Page 117 of What Lurks Between the Fates

Mab pulled back the blade, leaving a surge of blood to pulse from the front of the wound. My mate fell to his knees, blood trickling between his lips as those blazing blue eyes came back to mine.

That person was still screaming. The sound echoed off the walls of the cavern as I dropped to my knees at his side, pressing my hands to his wound as he toppled to the side. I caught him, pulling him into my lap. Tears splashed down on his face, and it was only when he reached up with a shaking hand to wipe them away that I realized the screaming wasn’t coming from someone else.

It was me.

“There’s been a change of plans,” Mab said, her voice calm and cool as if she hadn’t just killed my mate. As if she hadn’t driven a knife through his heart, leaving him to bleed out in my arms as I held him close. She wiped her knife on the fabric of her dress, staining it with his blood.

“I love you,” he said, and I felt death come for me.

Mab didn’t know that I would follow him, that our oath meant both of us died. But I wasn’t ready to step into the Void yet, wasn’t willing to let her win.

“Caldris will be the Godly sacrifice. Consider yourself fortunate, Ilaria,” Mab said, and the words rang in my head.

I didn’t care. I didn’t care that Mab would know the secret of my blood. I didn’t care about anything but him as his eyes started to glaze, his lips turning pale and lifeless.

My claws extended into talons that I dragged over my wrist. One sharp slice across my skin, and the scent of my blood coated the air.

“Please don’t leave me,” I begged, crying as I pressed that wrist to Caldris’s mouth.

His eyes closed, and I felt our bond fray. I felt the life leaving him, his soul readying for the afterlife. But my blood didn’t pool in his mouth, and it was bleeding enough that it wentsomewhere.

“If you are not strong enough to free yourself from this bond that cripples you, then I will do it for you, Little Mouse,” Mab said, a sneer on her face as I turned my eyes up to her.

I tilted my head to the side as my blood poured into my mate’s mouth, the promise of retribution lighting my gaze with gold.

Mab took a step back, motioning toward the daemon as if he would step in and consume the magic I prepared to use against her.

Mab’s men grasped Caldris by the legs, trying to drag his limp form from my grip. I held tight, continuing to bleed on his face, his mouth, anywhere I could get that blood. It was a fool’s chance, my only option to keep him with me as I clung to the remnants of our mate bond—holding that hint of life that still remained within him.

That golden thread swayed, feeling more and more fragile with every moment that passed.

Until it didn’t.

Until the golden thread reknit itself, surging brighter than ever.

Caldris’s eyes flung open, the blue lost to the golden light of Fate. Mab gasped, and the daemon swung his sword.

I didn’t realize until it was too late that it came formyhead, shielding Caldris with my body as I laid myself over him. The blade was a mere breath from my skin. I felt the wind in the motion as I drew in a shuddering breath.

Knowing it would be my last.

Caldris reached up, his arm moving faster than lightning arcing through the sky.

He caught the blade in his bare hand. Stopped it with an explosion of golden light that tore through the cavern.

The daemon was flung back as Caldris curled me beneath him, covering me with his body. He got to his feet as the daemon hit the ground, scattering into dust on impact. The guards charged him as I scrambled to stand, staring at him in shock.

He reached out a hand, his shadows no longer dark but glowing as he sent the tendrils sweeping toward those who advanced. They wrapped around the guards’ throats, squeezing as the royals of the other courts stepped back from the fray.

I turned, my stare landing upon Mab as she raised a single hand. Her face tipped to the side as I met her glare, watching as those eyes trailed down to the blood dripping from my wrist. The wound had already healed over, but the faintest golden shimmer accompanied my blood as the light from Caldris’s tendrils played off it.

She squeezed her hand when my mate rounded on her, heading for the bigger threat in the cavern. He grimaced but continued on, pushing through her control on him even as his chest stopped heaving with breath.

I tried to send him what remained of my magic, but there was nothing there to give. The daemon and my father hadstolen most of it, taken it from me for one reason or another. To protect me or to hurt me—all that mattered in those moments was the way Caldris dropped to his knees.

His eyes flashed back and forth between the gold from my blood and his bright blue, and my own heart stalled in my chest as Mab squeezed.

“Stop!” I begged, squeezing my eyes closed. I couldn’t lose him—not when those few moments without him had been unbearable. “Name your price.”

---