Page 243 of Primal Bonds

“Honor?” His grandfather spat the word out. “Where’s the honor in breaking a vow made to the king himself?”

“Sometimes,” Fane returned, “you have to choose the lesser of two evils. Yes, I’m breaking a geas, and I’m truly sorry if that reflects on you and Arne. But Marjani doesn’t deserve to be kept here against her will. Her only crime was to enter the ice fae court without permission. If the king is merciful, he’ll accept my bargain and let her go.”

“It’s a tempting offer.” Sindre tilted his pale blond head. “But doesn’t the woman have to agree? According to fada tradition, the female must accept the claim.”

“She will,” Fane said. He raised his voice so it rang out in the huge room. “I, Fane Morningstar, am mate-claiming Marjani Savonett now, before all of you and the God and Goddess.” He glared at the king. “Try and touch a mated fada and she’ll kill herself rather than let you have her.”

Marjani’s mouth fell open. The man was mate-claiming her now? But he was correct. If they mated, her animal wouldn’t accept anyone’s touch but his.

Mate, the cougar agreed with satisfaction.

“But it’s not up to you, is it?” the king responded. “It’s up to our guest.”

Everyone looked at her. Fane’s grip on her tightened. “Jani?”

Gods, she was tempted. Her whole body yearned toward him. A fada might go centuries without finding her or his mate, and some never did. When you were fortunate enough to find your mate, you accepted it as the gift from the gods it was.

“You bloody fool,” Roald ground out. “You’ll lose everything. Your money. Your honor. Your chance to have children with a pureblood.”

“Not everything.” Fane didn’t take his gaze from her. “I’ll have Marjani.”

“You leave me no choice, then.” Roald crossed his arms over his massive chest. “If you persist in this foolishness, I’ll disown you.”

Arne made a shocked sound. “Father. You don’t mean that.”

“I’ll not claim an oath-breaker as my blood,” the fae warrior returned.

Fane whitened. “That’s your decision, of course.”

Marjani’s lungs squeezed. She couldn’t let Fane give up everything for her. It was bad enough that he’d lose all his money, but she refused to let him throw away his chance to be accepted by not only his grandfather, but the ice fae court.

Make the wrong choice, and you’ll never get home.

What else could it mean but that she must make the sensible choice? Not the one she might want, but the one that was best for them both.

She gently extricated her fingers from his. “You're right,” she told Sindre. “I haven’t accepted his claim.”

“Then accept it.” That was Fane.

“I can’t,” she answered, her gaze on the king.

“Why the fuck not?”

She turned to face him. “I don’t owe you an explanation. This is between me and King Sindre.”

Fane’s head jerked back as if she’d slapped him.

Her throat closed. She swallowed thickly. “I propose a game,” she told the king.

His eyes sharpened. “A game?”

“Yes. A competition.”

The king was bored, a weakness she could use against him. Fane had told her that right at the start. Fane had wrecked her chance to quietly assassinate Sindre, but the tingle in her gut told her this was even better. She just had to tempt the king into making a promise.

Fane grabbed her arm. “Damn it, Jani. Don’t you see this is exactly what he wants?”

“Be silent,” Sindre snarled, “or be gone. The choice is hers.”

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