Click, click.
My eyes snap to Lumi in time to see the manacles sliding off her wrists and ankles as the chains fall to the floor with a loud thud.
“Why so concerned? I thought you wanted me to free her?” Isolde says with a smile I don’t trust.
I tug against my own chains until they rattle. Anger surges through me—too intense, too overwhelming to be entirely mine. Dark, cold shadows creep into my mind, twisting with my own rage.
I don’t trust the reason that Lumi is no longer in chains.
“What do you want, Isolde? How do we get the next cure for Nyx?” I ask matter-of-factly.
She studies her nails like she has all the time in the world, not like Nyx is about to break his own chains and kill the only person capable of breaking her curse. Finally, she answers, but not with words. With a wave of her hand, Lumi is caught in her magic.
Lumi’s entire body goes rigid as she fights the invisible force that has encased her. Her muscles barely twitch, though. She can’t move unless Isolde allows it. She’s trapped—more trapped than she was with the chains.
“The question is not what I want,” Isolde’s voice snaps on the last word. “The question is, who does Lumi want and who is her true mate?”
“I’m her mate. All of the seers have said so. Every. Single. One. She broke her connection with Nyx. Rejected his bond with her. She’smine.”
“Yes…that’s what the seers say. It’s what you say, but I wonder why the bond was there in the first place. The gods are known teasers that like to play games.” Isolde grips her teeth. “I don’t care what happens to the girl, if she chooses wrong and dies, but I do care that the curse is broken for the witches this month.” She grinds her teeth. “I can’t—” there’s a flash of pain that streaks across her face, and it almost seems like she’s struggling to hold onto her magic.
Hope surges like never before. We can defeat her. She’s losing her power. Maybe we can find a way to exploit that and kill her, then we can freely choose who we break the curse for and how.
“I want to see for myself who Lumi’s mate is. When the time comes, I’ll be the one choosing for her,” Isolde says.
“You don’t have the kind of power to force me to complete the marking ceremony. You can barely hold me in this spot. You’re not strong enough,” Lumi says with fire in her voice.
“Careful, my queen,”I say to Lumi in her mind, but if she receives my message, she does nothing to dampen her emotions. She’s just as fierce and determined as ever before.
Isolde’s eyes turn wicked, and her smile creeps up her face. She looks from me to Nyx. “I have plenty of leverage, my dear. Two men whose lives you care about deeply will ensure you do what I say, in addition to the lives of two women that you care about.
“But if, for some reason, that alone isn’t enough, I have the strength to force you to do each step against your will. I will join you with the male of my choosing, force you both to shift, and entice him to sink his teeth into your flesh and mark you. I will force you to say the words to ensure that you break the curse forthe witches. And only then will I release you from this world in a death that you will be begging for by the time I’m done with you.”
Lumi just smirks like she’s already won.
“What are you doing?”I send to her.
“Trust me, Ambrose. Just trust me.”
Chapter 32
Lumi
Isee Isolde’s strain trying to work her magic. I see how the curse is affecting her. She’s not as strong as she was when we last met a couple of weeks ago. And she won’t be as strong in the next two weeks when the full moon comes. I’ll make sure of that by making her use all of her magic on me now.
She can’t kill me.
She won’t kill either of them.
She’s not convinced that Ambrose is my mate, not fully. Which means she won’t take any chances by killing either one just yet.
I just have to wear her down. Tire her out even further so she has nothing left come the marking ceremony.
“Trust me, Ambrose. Just trust me.”I send, immediately feeling his anxiety creeping into my mind. He’s worried; he doesn’t want me to push Isolde. Doesn’t want me to suffer. But I’m willing to endure whatever pain I have to ensure that she has nothing left when it really matters. Then we can defeat her. So I will provoke her.
I taunt her with my eyes all the while keeping my own anxiety buried so deep inside that I know even Ambrose can’t feel it. All he feels is my calm, steady allure. I will not show fear, not to her.
The creepy smile on Isolde’s face tells me she thinks she can win. That she will win. Maybe she will, but not without a fight.