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No time. As Loki lifts his shadowed hands, already conjuring at a nod from Glaine, I accept that this is no warning. Glaine is not here to remind me that I must bond my Hope to me before the gold moon. I already did, and Loki continues to wield magic, building the links of golden chain between his palms.
It is for me. That’s why he is here. So long as Loki uses his mage abilities to summon a portal and keep it open for Glaine, he had no reason to follow the guard off-plane. But Glaine cannot conjure chains… and Loki can.
As he finishes his cast, ending the chain with gold cuffs that will fit on my wrists, Loki says to Glaine, “Should we bring her back to Mavro with us?”
I will accept the chains if that is to be my fate. I refuse to see my mate wearing them, too.
“You cannot—”
“Duke Haures trusted you,” Glaine says, cutting me off with a pointed reminder.
I trust you…
I struggle to contain my temper. If he believes me a traitor, Glaine will see Hope in chains just to spite. I won’t let him do that if I can. “I know that.”
“And you betrayed him.”
Glaine doesn’t ask me why. Heknowswhy.
And, given the chance, he would do the same… though that doesn’t change a thing about what he’s come to the human realm to do this morning.
Every Sombran demon longs for their female. I believed I was owed a mate more than most. A powerful mage… it was my reward after a lifetime in service to Duke Haures.
I found her, too, but Hope… she only just learned of me. She agreed to be my mate, believing we have an eternity to be together because I was too afraid to tell her that the duke would eventually send his soldiers after me.
She will know after. When she returns to her quarters and I am gone, she will be able to learn the truth through my essence. Our bond will weaken—though, as far as I am aware, it should not break—and, through the veil, I don’t know if I will be able to sense her any longer, but at least she will discover that her male…
Her male…
Her male was never worthy of her.
“Take me.” I hold out my wrists to Loki. “Give me the chains, but
“She is your bonded mate, but with you in the dungeons, will she have your loyalty? I think we should bring her to the duke.”
No!
“Leave her,” I snarl. In response to my temper, Loki immediately sends the chains at me. I ignore them, though they’re a reminder that I must not fight back for Hope’s sake. Swallowing my pride, I soften my voice and tell Glaine, “I will make her forget me. Forget Sombra. I’ll go with you, but only if you leave my mate be.”
I was once the most powerful mage in all of Sombra. I lost my magic for a time to be with Hope, and just when I thought I had them both, I will have, neither.
Powerful… am I powerful enough to let her go?
It is a simple spell to pluck the memory of me and everything she knows about Sombra from her. She would have my essence, but no knowledge on how to use it, and she would continue to exist until, one day, she was gone because she didn’t know she could exist forever.
And when I hear a soft gasping sound from the entrance to her quarters, seeing Hope with her eyes wide and her mouth slightly parted, showing off her small, human teeth… I wish I could do the same to my own memories because I never want to remember the look of hurt that flashes across her face when she heard how I offered to give her up.
I want to tell her that I’m doing it for her. Before I can get the words out, though, her accusing stare drops to the chains on my wrists before she spots Glaine and Loki, standing apart from the rest of the shadows in her space.
“What is going on here? Sammael? Are these your friends? What are they doing here? Why… why are you wearingchains?”
“Hope.” The heavy chains rattle as my hands shake. “You should go back downstairs.”
“What? Leave you? No way. And you’re not going anywhere, either.”
As much as I don’t want to leave her, I didn’t want her to see me like this, either. She would understand that I was taken prisoner by the duke’s guards, but I would much rather she never see me in my chains.
Especially since I will do anything to keep her from being clapped in a pair of her own.
