This is what that accursed Oracle foresaw,Caliel hissed from deep inside me.It was never about Tyrez, or the Emperor. It was about saving Riggs all along.
The realization was like being doused in ice-cold water. If Tyrez hadn’t gone to the funeral, the trap couldn’t have been enacted. And Riggs wouldn’t have been called away from the academy. He would have been here, with me.
And he would have died.
No. No way this was about me.Riggs’s denial came on a vicious snarl of rage.
Caliel wasn’t done.We need to know what is going on between the Empire and the underworld,he whispered through me.
But Taran is dead,I stated.Whatever he was up to, it died with him.
Unless Taran was never the one making those arrangements,Caliel said.
Through our link, I sensed Riggs stumble and almost fall. But it was him that breathed the name.Daize. It was Daize, all along.
My heart slammed to a halt.We’ll need proof. How can we ever get it?
There is a way, my little wind dancer,Caliel said.We can get it from within.
I looked up into Victor’s fiery gaze. He stopped walking only a few feet from me, and at that moment, I realized what Caliel was getting at.
So did Riggs.No, Breana. There are other ways.He was close to the gate now and increased his pace.
I tore my eyes from Victor. I had a weapon he knew nothing about—my bond with Riggs. And I didn’t want the eye flashes to give it away. But I had some convincing to do with my mate.
None that are as good as this,I argued. I can do this.I took a deep breath.I will have access to the heart of the operation. If Daize makes contact—I will be there.
NO!His desperation was laced with pain, and it wasn’t all emotional. Something was tearing his shoulders apart?—
Victor grabbed me by the jaw and wrenched my head up. He spoke to someone behind him.
“She’s bleeding. She wasn’t to be harmed.”
A deep voice replied. “She fucking killed the idiot who did it.”
My mind raced. Caliel had already stopped the bleeding on the tears left by the talons…
Don’t heal them,I said.
What?
We need them to hide the mating marks. Just scab them over.
Right. Good idea,the Gryphon stated.
What are you doing, Breana?Riggs broke into the discussion.Just keep Victor there until I can get to you.
I shut Riggs out. Brutally, shoving a mental wall between me and him. And then I met Victor’s piercing gaze and pushed ice through his contact with my skin.
For just a second, his fingers went cold. And then his eyes blazed, and they warmed again.
Caliel was right. Victorwasfire to my ice. I couldn’t hurt him. But he could also not burn me.
“If you care at all about them, you will stop resisting,” he said with a sneer.
My heart pounded as he released me and unwound a thick cord from his forearm. It was attached to a small leather sack.
“Do I have your word?” he asked.
