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“I can portal you out of here,” Cord suggested as she methodically began to make the knots for the rope.
“You didn’t offer.” Tegan shrugged as she tossed the rope out of the window and watched it uncoil as it fell. “This way works too.”
“Why are you here?” Cord growled in frustration. She really was one of the few people who could get under his skin.
“Why am Ihere? Itoldyou why I am here,” Tegan growled at him. “Why areyouhere?” She looked around the room. “This dingy room, this hole in the middle of nowhere, this horrifically depressing castle? What areyouhiding from?”
“I amnothiding,” Cord snarled in anger.
“Looks like it to me.” Tegan pointed to her face. “Even with a droopy eye, I see a coward.”
“Tegan…” He shook his head as he turned from her, from those piercing blue eyes that saw past all his barriers.
“They wanted you to take a seat on the Great Council,” she told him.
Cord snorted, his opinion on that very clear.
“I told them you wouldn’t take it. I suggested they give it to someone else.”
Cord turned to her, his eyebrows lifting in question. “Who did you deem suitable? Lucas?” he guessed.
“Among others,” Tegan told him. “I said they should give your seat to someone who deserved it. The vote from all the territories was unanimous.”
“Wow,” Cord’s voice dripped sarcasm. He crossed his arms as he looked at her. “And who did the great Tegan Holt choose?”
“Zahra.”
Cord choked in disbelief. “You did what?”
“She is more than capable,” Tegan told him confidently. “She deserves it.”
“Zahra?” he asked again incredulously.
“You just said you did not want it.” Tegan watched him as he began to pace.
“Who else?” he demanded.
“Lucas, Salem, Leonid, Marcus, Garrick and Elrick.”
Cord stood still, and he looked her over. “Six out of seven are good choices.”
“Sevenof the seven are good choices.”
“She isn’t even eighteen.”
“You are just turned twenty-two, and you have more power than all Castors combined,” Tegan said softly. “Age is relative.” Her eyes flicked away from his for a moment and then back again. “Experience is what matters and the desire tonotwant power.” Cord had nothing to say and simply held her steady stare. “Do you still have it?”
“Yes.”
“Has it changed?”
“Yes.”
“Haveyouchanged?”
Cord’s eyes closed. He could not let her see. “Yes.”
Soft fingers trailed across his cheek before her hand cupped the side of his face, and he leaned into her touch. “You are so full of Drakhyn droppings, Cord Lebedev,” she whispered. Soft lips brushed his. “I love you. It was not the bond. I always will love you. When you are ready, come back to me.”
