awful, but Finnik’s steadying arm wraps around me and holds me against him. My breathing is rapid as the realisation of what I just did finally hits me.

“Breathe,” Finnik whispers in my ear, his warm breath tickling the sensitive skin.

Focusing on that feeling, I take several slow, deep breaths, allowing my new body to settle. The smooth, gentle brush of his breath helps guide my own breathing—in, hold, and release. After a while, I forget about my breathing and focus on how his teeth graze my earlobe and the hair on my skin stands on end, tingling from being so close to my mate. That triggers other feelings within me, warm sensations that have no place here considering the body that lies just a few feet from us.

Shaking my head to clear my mind, I turn in his arms and look up to examine his face. He appears different, his expression harder than the mischievous fae he was before. He still carries the beauty that all fae seem to be blessed with, and he is just as handsome as he has always been, but he has a ruthless edge to him. He would do anything to find me, even if it meant killing the male he thought of as his brother.

“Thea, I was so worried.” Cupping my face gently, he examines me. “Are you okay? What did they do to you?” His final words end in a growl as he takes in the damage to my body and face. I have not seen myself in a mirror, but his reaction tells me it is not a pretty sight. His hand runs down the length of my arm, the touch against the sensitive skin making me shiver.

“You transformed.” He sounds reverent as he looks me over in awe. A tiny part of my mind dreaded how he would react to the changes in me, to the darkness in my soul that now cloaks my body. The fact that he looks at me as though I am something wondrous and not to be feared helps heal a little of the damage my soul took on over the last few months.

“I let the darkness out of me,” I begin, attempting to explain the separation of myself in a way that makes sense. “The power in me was mine all along, not a monster or a curse after all. I pushed it down and hid it for so long I grew to fear it when there was nothing to fear.” I pause, contemplating what I just said, and raise my arm with my claws. “Well, perhaps I am a monster, in appearance anyway, but I am in full control, finally, after all this time.”

He shakes his head, his expression earnest. “You could never be a monster. You are kind and smart and beautiful. I shall love you the same in every form. Your appearance is just different, but that does not mean it is bad.”

My heart slams in my chest at his casual use of the word love, but I do not bring it up or question him over it like I want to. He has never admitted his feelings like this for me. Without our bond being complete, it leaves things more open, giving me only a vague sense of his strong emotions. Hearing that he loves me out loud is enough to make me want to sing out in happiness.

Finnik has not finished, though, and a cheeky grin spreads across his lips. “The addition of the feathers and tail might take a little getting used to though.” He’s grinning widely, his forehead pressed to mine, but I am too distracted by what he said.

A tail? I must have heard him wrong.

“What?” Spinning around, I try to look behind myself, and sure enough, there is a long, black feathered tail. I stare at it in shock and blink several times, waiting for the hallucination to disappear, but it does not. This is not a dream, but reality. I have a tail.

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