Page 37 of Oath-Maker

“Placing blame on one party or another won’t solve this issue,” I spat as I grabbed the railing on either side of my hips for support. “We could end this now if the Fallen agree to juststop. To go back to Soltar or stay in Lightport. Let the citizens here who want to leave go, and then everyone respects country borders.” It sounded pretty and hopeful, even logical, but I wasn’t sure even Lucius would go for it. Luckily for me, my mate wasn’t here to reject my suggestion right now.

Merek didn’t move, and I was ashamed to admit that the imposing force of his presence and anger was starting to spark fear in me. “And where’s the guarantee that peace continues? That demons never come to attack and remove the Fallen from this world?”

Where’s the guarantee the Fallen won’t attack, either?

I wanted to counter, but there was no point. It didn’t answer Merek’s question, and it didn’t put us on a path forward.

“A treaty,” I answered simply. “An agreement.”

“Words mean nothing.” His tone was tight now. Resolute. “Even you’ve broken the previous treaties and rules of engagement.”

Which had set most of this in motion since Merek’s death.

“It’s worth a try, Merek,” I said as I searched his eyes for literally any semblance of compromise. “All of this death has to stop.”

“It will.” The surety in his eyes solidified that for me. One way or another, the senseless death and violencewouldstop. “But you will not win, Ayla. At this rate, you won’t even be around to witness the victory our Order will have.”

He lifted his gaze to the massive tear in the Veil over the Order’s tower. “I will take you there soon and see to it that your power is enough to open that tear nice and wide. These worlds will merge, and the demons will be decimated. But you’ll be remembered only as an anecdote. The paladin who mated with a demon and died for it.”

Gone was any familiarity. I was a fool to search for even a hint of it to begin with.

“My mate is the only reason I have the power you need,” I snapped. “You should be so grateful for his mercy that he didn’t execute me as planned. And thathislove for me runs so deep, that it could even possibly aidyou.”

Merek decided not to respond to that.

We walked back in tense silence. I was half-expecting Merek to throw me over his shoulder or drag me back to the Order’s tower.

Instead, there was nothing but tense silence between us.

Because there wasnothingbetween us.

My heart didn’t ache over that thought anymore.

CHAPTER16

It took a while, but Merek finally left me again. I could see it on his face, the torn hesitation between leaving me alone to my own devices versus bringing me to the site of his agenda. I had no doubt that meant the tear in the Veil at the top of the Order’s tower. There, when he was ready, he’d use me for his plans.

At first, I’d thought maybe Basara’s prophecy had applied to any celestial-kin who might have been Fallen. Now, I knew better. Merek had shown his hand.

The prophecy was most likely about me, it seemed. And maybe I’d known that all along, but I definitely hadn’t wanted it to be true. It wasn’t just because Basara hadmademe.

It was Lucius’s magic. Our mate bond. The power of potentiality mixed with a fate of killing demons, of ending their rule, that all celestials and their allies had.

And it sounded like even if I wasn’t a willing participant in Merek’s plans, he’d be able to succeed with my presence alone.

Thank thegodsLucius was due to arrive tomorrow morning with hopefully an army that could match Merek’s. I could only hope it’d be enough along with these Shadow Paladins.

They trained before me now, all of us hidden in the room off the Tower’s library. I still wasn’t entirely sure what magic Isabel had woven to get me out of my quarters—myholding cell—but it had worked. As my new paladins trained, though, I couldn’t help but keep an eye on the door. I didn’t know Isabel well, but I knew the Order. And they always had more of an awareness than we’d given them credit for.

I was still convinced that, years later, the elders had known of every party Merek, Ian, and I had thrown in training halls in the middle of the night. Gods, those nights seemed like a lifetime ago now. The beers snuck in, the nights turning to mornings too quickly. The laughter and music and—

Emotion caught in my throat, a hard lump that squeezed until tears pricked behind my eyes. I hadn’t known then that everything could change so quickly. I hadn’t ever expected it to.

What Ihadexpected was to follow Merek forever. To be a paladin despite the “demonic” markings I had on me. The demonic tinge of power in my blood.

I’d expected to fight for what I believed in forever, without wavering. And really,thathadn’t changed. That drive.

“Are you all right?”

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