Considering who he was now and what he’d done, he could free her and she’d still be on the run. The Lombardi Pack, particularly Romano and Dominic, wouldn’t trust him around them again. If they knew Heath was in Encantado, they’d come for him. Despite their skills, Heath with his cadre and ten Renegade wolves wouldn’t stand well against the pack.
With Kallan’s absence, he couldn’t even open a portal to get out of here. Without truly knowing what had happened in his past, and the way he’d ruined things with the Lombardi Pack making him public enemy number one, Heath had nothing to give his Foraltae.
“My past,” he began, “is cloudy to me. Because of the lies in it, I messed up pretty bad in the Fragile.”
“What did you do?”
Wincing, Heath took a deep breath. “I went after a Fae I felt responsible for my abuse and the lives of my friends. But when I did, I found out she wasn’t to blame. I knew she spoke the truth, Ash. I’d sunk my blade into her chest and nearly killed her. Even now, I don’t know if she actually survived, but I have to hope she did. She was … linked to another soul. My mistake could’ve taken both of them.”
Ash cocked her head to one side and perched on a fluffy brown couch inside their dreamscape. What Heath wouldn’t give for it to be real, to have some place to call his own.
After a moment, she tapped her chin. “This female … did you love her?”
“No.” His denial exploded out of him. “It was never like that. She was Queen of the Seelie, and she signed off on what happened to me. Stood before me and destroyed everything dear to me.”
Ash’s gasp and sudden pallor made Heath feel even more like shit. His Foraltae was Seelie, even if she’d been trapped for some time. She’d know about Silva, or at least her real name—Niamh.
“I thought she’d sentenced me to death.”
He tried to explain, but even to him it sounded weak. He’d been so fucking sure, so angry and determined to seek revenge. If he’d been right, no one would have been able to argue against him for what he’d done.
Well, Romano wouldn’t have cared if Heath had been right if his mate had found death as well.
Dominic was loyal to those he considered part of his pack, and it would’ve been war.
No matter what Heath did, right or wrong, he would have been no better than Silva. He’d have taken away what was most precious to them because of what he thought was right.
“You need to see the truth. It binds you, yes? Without it, you can’t move forward, and the sooner you do, the sooner you can save me.”
“And take you back to what?”
“Any place is better than here, Heath.”
He wasn’t so sure about that, but he needed to know the truth. Ash was right on that account. He couldn’t make things right, couldn’t move forward without knowing what really happened that day.
“My worst memory is the day I was chosen by my master.”
Ash stood, her hips swaying like rolling waves as she came toward him. “Then we go there, together.”
He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this. To have a chance to have her beside him. Heath pulled her into his arms, breathing deeply of her salty mosaic scent. He anchored himself around her body and nodded.
“Show me.”
***
“Unseelie, male, shadow and glamour skills,” the overseer announced.
“Can his fighting be controlled so I can direct his blade?”
Heath didn’t know the man the overseer was speaking to. There was a familiarity about him, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
The overseer nodded, an evil glint in his eye. “For the extra price, yes. A spell like that would have to be inscrolled within his slave mark.”
“Do it. He took out an Escala. He’s a perfect fit for my needs.”
Heath bit back a groan, his cheek plastered to the floor by a magicked collar around his neck that was bolted to the ground. They’d put him on his knees, shackled his ankles down as well, and then bound his wrists behind his back.
He was naked, exposed, put on display for the fucking Seelie studying him for purchase.
