Page 5 of Gua rdian of Blood and Shadow

The knowledge hardened my guilt into determination. Gavin would suffer while the shifters held him, which meant we had to free him sooner rather than later.

I brought my hand up to Javier’s face, my touch dragging his attention back to me. “I thought you were dead,” I told him. “I used everything you taught me. I disappeared. I became human. But then Gavin showed up a few days ago and blew up the life I built, and I realized you were still alive…” I sighed. “I’m sorry it took me so long to find you. I’m so sorry, Javi.”

“There was no difference between a year and twenty in that place,” he said, a new distance in his voice. “At least, not until the young blood showed up.”

I choked on a laugh—nowreallywasn’t the time—but the idea that Javier thought of Thane as young in any sense only highlighted his own age. Javier had been respected here at the Moon Sanctuary—before the massacre—but that was about all I knew of his past.

“How old are you?” I asked him for about the millionth time. When I was little, he would deflect with vague answers. Would he do the same now?

“I grew up with your mother,” he said.

My eyes widened. My mother, Diana, had been High Queen of the House of the Moon for over four centuries and had lived in her mother’s shadow long before that. I knew almost nothing about her history, her age, or why she’d waited so long to have children.

For a moment, I saw Javier differently—not as guardian or consort, but as someone with centuries of life before I existed. Someone who’d walked with my mother, witnessed empires rise and fall, lived through more than I could comprehend. The weight of his years should have terrified me. Instead, it comforted me.

“We were close,” Javier said, his gaze distant. “Diana’s mother wanted me for Diana’s harem, but Diana refused.” He breathed out a laugh. “Much to my relief. She was my best friend, and I loved her, but not like a consort should love his queen. I never craved her.” His gaze dropped to my mouth. “Not like I crave you.”

He leaned in, pressing a slow, lingering kiss to my lips. His teeth grazed my jawline until his lips brushed my ear. “My Luna… I could live a thousand years buried inside you and it wouldn’t be long enough.”

My blood heated at his words. As much as I wanted to climb atop him and explore this attraction, my thoughts snagged on Gavin and what he was enduring right now. Ourcommunionearlier had been a necessity to reestablish the bond, but anything more than that felt gluttonous.

“He is the reason I am here now, with you,” Javier said, sensing my thoughts and pulling away. “Whenever you decide it’s time to go after him, know I am with you.”

Relief washed through me, sharp and unexpected. I hadn’t realized how afraid I’d been—that Javier would resent Gavin, that he would see no urgency in rescuing the man who’d taken up his role, even for just a few days. That he would make me choose.

I smiled shakily, fighting tears. “Soon.”

The word was both a promise and a failure.Soon, but notnow. Not immediately. Each moment we delayed was another moment Gavin suffered. Yet rushing in unprepared would end in disaster.

The strategy we’d used to rescue Thane and Javier wouldn’t work twice. The shifters knew about the escape tunnel to the mine shafts by now.

I needed to master my magic so I could be more than a glorified compass. With other queens around, I finally had a way to learn. I needed to build my power, complete my harem. And I had to do it all before Gavin’s blood faded from my system, weakening us both.

His blood. I could almost taste it—rich, complex, spreading through my veins like lava. The way his eyes had darkened as he watched me taste him that first time, a mixture of awe and desire I’d never seen before.

I stared at the ceiling, focusing on the bond stretching halfway across the world to Gavin. Through it, I sent not just thoughts but feelings—gratitude for his sacrifice, determination to free him, my promise that he wouldn’t be abandoned.

“Soon,” I repeated, my voice ringing with power, the word crossing that vast distance between us. A promise that I was coming for him.

I felt a faint pulse of warmth through our bond—acknowledgment, or simply his awareness of me at the edges of his consciousness.

It had to be enough. Until we met again.

Soon.

3

Javierstoodatthebroad picture window behind the desk in the High Queen’s study, his stare roving over the grounds below, while Bastian browsed the bookshelves, his head cocked to the side so he could better read the words on the books’ spines. Whenever he reached a book with a bare spine, he would carefully pull the volume free and almost reverently open the cover to leaf through the aged pages.

It heartened me to know his love of books was a genuine part of his personality, even if the rest of his grad student persona had been a lie. The bookworm part of him was real. His expert bookcase shuffle proved it.

I paced along the opposite wall of books, fidgeting with my clothing and hair. Was the low, loose bun too casual? Did the jeans, blouse, and long sweater suggest I wasn’t taking my position seriously? Should I have dressed up? Or, at least, dressed more professionally? Should I have made more of an effort to look the part of High Queen? Was I even the High Queen yet, or were there rituals and ceremonies that had to happen first?

Although, I supposed the whole point of these interviews was to find the person who could either answer those questions, or at the very least, help me find the answers. The first of the three rescued queens would be arriving any minute. They had barely had a full night and day to recover, but proceeding with the hunt for a teacher had been Javier’s idea, and he knew better than anyone what the queens had been through as prisoners and what they would be up for now that they were free. If he didn’t think this was too soon, then neither did I.

I eyed Bastian. Maybe it was a mistake to have him here. Shifters had inflicted unending trauma upon these women. Would his presence rub their noses in their horrific experiences? Except, having him here in the room with us had also been Javier’s idea. He claimed that if the queens couldn’t handle being around Bastian, then they weren’t fit to be my teacher. Bastian was one of my consorts, after all, so his presence in my life was nonnegotiable.

I was heading toward the back of the study when the door creaked open. I spun around, my hands clasped together in front of me, and I watched as Ash escorted a diminutive older woman into the room. The frail hand he held securely hooked around his arm was clearly more for her stability than for chivalry.

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