Page 108 of To No End

Similarly, Trace had received several Kingsguard uniforms. They looked very different from the uniforms worn by the Cambria military. To his dismay, they were not black.

I had no idea what role myself and the others would play once we too were implanted, but seeing all of these items felt like props, essential to the façade.

It was then that I realized being a member of the Imperi was just as much about acting, deception, and lies as it was about abilities and strength. I didn’t think I had fully understood that till now. We were not a show of the king’s brute force, we were what came before. We were the silent warning. A warning that, if executed properly, would ensure there’d never need to be anything more.

We joined the two outside the doors of Basdie as their belongings were loaded onto carriages. Idris would escort the unmarked caravan, which meant this was goodbye until we could join them.

The lump in my throat ached at the thought. Things between Trace and I were unresolved, but he was one of us. I worried about him just like I worried about Gia.

Cairis wrapped his giant arms around Trace, an embrace to which he reacted with a frozen uncertainty. Nori went up and did the same, and I was pleased to see him slacken a bit and relax into her arms with the faintest hint of a smile.

Varro walked up to Trace, giving him a nod of respect. That was more than I had expected from the two of them. Now it was my turn. My mouth watered trying to find words, any words at all.

I approached him slowly, silence filling the space between us.

“Take this for later,” he said quietly, as he handed me a folded piece of parchment.

Ignoring his words, I began to unfold it, but he quickly placed his hand atop mine. “Later,” he repeated.

I nodded in acknowledgement, tucking the piece of paper into my pocket. I glanced over to my side, catching a glimpse of Gia, and turned back toward him.

“Protect her. Please.”

“I will.”

“And yourself, too. Be careful.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

He looked at me, guilt and confusion in his eyes, as this was the first time I’d shown any semblance of concern for him since he’d left me for dead.

“Goodbye,” I added somberly, hoping he would do better for Gia than he had for me or Varro.

He leaned down and said softly into my ear, “I will right my wrongs, this I promise.”

Realizing I had momentarily lapsed my mental shields, his response was no surprise, and yet the weight of it felt heavy on my heart. I stepped away from him and made my way toward Gia’s carriage. Cairis lifted her feet off the ground in an embrace, squeezing her tightly, and she squealed for him to put her down.

I was much more worried for Gia than I was Trace. Having experienced firsthand what can happen when you play the bait, I had nothing but trepidation regarding what may be in store for her.

She can say she has no heart; she can try and convince me there’s not a single chink in her armor, but I know now the kind of monsters she will face. I know what it feels like when the hot breath of vile intention is upon your neck, groping your body, and it makes my stomach churn so much that I have to fight back the bile.

I grabbed both her hands, clasping them in mine. “No mercy,” I said, echoing the same words she had offered me.

A knowing smile spread across her gorgeous face. “They have no idea what’s coming for them,” she said, voice steady and controlled.

The monster that flickered beneath the surface of her gaze looked like it was truly ready to be unleashed. I wouldn’t beshocked if, given the chance, she’d bring Silas and his entire damn court to their knees before we even arrived.

Idris indicated it was time to leave and Gia began to make her way into the carriage. Suddenly, that odd humming sensation began to buzz under my skin again, reminding me that I had forgotten to ask either of them about it.

“Wait!” I exclaimed as I leaned into the carriage door. “I meant to ask you, have you felt any sort of new sensation since the Offering? It’s like a humming feeling, a low vibration; I’m not sure how else to describe it. Sorta makes your skin tickle or itch. I’ve felt it since—”

Wide-eyed, Gia cut me off before I could continue my hurried explanation, “You’ve felt a bond calling?”

“…What?” I looked at her incredulously.

“What you’re describing is the call of the mating bond. I knew it the moment you said it,” she exclaimed. “What do you mean you’ve felt it since the Offering?”

It was then I heard Idris whistle and the sound of the carriages starting to shift forward, indicating they were leaving. I stared into Gia’s confused expression with horror. “Wait, what? No! Hold on!” I called out to her as I stepped down from the moving carriage, left with a swirl of overwhelming confusion.

Unable to control the onslaught of emotions and questions rampantly overtaking every fiber of my being, I took off running inside, farther down, all the way down to the bottom of Basdie where I entered a door I knew about but had never opened.

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