this means nothing to you. I don’t get it.”
“Like it means nothing to me?” I repeated, arching a brow. “This means everything to me, Zeph.”
“Yet, you didn’t even react to the fact that Dakota is there. Did you miss the part about her attacking Aflora?”
Not this again. “What do you want me to do? Rant and rave? We both know I want to kill that power-hungry cunt. And I will if I ever see her again.” Not just because she’d apparently hurt Aflora, but also because of our past experience. She was like a fire gnat that just didn’t know how to bugger off.
“Then how the hell do you expect either of us to sleep? I can barely focus, let alone try to relax.” He resumed his pacing. “We’ve just accepted that he took our mate to a paradigm in some undisclosed location, surrounded by fae whom we don’t know, and Dakota is there. And we haven’t done a damn thing to fix it. Not to mention all the bullshit with the Council and the Elders.”
He ran his fingers through his dark hair, his torso flexing with the movement.
Zeph had logged a lot of hours at the gym this week, and it showed. He was already solid muscle. But now those muscles were all tensed and fired up.
“Are you even listening to me?” he demanded, his green eyes flaring with power.
“I’m listening,” I said. And admiring, I added to myself. “I’m not sure what you expect me to do. I don’t like the situation, but Aflora is safer with Zakkai at the moment. We can’t properly protect her with my father and Constantine breathing down my neck.”
As it was, we’d already been mandated for a visit with my father later tonight. He wanted to discuss the final preparations for the Blood Gala. And in a strange twist of fate, he’d required that Zeph travel back with me to Nacht Manor.
“Safer,” he drawled, his disdain coloring the word in a darker tone. “I’m not sure I agree with that assessment, given his track record at the Academy and in the village.”
“Aflora said that wasn’t him, but the Council setting a trap.” Considering everything else they’d done, I didn’t find that very difficult to believe.
“Yes, bringing us to an entirely different topic and issue—she seems to be buying into his bullshit, which has me seriously questioning her intelligence.”
I sighed. “You don’t really mean that.” We’d come too far for him to truly feel that way about Aflora. “You know she’s brilliant. You also know she’s not one to trust easily. She’s been burned too many times. By us.”
“Are you saying we deserve this?” he asked, green fire flickering along his fingertips. “That this is some sort of fucked-up punishment for all the errors we’ve made?”
“No, Zeph. I’m saying that we need to trust our mate.” I rolled off the bed and stepped into his path, forcing him to stop.
“Don’t.”
I touched him anyway, not afraid of his simmering temper. He could take it out on me however he wanted. We both could use a good sparring session. Or maybe a fuck.
“Look, we’ve already established that she can’t leave him without a fight, and we’ve also established that we don’t have a safe place for her here. The Council and the Elders plan to kill her once she proves unuseful. And from what I understand, Zakkai will track her down even if we manage to rescue her. So why not work with him to protect her while we figure out the larger issue, hmm?”
His jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth. “What makes you think Zakkai isn’t the larger issue?”
“I think he’ll become one eventually,” I admitted. “But the Council and the Elders are more pressing right now.” Case in point, the writhing power dancing up and down my arms. “I’m supposed to ascend a throne riddled with corruption.”
“You’ve known that for years.”
“Not the extent of it,” I replied as my hands drifted down his bare arms. “I’ve been blind to the larger issues, just accepting it all because there’s been no alternative. And now, I have no idea what I’m going to do. I’m partially mated to Aflora. Shade just bit me, too. I still have three ascension trials left, plus the one I’m currently failing. My grandfather wants to postpone my inheritance of the throne as a result, and I think my father is considering it, too. So what do I do, Zeph? Do I run? Do we run? Go hide in