Page 100 of The Rebel's Prize

But if she was a dream, then that didn't explain the bond that was clearly real. He didn't need to see her face to know she was worried and doing her best not to show it. Or to feel the anger underlying that worry. Anger, he hoped, directed at the woman who had supposedly done this to him. He had no recollection of that really either, just a jumbled impression of being taken to the infirmary after the attack. There was a foggy memory of a blonde woman laughing but nothing more.

"Remember," Elarus said. "Think back."

Right.He closed his eyes. He was supposed to be thinking of his latest memory before the confusion of the last day. He'd been working on a case. An embezzler in one of the merchant guilds who had been clever but not quite clever enough...and then...nothing. Until yesterday when Valentin had explained what happened and he'd seen Chloe.

Hiswife.

"There," Elarus said.

A dazzle of light seemed to pass through him, dancing behind his closed eyelids, beautiful but also vastly powerful. Elarus. It didn't feel like a reveilé. It didn't hurt for a start, but it was still unsettling despite the wonder.

Then Elarus lifted her hands and it vanished.

His eyes snapped open. "Is something wrong?"

The sanctii growled something in her own language.

"Slowly," Sophie said. "Tell me slowly."

"What is it?" Chloe asked.

Sophie shook her head, her braided hair flashing red and black. "She is...upset."

"Badmagic," Elarus snapped.

Definitely upset.

Chloe's face paled. "None of us disagree with that. But can you reverse it?"

Elarus looked at her and then at Octarus, rasping out another rapid series of sentences. He answered, his tone as close to apologetic as she'd ever heard from a sanctii.

"Are they arguing?" he asked.

Sophie frowned. "They are saying something about Lucien's memories. Elarus thinks that...Chloe has them. Can that be right?"

What?"Chloe?"

She squeezed his hand, shaking her head as though she had no idea what Elarus was referring to. "The bond was stronger the second time. It felt like there was less...distance between us. Is that what she means?"

"Elarus?" Sophie asked.

The sanctii shook her head and gestured at Octarus. "He pulled memories. Put in her."

CHAPTER22

"I—" Chloe froze, remembering her frantic plea to Octarus when Deandra attacked Lucien. "I asked Octarus to help me. I thought the bond was breaking, and I was trying to hold on to it. It felt very strange, but I—" She stopped again. "If I—or we—did something, then I have no idea what."

"Help," Octarus said stubbornly. "Otherwise lose."

Was what he had done forbidden? If so, she wasn't letting him take the blame. "He was doing as I asked," she said, narrowing her eyes at Elarus. "He's bonded to me. Anything he did was because of me."

Elarus tilted her head slowly. "Mate. Bond. Scared. I understand." She looked past Chloe to Octarus. "But we must fix. And not do again."

Octarus nodded, stepping back a little.

"I have no problem with that," Chloe said. "If we can prove Deandra and Istvan and whoever they were working with did this, if we can stop them, there's no reason for anyone to ever need to do what I did again."

Elarus nodded. "Good." She held out one large hand across the bed.

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