Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Shhh. I want you.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll figure out everything else later.”
She shook her head and pulled back slightly. “I’m expected to take a consort, not a mate. Consorts don’t rule beside us, they sit behind us, and you don’t exactly strike me as the kind of guy who would walk a step behind if you know what I’m saying.”
I opened my mouth, ready to counter her, but she just kept going.
“You’re too strong to be a consort. And while your abilities are incredible and don’t exist anywhere else in the world, my people won’t see it that way. They’ll see you as an interloper, or worse—”
“A threat,” I finished, already having had this conversation in my head a dozen times since I saw the mark on her arm.
She nodded. “And I don’t even want the stupid throne. Not really. I’m better suited to be a weapon than a diplomat, but my mother won’t care.” Panic rose, and so did the lavender strands of her hair. “God, what if my mother moves to have you killed, but leaves me—”
I took her face in my hands and kissed her, stopping the flow of words with my mouth and tongue. It was fast, hard, and deep, and when I lifted my head, her hair had settled and her breath steadied.
“You can’t just kiss me and think it makes everything better,” she muttered.
“Oh, that never stops,” Lyric commented.
I leaned my forehead against hers. “You and I will figure this out.”
“We’ll all figure it out,” Alek corrected, his voice hard with resolve. “I won’t let them kill you,” he promised. “It’s not like there’s a choice to be made when a mating bond appears. And as for them banishing you, Jocelyn…”
We both turned to face Alek.
“You will always have a home here. The mates of the Order are family, and we defend our family. You don’t only have the protection of your mate, but every Assassin, including me.” A slight smile tugged at his lips. “Though Benedict doesn’t exactly need any help defending you, and I’d bet you’re pretty deadly on your own, otherwise your mother never would have agreed to let you stay here during this mission in the first place.”
Jocelyn nodded. She didn’t need to brag, not when we’d all seen just how powerful she was.
“So what do they do?” Lyric asked. “Keep it a secret?”
Alek sighed. “The Order will know. They’ll be able to sense it on you,” he told me with a tilt of his head. “As for Conclave, if you and Julian will dig into the history texts to find out there’s any hint of this happening before, I’d appreciate it,” he said to Lyric.
“Of course.” She nodded. “I’ll get right on it.”
“That leaves me to handle the witches,” Jocelyn noted, her spine straightening.
“Us,” I reminded her. “There’s no me or you now. There’s just us.”
“Do you know if anything like this has happened before? Somewhere I might start my search?” Lyric asked, already slipping into academic mode. She and Julian were our best historians.
Alek looked me dead in the eye. “I can only think of one time, about two-hundred-and-fifty-years ago, right before the Conclave came into existence to fight the Sons of Honor.
Pain stabbed deep and swift, stealing my breath. We’d seen this story play out once before, and the ending hadn’t been one I’d ever been able to speak of again.
“Okay?” Lyric prodded.
Alek waited, and I simply nodded, unable to speak the words.
“There was a vampire who fell in love with a lycan.” His expression fell, sorrow emanating from his eyes. “It had always been forbidden...taboo between the species, but this couple risked it, and when Conclave was called into being, the matter couldn’t be avoided. Regus—the lycan alpha at the time, was livid. He called the relationship an abomination, even though they’d come clean themselves and sought permission. The vampire was from a good family, one that believed that truth was to be valued above all else.”
My chest went tight as the memories assaulted me, playing across my mind even as I begged them not to. Frederick had always been the better of us, the most noble, the most worthy, and look where it got him.
“Do you know this story?” Alek asked Jocelyn.
She shook her head. “No. I thought that interspecies relationships were banned because witch blood was irresistible or something foolish like that.” She glanced up at me and smiled. “As everyone can see, I’m alive and well.”
Alek grimaced. “Benedict has more control than...well, every other member of our species. Yes, there have been cases of drained witches, especially during war, but that was another reason for Conclave, a treaty that protected all species from each other.”
“So what happened to the couple?” Lyric asked.
Alek glanced my way and swallowed. “Regus demanded their deaths as an example, and as his only condition for joining Conclave and making the Covenant a permanent treaty.”