Midnight Fae Academy Book Three - Lexi C. Foss Page 0,74

ways.”

“Because severing bonds requires sacrifice,” I said, something my father had to know yet never told me. However, it made sense to me now. “It’s soul magic. Undoing it…”

“Hurts,” Shade finished for me. “It hurts. A lot. Which you already know.”

“I never unraveled our bond.”

“But you built a cage around it and blocked yourselves from feeling it,” he replied. “You know what it takes and what it can do.”

I stared at him for a long moment, slowly understanding his statement. “It changes you,” I said, repeating what he’d already said. “Makes you not recognize who you used to be.”

All these years, I thought it was my father’s training that had altered me on a fundamental level. But that wasn’t it at all.

Closing off our link, ignoring half of my spirit, was what morphed me into a darker person with a desire for vengeance. Experience helped, too, but it went so much deeper than that.

“It’s like killing off half of your soul,” I breathed.

“Exactly,” Shade replied. “And it took me far too long to realize that. But when you alter fate in such a way, you’re burdened with a price.”

“Kolstov,” I said.

“Kolstov,” he agreed, gazing down at the male in question. “However, I wasn’t willing to pay that price. So I bit you and worked with Tadmir to come up with a plan that would save your life. And it worked.”

“Which means we’ve altered another strand of fate,” I murmured, my eyes narrowing. “What path are we on now?”

“One that has yet to be written,” Shade replied, his voice thick with emotion. “One we can never go back from.”

Because it would jeopardize everything we’d just sacrificed for Kolstov.

Another bout of silence fell, the four of us kneeling on the floor around Kolstov’s prone form. I squeezed Aflora’s side, my arm still around her lower back.

She glanced up at me and then at each of her mates, her cerulean gaze alight with renewed power. “What now?” she asked.

“We kill Constantine,” I said without missing a beat.

“We kill Constantine,” Zephyrus and Shade agreed in unison.

All of us looked down at the former Midnight Fae Prince, awaiting his verdict. “We’ll need a plan,” he finally said. “A good one.” Then he glanced around, frowning at the bedroom. “Where the bloody hell are we, anyway?”

Great fucking question, I thought, following his gaze to take in all of Aflora’s earthlike decorations.

“A paradigm,” she whispered. “Shade created it.”

The Death Blood grinned. “That I did, little rose.”

“I can feel your energy all over it,” she admitted, her eyes closing in content. “I can feel all of our energy here.” Her lips curled as more earth sprouted to life around us, her power humming through the air with renewed strength.

Renewed strength underlined in need.

She’d expelled a lot of energy.

Had exchanged so much blood.

And now the Earth Fae in her was craving invigoration of a different sort.

My lips curled. Oh, little star. Do you need something from your mates?

Her muscles tensed along her back as she clenched her thighs beneath the dress, her pulse a beacon begging to be bitten. Zephyrus noticed it as well, his green eyes roaming over her with the knowledge of a man well versed in reading female anatomy.

I glanced at Shade, noting his smirk.

We all sensed it. Even Kolstov was reacting to it, albeit a little slower than the rest.

This was a safe place. I could feel it in the infrastructure of the paradigm. But I added a touch of my magic to it, bolstering the walls and adding a few trigger warnings, just in case.

Because I had a feeling we were about to be preoccupied for a while.

Well, at least Aflora would be. I might just stand by and watch her work. I didn’t want our first time to be with an audience.

That said, if she kept radiating all that sexual energy, I might be inclined to change my mind.

What’s wrong, Aflora? I hummed into her mind, well aware of what bothered her. But she hadn’t answered my question, which really was more like an offer.

If she wanted to play, we’d all oblige.

It’d been an intense day. We could all use the relief, and sex would provide that.

I… I feel… She trailed off, biting her bottom lip.

Needy? I suggested, leaning in to nibble her neck. Hot?

Yes, she moaned into my mind. But I don’t… I…

I smiled. For someone so incredibly fierce, I found it rather amusing that she could revert so quickly to her shy and delicate side. Or perhaps she didn’t yet understand