“Please tell me this is all some sort of joke. That we’re not actually unBonded.” When she didn’t say anything, I continued, “Did you ever love me at all?”
Sasori turned her hard amber eyes to mine and spoke the final words that broke me. “You were a good fuck, Lex. But there was nothing more here than that. How could I feel something for you? You Force Bonded me—I never wanted it but had to as a test from my father. You were a job, a minor inconvenience. Anything you thought I felt was just manufactured.”
She delivered the final blow with cold indifference before throwing the remainder of her clothes in her bags and cinching them tight. I stood frozen in the doorway, eyes focused and unseeing as I watched half of my soul walk out the door without so much as a goodbye to Ilyas or I.
I held it together as long as I could, knowing she hated seeing me cry and not wanting to give her any more satisfaction in hurting me. But as soon as that door closed, I collapsed, Ilyas running to scoop me from the floor and hold me against his chest as I broke. Again.
Chapter 63
Faylinn
“Lord d’Refan, the delegation from Samyr,” a butler announced with a sweeping bow as he backed away from the chair that looked distinctly like a throne, even though Lord d’Refan proclaimed itwasn’ta throne.
Acting like a king and he hasn’t even been crowned.
I almost laughed at the pretentious absurdity that wassoindicative of Lord d’Refan, but held my tongue. My mind tended to wander, especially during these types of events, and I didn’t want the delegate from Samyr to think I was laughing at him, lest I unintentionally provoke some sort of war.
It was easy to see that tensions between Samyr and Vespera were strained at best, and this exchange of Vessels was the only positive interaction these two territories would have for years.
What a historic time, I thought balefully as I blew a wayward curl away from my face. Lord d’Refan obviously heard my breath and turned a quick glower on me before refocusing on the slowly approaching delegate with a gaggle of women in tow.
Why are all the Vessels women? Where are the men?
I knew from my research that Samyr was a nation-state madeentirelyof Vessels—there were no Mages listed in their census, but there were male Vessels.
The realization struck as soon as I saw the female Vessels—they were all primped and primed, dressed in long, bold-colored dresses that clung to their forms. Each wore a semi-vacant expression with a demure smile plastered on their painted lips. They all looked similar—especially with their matching makeup and hairstyles—and it was difficult to discern who was who.
I wonder which woman is Rohak’s Vessel. The thought soured my mood nearly as much as the realization that Samyr only traded female Vessels. That truth was made abundantly clear when the same number of women Vessels from Vespera were brought forward, Sasori among them. A quasi-dance ensued where the female Vessels from Samyr curtsied to the Vesperan Vessels before each touched the hand of a Vesperan Vessel, symbolically showing the exchange.
The new Vessels from Samyr were quickly ushered from the room by the manor’s healer, the Vesperan Vessels were given the same treatment by a second delegate from Samyr. I watched as a smile played over Sasori’s lips. She looked back at Lord d’Refan for a second and I saw her imperceptibly nod at him before confidently striding from the room.
What is happening there?
The mystery surrounding Samyr only grew.
“Is that all?” Lord d’Refan called, bored, lounging in his chair that was “not a throne.”
The Samyrian delegate offered a tight-lipped smile and a stiff bow before turning on his heel and leaving the receiving room, the doorthumpingloudly upon his exit.
I blew out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding before turning to Lord d’Refan with a quirked brow.
“Care to explain?”
Lord d’Refan chuckled humorlessly before actually answering my question, for once.
“I’m the last living true-blooded heir to Samyr’s throne. My family was disposed of decades ago and I grew into power, here. Instead of Samyr’s current rulers being able to hunt me to extinction, they are forced to play nice and by my rules, especially because my army is much bigger and stronger than theirs.” His smile was all vicious teeth. “This . . . exchange of Vessels is one way that we both get what we want without having to interact with each other. It’s best for everyone this way.”
“And Sasori?” I asked, a hard edge in my question. I unBonded her two days ago from Lex—against my will and better judgement—and still didn’t understand whyshehad to be part of the exchange. Who knew what would happen to Lex because of it.
Lord d’Refan waved a hand as he pushed out of his not-a-throne. “A necessary unBonding.” He reached the door before turning around again, that unnerving gaze never focusing fully on me.
“Because now I have an agent inside Samyr.”
I fled the receiving room,hands twisting together as I thought about the secrets Lord d’Refan revealed so easily.
Was it a trap? Misinformation that was meant to lead me away from the truth?
As much as I morally and personally despised the man, I couldn’t deny his intellect. If I didn’t hate him, I would be impressed, maybe even friends with him.
