Page 237 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

“How dare you ask that, since it was you who planned it this way all along? She’s going to be my weakness. A ridiculous half-mortal you chose, not even a full fae. But I’m not going to be your puppet. Never was, never will be. She won’t change a thing.”

“I never expected you to be, Caryan. But there has to be a balance in the world. All things need a balance, even you. Someone breakable for someone unbreakable.”

With these words she grabs his hand, prying open his grasp with impossible strength. At the same time, her blueish light flares, extinguishing the blackness like a blanket thrown over flames.

“You aren’t stronger than me, Caryan. Not even you. Not here, so close to the source of all creation. And now stop.” She’s still holding his hand—only bones now, attached to an arm, Caryan’s limb held together by magic alone—and no matter how Caryan fights against her, she is stronger.

She twists his hand effortlessly, and out of the column of light; his skin immediately starting to knit itself back together.

“I will make you pay for this,” Caryan growls, still fighting the oracle’s tight grip with all his force. Teeth bared and clenched, he says, “You made me—you created an abomination and now you are afraid of it.”

“Not afraid, Caryan. Yes, I made you, angel. But I could never be afraid, because I love you, regardless of what you are. I always have, and I will until the very end, whatever this might be.”

“Then you’re an abomination too.”

“I am and I am not. The same way I am alive and not. But tell me one last thing—what sort of monster does it make you, that you decided to give her some of your power so she will stand a chancein your world?”

“I did it because she would be even more of a hindrance without it.”

“We always know the truth, Caryan, even if we keep telling ourselves lies. Find your other half, angel, and heal that wound inside you. Because a broken bond is a wound, and this is what weakens you, as well as her. Until next time, my angel.”

With that, she steps back into the column and just disappears.

Riven resists the impulse to run when Caryan turns and spots him standing there. He stands his ground when Caryan slowly walks toward him, eyes black again, shadows teeming everywhere around him, crawling up the walls.

“You saw that. Witnessed that.”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t return,” Riven answers truthfully, trying as hard as he can to swallow the lump of roiling dread and pain as Caryan stops in front of him. “She was—is—your… mate.” The words tumble out of him.

Caryan’s voice is calm when he says, “I know you thought that she was your mate, Riven. You still think she is.”

Riven doesn’t know how to respond. To the truth that shatters his heart all over, the pain in every fiber, livid.

“How long have you known?” He barely forces the words out.

“I suspected it the day she was born. I knew it the first time I tasted her blood.”

“Why did you never tell me?”

“Maybe I wanted it to be you, Riven.” With that, Caryan passes him, but Riven catches his arm and holds him back.

Caryan angles his head, a snarl on his lips.

“You love her,” Riven says, tired of lies. Tired of holding back. But it is true. All this time, he thought that Caryan had changed. The gold in Caryan’s eyes. It all makes sense now.

“Do not mistake a mating bond for love.”

Riven shakes his head. “You keep telling yourself that, but it’s not true! I know you have feelings for her beyond that bond.”

“Let go, Riven, or you’ll see how little I care about any of you.”

Talons form on Riven’s fingers, digging deep into Caryan’sarm. His voice has dropped to a growl. “You gave her your power. Youdecidedto do that. I thought it just happened by accident, but you… the oracle said you did that out of your own free will, so she’d have a chance.”

“Let go!”

“No.”

Caryan stares at him, snapping his teeth. Then he says, his voice low and lethal, “Don’t believe everything an oracle says. I did so to give hersomepower in this world so she could find those relics for me. I hurt her in the process, as badly as Gatilla hurt me when she gave those runes to me, and I did not care. I would have gone on and on if she hadn’t wounded me.”

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