Page 178 of The Crown’s Temptation

He had lied to me so many times. Overstepped so many boundaries. And yet here I was at his bedside.

For reasons I did not want to examine, I cared.

I did not know what it was that he wanted. But I knew he would not let anyone hurt me. And here in Morrath that meant something.

I thought about Dali. About what exactly she was doing to convince him to help her find the amulet. About why Teorin would even be qualified to find it when he did not know Morrath well. About the smile she had given me when I asked if she had gotten what she needed.

You promised to stay out of it, I reminded myself.

My eyelids grew heavy. The daytime tiredness I had grown accustomed to began to close in. I shot up quickly before my head could hit his pillow.

You cannot end up in his bed, I reminded myself.

I curled into the chair at the bedside instead and counted his breaths and knew sleep would come soon regardless of where I was sitting.

When I woke he was already watching me.

I straightened in the chair and pushed my hair back and pretended I had not just been asleep with my mouth open in a man's bedroom.

He looked better. Not well. Better. The glassiness had cleared from his eyes and the color had come back to his face in the way it did when feeders had what they needed.

"How long was I asleep?" I said.

"Long enough," he said.

I looked at him. He looked back. The room was quiet and the light had shifted and I decided that if I was ever going to ask him I was going to ask him now.

"The bond," I said. "What were your plans? Truly."

He was quiet for a long while.

“Do you know what it was truly designed to do?” he asked.

"I do now. Tell me what you planned."

He looked at the ceiling. "In the beginning I planned to do it. Drain you. Open the veil. Bring Brina back." He paused. "Then I found you in Rathmor."

"And?"

"And I could not."

“You told me she was dead, Teorin. You told me your mother was dead.” I tried to keep my voice even.

“I lied.”

I did not react to that, there was no point.

I watched his face. "What happens if the veil opens, Teorin? Truly."

He looked at me. “What lives in Sarenal is dark. Darker than anything you have seen here in Morrath.”

"We need to seal the wards then,” I said.

"If we do," he said carefully, "you will be forever tied to me through the bond. That is what the bond requires. That is what it has always required."

I looked at him.

"I am not scared of that," I said.