Page 246 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

Someone moved in my periphery, but my focus stayed fixed on Nix. I shoved at his chest, grasped at the hilt lodged in me, even as he leaned in, driving it to the guard.

Fuck, that would hurt later.

Nix slammed forward, his free hand closing around my neck as he pressed our faces together in a cruel parody of my father’s embrace.

“All this over some cunt who hasn’t even accepted the bond, cousin?” he growled.

Breathing through the fire licking up my insides was a battle in itself.

“She’s fucking pretty,” he continued, twisting the blade as he pulled it upward, “but is she worth this?”

“No!” Cali.

I wanted to look—wanted to find her—but I was trapped in this moment. Trapped with him.

“She’ll be prettier on her knees,” Nix snarled, “with her lips around my cock.”

Red flooded my vision. More than the blade. More than the pain. That was the strike he meant to land.

He needed to break me.

I couldn’t let him.

Agony pulsing through me, I anchored myself. Training fell away, leaving only instinct. I leaned into the pain with an agonized groan. Let my body go slack. Let him think he’d won.

The world vanished. All that remained was the blade, and the bastard.

“I’ll take good care of her,” he whispered—vile promise thick with implication.

That would be the last thing my cousin ever said.

With a roar of fury, I cracked my forehead into his. Bone crunched, and I slammed into him, dropped my shoulder, and drove him back. Ducked low. Snatched my blade.

For the first time, I advanced.

The world narrowed to a tunnel, my vision locked on Nix. Blood poured down his face as he scrambled to defend.

Each breath was a furnace.

Each strike a war drum.

He tried to retreat, but I was rage incarnate—driven by something larger than anger. Larger than pain.

Larger than him.

Snippets of strategy flickered through the fury. Every strike landed harder than the last, my body screaming to stop. But I didn’t—couldn’t.

He’d fed the fire. And now I’d burn him with it.

Freya didn’t have to choose me. I had already chosen her. Whatever form that took—bonded or not—her soul was mine.

The universe didn’t make mistakes.

Rise, mighty ruler, came the omnipresent voice—male and female, dark and light, Poe and something beyond. Our people watch you bleed, Prince. Do not let them think you weak.

Nix dropped low to strike, but I was faster. I twisted over him. By the time I straightened, he was back on his feet, sucking wind, but too late.

I struck—my blade biting into his side. He tried to block but missed, a growl of pain erupting from him.