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Peering up, Silas tosses Matitus into Dragus, their feral growls deafening. Silas’s entire body is vibrating, and I can tell he is on the verge of shifting, which will destroy the entire place with his enormous beast. Silas starts stalking toward their fallen forms in front of the fireplace. Rushing over, I hit him full force, knocking the air out of my lungs. He clearly didn’t expect it and is knocked off balance and I land heavily on top of him.

He growls at me, his green and gold reptilian eyes burning into me as I sit up, shaking my head. My hands are on his chest as I push myself up on my knees. With the necklace in hand, I hit his chest losing my temper.

“Here! Fucking have it, you asshole. I hate you. I fucking hate you, Silas,” I scream smacking his chest with my hands until my hands hurt, and I feel out of breath. I know I can’t do anything to hurt him. I’m in a frenzy, blinded by my own rage when I feel hands grab at me. I swat them away like a fly.

“Don’t touch me, please don’t touch me,” I scream. I peer up at Silas watching me like he thinks I have gone mad, and after weeks of his shit, I finally have. I’ve had enough, I am done. “Kill me, I can’t do this anymore. I won’t do this,” I whisper, and Silas sits up grabbing my arms.

“Don’t ever say that again, Elora.”

His hands are shaking with anger. My gaze snaps to him, but he doesn’t look angry. Maybe I read him wrong.

“You have taken everything from me, everything. My entire life was ruined because you. My grandmother died to protect my magic when I didn’t even know about it. She died because you were hunting Fae. My entire family died at your hands. Then you take my magic. The only thing I have left, and you took it, too. What have you sacrificed, Silas? What am I to you?” I ask.

Silas shakes his head. I don’t know what he is thinking anymore, just another thing he has taken from me—our bond. The one thing I thought I hated, when in reality, now that it is gone, I realize I’ve never felt so empty. When he doesn’t answer, I close my eyes, willing the tears to stop, taking a breath and going to get up. Silas rips me back down on the floor with him.

“I don’t want to take anything from you. I have no choice.”

“There is always a choice, Silas. You just didn’t choose me. You choose this over the mate bond,” I tell him pointing to my mother’s necklace. Silas presses his lips in a line, appearing to be hurt by my words. I get up anyway; he knows I’m right. How can he not? Everything has come down to a stupid curse. Matitus and Dragus are watching us before I turn on my heel and leave the room. I go back to my old room. Laying on the bed, I tug the blanket up and roll so I am facing the wall. A few minutes later, I hear the door open, and I glance over my shoulder. Abigail creeps in. She sits beside me and I place my head in her lap, wrapping my arms around her waist, hugging her.

“I have something I should tell you,” she says, brushing my hair from my face. I stare up at her. “I should have told you, but I was scared of what they would do if they knew.”

But I already know, or at least I think I do. I have an inkling when she freaked out about them knowing she is a Witch. About her sending her mother away with her daughter.

“I already know, Abigail; you don’t have to say it. I know what Claire is,” I whisper, and she stops, looking down at me.

“Don’t say it because if they ever ask, I won’t be able to lie now without my magic.”

She nods in understanding.

“I can feel it, you know. The bond breaking. It feels like I have lost a limb, a piece of myself,” I tell her.

The door opens, and Dragus and Matitus come in. Abigail gets up, looking at me alarmed.

“It is okay, Abbie, just go. I’ll see you later,” I tell her, and she nods, quickly leaving.

Matitus steps aside letting her pass. He closes the door and sits on the bed.

“Bond or not, Elora, you’re still ours,” he says, reaching for me. I move further up the bed, trying to get away from them, only he pulls me onto his lap.

“I don’t need the bond to love you,” he whispers into my neck. Dragus sits on the other side of me, his hand on my knee.

“You should go; I want to go to sleep,” I tell them knowing if they stay, Silas might come looking for them. He may not have a bond with me anymore, but he does with them. To him, I might as well be a stranger now.

I hop off Matitus’s lap climbing behind Dragus, slipping under the covers. They don’t leave though; instead, they remain.

“Go, Silas will come looking for you,” I tell them. They reluctantly leave, and I spend the afternoon staring mostly at the ceiling not wanting to leave the room. Marian comes in with Abigail at dinner time and we sit on the floor in front of the fireplace eating ravioli. They eventually have to leave to do whatever chores they have left.

When they go, I have a shower, and slip my shirt and panties on. All my clothes are upstairs, but I don’t feel like running into Silas. So I hop into bed. All night, I toss and turn, my sleep restless. I can’t get comfortable, like something is missing, and I realize something is missing: the three Dragon Kings asleep upstairs.

Getting up, I creep into the bathroom and get a drink from the tap. Flicking the bathroom light off, I trudge back to my bed only to sit and see green and gold eyes reflecting oddly from the chair near the fireplace. I jump, startled, when I realize Silas is sitting on the chair, his body cast in shadows by the fire glowing brightly in the fireplace. His arms are braced on his legs as he leans forward, watching me. At this moment he looks like he is having some inner battle with himself, his eyes watching me like I am some confusing experiment he can’t figure out.