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“No, she wouldn’t have,” Meg says. “It’s Bess we’re talking about. She’s wonderful. You should’ve seen how much she has helped me the last few days while you’ve been… busy.” She makes it sound as if I’ve done something wrong, as though she knows how badly I failed her.
“Let’s find Bess,” I say. The cow shifter better hope to gods she has a good explanation. I lift my mate and her guardian cat in my arms, needing to hold her before I can’t anymore.
“I can walk.”
“And I can carry you.” When she grumbles about lying, cheating minotaur bullies, I soften my tone. “At least until we know how badly you’re injured. You hit your head.”
“I don’t have a concussion.” She announces this like she’s a healer capable of seeing inside her own skull. Stubborn mate.
I must share Theo’s ideas with her, his correct assumptions about someone being out to steal my magic. More importantly, she needs to face the truth that someone would kill her rather than let her remain here as my mate. “I need to tell you—”
Meg cuts me off. “I already know. I heard you talking earlier, and I—” The clack of hooves has her squirming in my arms. I let her down before she can injure herself worse, and she hurries forward. “Bess? Are you all right?”
“Milady, oh thank the gods.” Bess comes running down the hall, partly in cow form and holding a cloth to her arm. “As soon as I heard Oggie, I ran to get help.” Tauren and two other bulls follow her, carrying buckets of water.
Meg stops, backing away from the woman and toward me. Her tightening shoulders and her protective embrace of Oggie scream worried. “You heard Oggie, but you didn’t let him out or check on him first?”
“The demon cat?” Bess asks. “Fire can’t hurt demons.”
“How did you know for sure? How could anyone know? He yowled like he was in pain, and his tail’s messed up. I know you don’t like him all that much, but I thought we were friends.” Meg presses closer to the wall. “Oggie means a lot to me.”
I intervene. I can comfort my mate later if she lets me, if Theo gives us time. Finding her would-be murderer and uncovering plots against the realm take priority. “Show us what’s under the cloth, Bess.”
“No, sire—” The woman dares to refuse my order—not a sign pointing to innocence and loyalty.
“Now.” I glance at Tauren. “Help her however forcefully you need to if she doesn’t do as her king commands her of her own volition.”
“I know how it looks,” Bess rushes to say. “But I didn’t do anything, I swear. Darnell came to the kitchens, and I told him to leave, but he kept going on about Belaya and poison.”
“Poison?” Meg whispers. She backs away, and I push her behind me to keep her safe.
Tauren pulls the cloth from a sobbing Bess. An ugly red burn mars her skin. “I found her starting a shift to her human form,” he says. “She had screamed fire, and I wondered why she bothered to shift when there was danger.”
I state the obvious, hating the truth. “To heal herself before anyone discovered the wound.”
Of everyone in the kingdom who could have betrayed me, I didn’t expect Bess. Her loyalty stretches back centuries. She has done nothing but serve since she came here for sanctuary. Oh sure, Darnell accused her of involvement in the magical disaster at the market, but those two have sniped at each other for decades, and she didn’t have the power to back up the allegation. But this? Coming at my mate—my fragile, human mate? I curl my hands into fists, wanting to crush anyone who dares to hurt Meg, but not ready to lash out at Bess.
Bess can wait. Even if she set the fire, she couldn’t siphon magic. No, someone much more powerful has marked my realm for destruction. “Lock her in her quarters and stand guard inside. She isn’t allowed to hurt anyone, not even herself. At least not until I have interrogated her.” First, I need to bring myself to do the unthinkable, to give up my mate.
Following Meg to my suite, I drag my hooves. This is the worst day of my existence. For a too-brief moment in my long life, I had the chance to seize happiness. A chance I owe completely to my mate.
“What do we do now?” she asks. “Bess couldn’t have wanted to hurt me. You said interrogate. You don’t mean torture, do you? Because that’s not happening. I don’t care if you are the king—”
A ripple of magic pulses through the room. One that I didn’t create. Battle instinct roars through me, overcoming fear. Meg sways, and I grab her, sheltering her with my body even as I shove powers back at whatever invisible enemy has launched an attack. A terrible rumbling comes from deep within the castle, and the foundations shake. Far away, a part of the labyrinth falls, cutting into me the same as the hack of a sword.
I press the sigil on Meg’s bracelet.
Her eyes go wide, and she stares at me like I’ve betrayed her. “No, what have you done?”
“What I had to do. We don’t have much time.” As though summoned to a circle, Theo appears.
“What the hell, Leander?” he shouts over the rattle of shaking furniture.
“Take her and go now, before it’s too late.” I push Meg toward him, touching her cheek one last time. I can’t keep my beauty here. What kind of beast would that make me? One I refuse to become. “I love you,” I tell her. “I’ll always love you.”
“Le-” In a flicker of magic, her voice cuts out while screaming my name. She, Theo, Oggie—they disappear in a blink.
My heart goes heavy, my body weak, and my thoughts spiral. She’s gone. I’ve lost her. My mate. My last hope for salvation.
