Page 23 of Empire of Wrath and Ruin
“As a dragon rider, I would have participated in a ceremony that would have the Emperor himself standing in front of me. I would have carried a ceremonial weapon, and it would take a mere moment to end his life.” I reached forward and grabbed her hand. “Let me go back, Aytara. Let me end this.”
“You have been away too long,” she said flatly. “And once they realise you were brought here, they will torture you until youreveal our location. I cannot allow that risk. However you may help us, it will be from within this city. You cannot leave.”
The dismissal in her tone sparked my anger, and I felt my cheeks burn with indignation.
"You don't think I could reach him? Give me a chance to prove it. Let me return to the Empire, let me show you what I'm capable of—"
“No,” growled Taveth, yanking me around to look up at him. The cold fire in his eyes silenced me instantly. His grip on my arm was almost painful, his face a mask of barely contained fury as the shadows swirled around him like living things.
"You are mine," he said, his voice carrying that harmonious undertone that told me the shadows were speaking with him. "My mate. You are not leaving this mountain. Not now. Not ever."
The shadows around him writhed with agitation, reaching toward me like grasping fingers. I could feel them through our bond—hungry, jealous things that whispered of possession and control. They wanted to drag me back to our chambers, to bind me to the bed again until I forgot all thoughts of escape or purpose beyond pleasing him.
"Taveth," Aytara's voice cut through the tension like a blade. "Control yourself."
I could feel the struggle for control inside of him, but I felt my own anger rising to meet his. After days of careful submission, of trying to make the best of my captivity, something inside me finally snapped.
"You don't own me, Taveth," I said, my voice dangerously quiet. "Bond or no bond, I am not your possession."
Aytara watched our confrontation with calculating eyes, making no move to intervene. I realized with sudden clarity that she had orchestrated this entire scene—not just to test me, butto test Taveth as well. To see how far his control extended, how deeply the shadows had their hooks in him.
"You would leave?" he demanded, stepping closer until I could feel the chill emanating from his skin. "Return to them? To your other... mates?" He spat the word like poison.
"If it meant stopping the Emperor? Yes." I lifted my chin, refusing to be intimidated despite the darkness gathering around us. "You claim to fight for your people's freedom. Well, so do I. I need to go back."
"Absolutely not." Aytara’s refusal was flat and final. "Even if I believed you capable of such a feat, which I do not, I will not send a warrior to her death on a mission with no hope of success. The Empire has taken enough from our people already."
"But if I succeeded—"
"You would not succeed. You would die, probably horribly, and accomplish nothing beyond giving our enemies another propaganda victory." Her tone gentled slightly. "I understand your desire for vengeance, child. But revenge is a luxury we cannot afford when survival itself hangs in the balance."
The rejection hit me like a physical blow, and I felt the carefully constructed composure I had been maintaining finally shatter. "You don't understand," I said, and I could hear my voice breaking despite my efforts to stay strong. "I need this. I need to do something that matters, something that makes all the pain and loss worthwhile. I can't just... I can't just live in luxury while the world burns around me."
“I have made my decision. You will abide by it. As Taveth’s mate you are bound by our laws, and you will follow them.”
I stared at her, my hands balling into fists as rage and helplessness warred within me. This woman who had never known chains had the audacity to dictate my purpose, to tell me I would be content to live as a pampered pet while others suffered.
"And what exactly would you have me do instead?" I asked, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice. "Spend my days in these luxurious rooms, draped in silks and jewels while your people fight and die? A pretty bird in a gilded cage, meant to look decorative and keep your precious shadow mage from going mad."
Aytara's dark eyes narrowed. "You are alive, which is more than most Imperials who discover our city can claim. Be grateful for that much."
"Grateful?" I laughed bitterly. "For what? For being claimed against my will? For being bound to a man whose mind is slowly being consumed by darkness? For losing everything and everyone I ever cared about?" My voice broke on the last words, and I hated myself for the weakness.
“Much is lost in war,” said Aytara. “I will see you again soon.” She turned and left us alone among the impossible flowers and singing waters of the garden.
Taveth was quiet for a long moment, shadows still writhing around him as he processed what he had witnessed.
I watched Aytara's retreating form, a cold fury building inside me that had nothing to do with Taveth's shadows. She had dismissed me—dismissed my abilities, my determination, my very worth as anything more than a decorative mate for her precious shadow mage.
"You're shaking," Taveth observed, his voice calmer now though the shadows still swirled around his ankles like restless serpents.
"I'm angry," I replied, forcing the words through clenched teeth. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be told your only value is in being someone's possession? To be denied any purpose beyond existing for another's comfort?"
"You would leave me," he said finally, his voice so low I almost didn't hear it. "You would break our bond."
I turned to face him, exhaustion suddenly weighing on me like a physical burden. "That's not what I said."
"It's what you meant." His eyes were cold, but beneath the anger I caught a glimpse of something else—pain, raw and unexpected. "You would return to the Empire, to your other mates, and leave me to the Veyr-sha. Is that truly how you see your life with me? As imprisonment?"
