Kyros sighed. “Fine.”
I pressed a palm to my Guardian’s shoulder, stilling him from continuing his assault on the Death Blood. “Zeph,” I said softly. “I need Shade to be able to speak.”
“Speak?” he repeated. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Okay. After he explains himself,” I offered. “Then you can do whatever the hell you want to him.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Kyros interjected, causing Zeph to spin toward him.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“More repetition,” the Paradox Fae sighed, relaxing his head against the wall behind him.
“Perhaps you should stop fucking with time, then,” I told him, folding my arms. “How many times have I lived this moment?”
His lips curled a little. “Nowthatis an interesting question.”
“And that’s not an answer,” I tossed back.
“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “I think they might just listen to you this time, Shade.”
The Death Blood sputtered out a sound of agreement, then spat blood onto the floor. Zeph’s enchantment had been the equivalent of a few stern kicks to the most painful parts on the torso. I knew from experience that it hurt like hell. And Zeph usually held back when magically sparring with me.
With Shade, he hadn’t held back at all.
“What the fuck is going on?” my Guardian demanded. “Where’s Aflora? Why can’t I feel her?”
“You can’t feel her?” I stood up straighter. “At all?”
He fell silent, his green eyes flashing as he concentrated. “No. I feel her. But there’s… a block. And I can sense her struggling.” He went to the ground to take hold of Shade’s button-down shirt. “Start fucking talking, or I swear to the Fae, I will?—”
“Destroy me,” Shade rasped. “I know.”
Kyros smirked. “Seriously, Shadow. You’re going through a lot of pain for something we both know is inevitable.”
“Fuck you,” Shade spat out at him.
“Not my type,” Kyros drawled.
“Give him a second to breathe,” I said, touching Zeph’s shoulder again. “I want to hear what Shade has to say.” My instincts were firing on all cylinders, the sense of déjà vu a very real presence in my mind.
I’d lived this moment before.
An obvious expectation, given Kyros’s presence, but it went deeper than that. I couldfeelthe familiarity of this situation.
Just like that time when Aflora threatened to undo our bonds. Sir Kristoff had gone off about a sword-wielding fae. I’d just brushed off his commentary as a consequence of whatever the fuck Shade had done to him that day.
But that hadn’t been it at all.
“You’ve been fucking with our lives for a while,” I said to the Paradox Fae.
“Have I?” he countered, his dark eyes glimmering with knowledge.
“You were there the day Aflora threatened to dismantle our mating bonds.”
He considered me for a long moment before looking at Shade. “I stand corrected. You were right to bite him.”
“She succeeded, didn’t she?” I added, my heart racing with the knowledge. “She destroyed our bonds.”
