Page 15 of Empire of Wrath and Ruin
"A beautiful cage is still a cage."
"Perhaps. But it's a cage where you would be safe, fed, and loved." His hand moved down to rest over my heart. "I can feel your longing, Aeveth. Through the bond. You miss them—your other lovers. The ones who marked you before I claimed you."
The words hit me like a physical blow. He was right, of course. I did miss them—Tarshi and Sirrax, Septimus and the others who had become my chosen family. The ache of their absence was a constant pain in my chest, made worse by the growing certainty that I might never see them again.
"They're looking for me," I said, trying to inject confidence I didn't feel into my voice.
"Perhaps. But they will never find you here. Thal'Zereth is hidden from Imperial eyes, protected by magic older than your Empire. Even if they somehow learned of its location, they would never be permitted to enter."
"You don't know them. They won't give up."
"And what if they don't?" His voice hardened. "What if they somehow managed the impossible and found their way here? Do you think my people would simply let them take you? Do you think I would?"
The possessive edge in his voice sent chills down my spine. I could feel the shadows stirring in response to his emotions, feeding off his jealousy and territorial instincts.
"They're my mates too," I said quietly. "The bond I share with them is just as real as this one."
"No." The word came out as a growl, and I saw his eyes flash with something inhuman. "You are mine now. The other bonds... they are weak, diluted. This bond supersedes them all."
"That's not how it works," I protested, though I wasn't entirely certain. The magic that governed mate bonds was still largely a mystery to me.
"Isn't it?" He leaned closer again, and I could feel the power radiating from him like heat from a forge. "Can you feel them now? Your other mates? Can you sense their emotions, their location, their needs?"
I tried, reaching out with whatever mystical sense allowed me to perceive the bond. But where once I had felt warm connections to Tarshi and the others, now there was only silence. Tears formed in my eyes, and I squeezed my eyes shut so he couldn’t see my pain. Their absence was utterly heartbreaking. My dragons were gone from my mind, and I didn’t know why. Something told me they weren’t dead, but what else could it be?
“You see? You belong to me now, completely and irrevocably."
The casual cruelty of it took my breath away. He had stolen not just my freedom but my connections to the people I loved most. The bonds that had given me strength and purpose were gone, replaced by this twisted connection to a man who kept me chained to his bed and let shadow creatures whisper in his ear.
"You bastard," I breathed, tears stinging my eyes.
"Perhaps. But I am your bastard now, just as you are mine." He cupped my face in both hands, forcing me to meet his gaze. "Fight me if you must, Aeveth. Rage and struggle and curse my name. But you cannot change what has been done. You cannot undo the bond that ties your soul to mine."
I wanted to spit in his face, to scream defiance until my voice gave out. But even as the anger burned through me, I could feel that alien warmth responding to his touch, to the possessivecertainty in his voice. The mate bond was working exactly as he intended, slowly eroding my resistance and replacing it with unwilling acceptance.
"I hate you," I whispered, though the words felt hollow even as I spoke them.
"No," he said gently. "You hate what I represent. You hate that your freedom has been taken, that your choices have been limited. But you don't hate me, little flame. You couldn't, even if you wanted to. The bond won't allow it."
And that, more than anything else, was what terrified me. Not the physical restraints or the alien city or even the shadow creatures that influenced his actions. It was the slow, inexorable change happening inside me, the gradual replacement of my own will with his. I was losing myself piece by piece, and there seemed to be nothing I could do to stop it.
"Please," I said, the word escaping before I could stop it. "Don't do this to me."
For just a moment, something like regret flickered across his features. But then the shadows whispered again, and his expression hardened.
"It's already done," he said simply. "Now we both have to learn to live with the consequences."
His words hung in the air between us, final and uncompromising. I closed my eyes, unable to bear the weight of his gaze any longer. The mate bond pulsed between us, a living thing that seemed to feed on my despair.
"I need water," I said finally, my voice rough. It wasn't what I'd meant to say, but my throat was parched, and the practical request felt safer than continuing our confrontation.
Taveth studied me for a moment longer, then nodded. "Of course."
He moved to a small table near the window, pouring water from a clay pitcher into a carved wooden cup. When he returnedto the bed, he sat beside me, sliding one arm beneath my shoulders to help me sit up as much as the restraints would allow.
The gentleness of the gesture confused me. If he'd simply been the monster, I wanted to believe him to be, this would have been easier. But these flashes of consideration, of genuine care, made it impossible to hate him completely.
He held the cup to my lips, and I drank deeply, the cool water soothing my dry throat. When I finished, he set the cup aside but didn't lower me back down. Instead, he kept his arm around me, his fingers tracing idle patterns against my bare shoulder.
