Page 188 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

Another memory flickered. Me—realizing we’d empty our well before the onslaught stopped. The silky linen feel of a gilded business card between my fingers. Flames curling around it.

I should’ve been in a panic—should’ve held on long enough to see if Kade had answered. But instead, I felt…oddly calm. The woman with us seemed maternal, if I had to guess. But I needed to fucking see.

“August,” I rasped, clearing the gravel from my throat as someone—I prayed just Cairis—shifted nearby. I pressed my mind out, but it came up empty, a livid throb slicing clean through my temples. “Please. Call me August.”

A warm chuckle filled the space, closer now. “He said you were different,” she noted, not unkindly, as she pressed a warm, damp cloth into my hand. “How about we settle on Mr. Porter?”

“Good enough for me,” I muttered, sensing Ally beside me, her breaths still deep with sleep.

“For your eyes, Mr. Porter. You’ve been burning up for more than a day—move slowly.”

With no better option, I pressed the cloth to my lids, welcoming the heat as I tried to orient myself. I could feel muted sunlight on the left side of my face, likely filtered through a windowpane.

“How long was I out?”

“Nearly forty-eight hours, my Lord.”

“August.”

“Apologies, sir. Your mate’s just there, and she’s deep in fever. We’ve been monitoring her, but she should be fine in another day or two.”

“We don’t have that much time,” I muttered, relief and anxiety tangling in my gut as the glue finally gave way and my lashes parted. “We need to get back.”

“I understand, Mr. Porter. But you burned through the last of your magic—both of you were bone dry when he brought you to me. Damn quick thinking, calling him.”

Burn that when you’re ready to talk. Or if you’re in a pinch. I’m usually pretty quick to respond. The last conscious thought I’d managed to summon before the world went dark. A damn miracle, in hindsight.

It was a good thing we could trust the son of a monster.

Or could we?

We were alive. Cared for, apparently. The bed beneath me was plush. The estate quiet, though I could sense more than one set of footsteps below. Upstairs, then?

Eyes finally peeling open, I dropped my hands into my lap, blinking into the warm white light. Cairis was a deceptively maternal figure—plump, ivory-skinned, with rosy cheeks that pinched at the corners of her pale blue eyes. She couldn’t be far off from Aren’s age. She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, fair lashes fluttering as she dipped her chin.

Feeling confident the woman dressed like porcelain china wasn’t a threat, I surveyed the room. One window. Vacant blue sky beyond it…and a raven perched on the sill, cocking its head as if studying me right back. It shuffled a few feet and pecked at the glass.

Tap, tap, tap.

Emerald wainscoting split black walls that rose to an exposed wood ceiling. The space was open and airy, the comforter beneath me a rich green. Ally lay tucked beneath it, her lips parted, breathing heavily, skin still wan. I resisted the urge to clean the gunk from her eyes and let her rest. Whatever we’d burned sealing that gate—it had cost more than advised. But it worked.

When I reached over to brush the hair from her face, a vision slammed into me like a snare around the throat.

She yanks the knife free, stumbling backward. Alec looks down at the gaping hole in his chest before collapsing. She turns to flee—flee the murder of her best friend—but stumbles, a sob tearing up her throat. Her gaze locks on Aren’s cold, dead body. Green fletching. His eye.

Her fault, her fault, her fault.

She screams, saliva flying. Her trembling fingers wrap around her neck as Ansel’s voice rings out. “You’ll kill us all, Ally.”

“No.”

“One by one, you’ll spill our blood to save your own.”

“No! Please! Ansel, you have to believe me. I would never.”

“But wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t we all? To save our mates? That’s what August asked you to do, isn’t it? Sacrifice us to stay with him?”

“I can’t! I won’t, I swear.”