Were they really the villains Cash and Jo said they were? So many things weren’t adding up. Jo didn’t know Lyra was imprisoned or that her mother was still alive. Lyra was able to get out, but how and who sent her there? The feeling I got from Aram was Hera was behind it all. He hadn’t been the one to kill the Originals. He coerced Hera into doing it, but it appeared she’d broken through somehow. Still, she did it anyway. Why?
I needed answers, and the only one who could give them to me was Aram. Because if he wasn’t my enemy, then I certainly didn’t want to make him one now.
My chest burned at the thought of betraying Aram in any way. Something was different. Something in our bond had changed. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I was as confident in that thought as the ones I got through our bond.
The familiar throb in my core suggested if I wanted to, I could use my ability. I could take us back, but what then? What would Aram do to Big after I used it? Would he hurt someone who was only trying to protect me?
Panic hit the back of my throat.
Big started to walk forward, but time slowed until it stopped and he was frozen in front of me, mid-speech. I wasn’t sure if it’d work on pixies, especially one who was supposedly a prince or whatever, but it did. Thank fuck.
I rushed to get in front of Aram so that our eyes could meet, but I was surprised when he turned, his wings shifting. His face was twisted with rage, his powerful body straining, and everywhere I looked his skin glistened with sweat.
He brushed back his hair with a curse. Whatever they’d done to him had taken its toll. I could sense it through our bond. It was draining his power.
“Don’t ask me, little mate. Even this I can’t forgive,” he growled. “Using ancient dust on me is a bold move.”
I glared at him. “I thought you wanted to prove yourself? Well, this is your moment, Aram. Big is my friend. He came here to save me. He promised he would, and I’m…”
I licked my lips and hoped my gut wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t seen the last betrayal coming, but I didn’t have a bond with them like I did with this terrifying dude. All I had right now were my wits. It was time to make a choice, because whatever I did now would decide what future I walked into.
I steeled my spine and said, “I’m choosing you.”
His expression softened. “You’re choosing me, little mate?”
“This time,” I amended. “I don’t have a choice right now, but we’re getting rid of this contract. I’m sure there’s a way to do it. I’ll be here on my own terms, not yours. And I expect you to tell me what you’re so afraid of and why you feel like the world will end if I’m not by your side. You need to tell me everything, Aram. I’ll know if you’re lying. No more games.”
A grin tilted his mouth. “Fate has delivered me such a lovely and strong mate.” His arms crossed, and I tried not to let my eyes wander to the massive weapon that hung between his legs and had only just battered my insides. “Thing is, little mate, I can’t lie to you. And because I can’t trust at least one of my brothers right now, you should remember it. Nether Fae can’t tell lies. It’s how Hera killed our clan.”
My mouth fell open. “You can’t lie?”
“Not that I much care to. I’ve always spoken my mind. But, no, we are quite literally incapable. Hera tortured the ones who refused to speak. This has always been my greatest weakness.” He paused, staring at me as a flood of emotion swirled inside my head, both his and mine. “That is, until you. And now you know what we’ve kept from all others. Our most protected secret.”
My pulse thundered. “Why?”
“Because I’m your mate, V. That might not mean much to you and your kind, but it’s everything to ours. Even Rayis knows it, though he’ll argue otherwise.”
His chest expanded and a flash of another woman’s face appeared in my head, one that reminded me of him but wasn’t the one I’d seen before.
“Nether Fae, especially the ones of royal blood, will do anything for our mates. Through our bonds all things are possible, but they’re also fragile.”
The dead woman who stared at the sky flashed inside my head next, then my eyes tracked to the right to find the other woman who looked similar to Aram. Her beautiful white hair blanketedher naked back, the dress she wore covered in blood that was as blue as Rayis’s had been, her green eyes vacant of life, left staring at the other woman.
She was dead, too. Killed by Hera. Her arm was left outstretched as if she was trying desperately to get to the woman I knew was Aram’s mother. Then the word for her hit me. This was their other mother. Mates. Bonded and killed together.
A rush of grief washed over me. They’d died not only protecting each other, but their sons. Aram and his brothers hadn’t lost just one mother that day; they lost two and then everyone they cared about. Hera had taken their entire clan from them—all that was left of the Nether Fae.
She’d left Aram with nothing but unbearable grief he still carried with him to this day. His anger and desire for vengeance was so powerful that it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Both of your mothers were killed? Two women can have children together here?”
It didn’t seem so far-fetched considering magic and creatures from another realm existed, but I was still a bit shellshocked by the information.
The lines in Aram’s face were deep and dark. “Fae bonds are powerful, V. Doubly so for the Nether kind. A great deal is possible between powerful mates, but time is short, so I’ll leave it at that.”
His muscles bunched and his jaw clenched a few times, in the middle of an argument with himself. I waited inside frozen time, surprised by how little it bothered me to hold it. Was I drawing from my bond with Aram?
Then finally he blew out a sigh and nodded. “I agree to your terms. He and the other pixies here will come to no harm, but only for this first andonlyoffense, little mate. He won’t evade consequence the next time, whether he’s the Wings Prince or the Queen of England.”
