Page 108 of Kingdom of Chaos
“Why? Because you’ll promise? I’m supposed to believe you’ll keep your word?”
I meet his stare, seeing the calculation behind his eyes. He’s considering it. He’d be smart to, because this is his only real option.
“I can do better than a promise,” I say.
His head tilts slightly, interest piqued. “How so?”
“I happen to know a vampire who can facilitate an unbreakable bond. I’ll swear that if you let Becks go and join forces with us, I’ll stay and fight to take down Kerrim. Once that bond is in place, I won’t be able to go back on my word.”
“And neither will I,” Kade says, and I nod.
Talon was the one I had to convince about this part. He didn’t want me entering into an unbreakable bond, which, honestly, surprised me considering he once tricked me into one. It was that very incident that gave me the idea.
I know Kade won’t release Becks based on my word alone. He doesn’t truly know me, and as he already pointed out during this meeting, there’s nothing stopping me from walking away the moment Becks is safe. On the flip side, I need a guarantee that if I stay, my friends and I won’t be left to face Kerrim alone.
The unbreakable bond makes sense, for both sides. Eventually, Talon relented, even if it was reluctantly.
Kade rubs a hand over his mouth, thinking.
“You have three more minutes to decide,” I say. “If I don’t message my friends, they’re going in. They’ll get Becks out, but some of your people are going to get hurt in the process.”
He lets the silence stretch between us, eating up precious seconds, starting a cold sweat prickling across my skin. I knew going into this that I had to be ready to follow through, no matter how Kade responded. But the longer he just stares at me, the more I worry he’s not going to agree.
Finally, he extends his hand. I glance down at it, then back up at his face, still a stoic mask.
“I’m just glad you’re on our side,” he says.
Relief sweeps through me so fast it makes my muscles weak.
“Call your friends off and get Imogen over here to seal the bond. You have a deal. The Order doesn’t back down from fights, and this one won’t be any different.”
I shake his hand, then pull out my phone and type a message to Talon.He agreed. Stand down.
His response comes quick and makes me laugh.Imogen will be disappointed.
I listen while Kade calls someone at headquarters and explains that Becks is to be prepped to be released to us. Aswe wait for Imogen to arrive so Kade and I can enter into an unbreakable bond, Ares catches me staring at his pointed ears and grins. “They are quite sexy, aren’t they?”
“No!” I blurt. “I mean, that’s not what I meant. Or rather . . .”
Ares laughs at my blundering.
“What I mean to say is: you don’t glamour your appearance?”
I’d noticed his ears back at their headquarters, but I assumed they were only visible because we were on their turf, where everyone already knew about creatures. So I was surprised to see them uncovered again when he and Kade showed up in such a public setting.
“There’s no need,” he says with a shrug. “There’s a lot of strange fads these days. Humans just assume I’m wearing a prosthetic or had my ears surgically shaped to look like this.”
I scrunch my nose. “Some humans do that to themselves?”
He nods. “Fae areinright now.” Then he lowers his voice and leans in conspiratorially. “If humans knew I was truly a fae, do you know how much action I’d?—”
Kade clears his throat and Ares grins over at him, not looking chastised at all.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he says, “Let’s just say I’m pretty popular with the human ladies.”
Yeah, okay. I didn’t need to know that.
When Imogen arrives a few minutes later, she scowls at Kade, but I don’t miss the way she takes a moment to check him out as we follow him into the alley behind the coffee shop.
