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Tori gasps, and the wound changes from black to red. A dark green smoke, viscous and toxic, escapes the wound. Tori coughs as the poisoned curse is withdrawn, leaving behind a jagged wound that looks painful but survivable.
I exhale.
Maricha stands, gripping a blade in each hand. She whispers a few more words to them, and the bloodstains vanish. When she looks up at me, impatience lines her hard expression. I know I only have moments left before she demands I hold up my end.
I kneel beside Tori, schooling my expression to hide the storm raging inside me. My back is to Maricha, my body shielding her from witnessing my exchange with my mate.
She still hasn’t realized her curse has broken, and I don’t plan on giving her proof of it now. That would only endanger Tori all over again.
Tori meets my eyes, tears slipping down her cheeks. “You shouldn’t have done it,” she whispers. “I wasn’t worth the price.”
“You are worth everything to me.” My voice is hoarse, my hand trembling as I stroke her cheek quickly before either of them can see it. “Never forget that. Never doubt my love for you.”
“Legion.” Another tear escapes.
“Enough of this,” Maricha snaps. “It’s time.”
I push to my feet, turning away from Tori before I can change my mind and do something pointless like fight. Facing one of them might have been possible, but both Uziah and my mother together are too risky, especially with Tori still injured.
“Fulfill your end, or I’ll bury a poisoned blade in her heart,” my mother says.
I stalk to where she stands beside Uziah and snatch the dark blade from her hand. With only the slightest moment of hesitation, I draw the tip across my palm until blood soaks my skin.
My mother takes the blade from my hand and does the same to her own.
I open my mouth to begin reciting the old words that will bind us, but Uziah stops me when he grabs the knife and draws blood across his own hand.
“What are you doing?” Maricha demands.
“Joining all three of us,” Uziah says.
My mother’s eyes narrow. “That’s not what we talked about.”
“No, but it’s what we’ll do.” He looks at me. “I bind you to me, Legion Razginath, son of darkness and damnation.”
My mother looks murderous, and for a weighted moment, I think she might attack him. But then she speaks up, reciting the same words he’s just uttered.
“I bind you to me, Legion Razginath, son of darkness and damnation. Son of my womb.” The words she adds at the end make her eyes gleam with a smugness she aims at Uziah.
It’s all I can do not to roll my eyes at their pettiness.
“Your turn,” my mother prompts.
It takes everything in me not to look back at Tori. “I bind myself to you, Maricha Razginath and Uziah?—”
“No!” Tori screams.
Uziah’s eyes widen at something over my shoulder just as Tori throws herself at him. He manages to dodge her attempt to upend him, stumbling against Maricha who screeches at him and shoves him away.
Tori glares at them, her hands trembling as she lifts them at her sides. Beneath our feet, the ground trembles and cracks open. Maricha and Uziah take a step back to avoid being swallowed up. I watch, stunned and proud, as thick, dark vines climb out of the fissures, crawling across the ground toward my mother and the vamp who sired me. The curse may be broken, but this part of Tori’s power has remained.
Maricha screams and calls out an ancient command to her magic. “Lissnim Roraouth Azrepkeer!”
Thick green smoke licks over the ground, consuming the vines and turning them to ash as it hurries toward Tori. I roar, my dragon surging to the surface. I rush toward her, the blood from my palm dripping over the vines and flames as I run toward my mate.
Something wraps around my ankles, burning like acid, and I’m yanked to the ground.
“You are mine, blood of my blood.” My mother’s declaration sends a boom through the skies.
