Page 30 of The Oracle of Dusk

“And—”

“And? You want more?”

Greedy bootlicker.

“And in the meantime, you’ll swear to explore this bond with me. Non-violently.”

She curled her lip.

“You want to hold hands and make eyes at each other? Are you so desperate for a woman that you’ll take your potential nemesis to bed?”

“I want to know if this pit of snakes inside my heart that seethes whenever I look at you can be tamed. I want to know if there’s any hope for me, or people like me, to live freely in Trisia, if the imperial family is in any way redeemable. And the more I know about how it works, the more likely I am to be able to alter Aurora’s fate.”

Damn it. She had to think of Aurora. Her friend had one of these ugly bonds tying her to the greatest monster to ever live. Aurora would’ve put up with Silvanus’ demands in a heartbeat. Phaedra could do no less.

“You think if I trip over my good sense and fall on your cock, that will undo millennia of hostility?” she goaded him.

“It would be a start. And you could do worse.”

Oh, she very much doubted that. A monster for a lover? The bar was low indeed if he thought there were a great many men who couldn’t clear that. She wanted to call him every kind of fool. How could a grown man be so naïve? But he was a determined fool, his gaze unwavering. She refused to be the first to flinch.

“So be it.”

The polite clearing of a throat made them both flinch. Someone had snuck up on them.

“I hesitate to interrupt a lovers quarrel, but is that you, Silvanus?”

Chapter 8

Auroralefttherealmof dreams slowly. She’d never felt more comfortable. No aches or pains, just her, floating on a bed of clouds. She must have died. Was she in the Loom, waiting for her thread to be respun by the goddess, Fate, back into the Tapestry? Maybe she could ask Fate to be kinder to her in her next life. She opened her eyes and was met with distinctly corporeal surroundings. A rock overhang decorated with a profusion of colourful cloth, sapphire lights winking out between the rock and cloth. Had she made it inside the mountain after all? But that meant…

“Fae,” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

“Pervert.”

Aurora gasped, tearing out of her bed only to be hit by a wave of dizziness that landed her back on her side. She closed her eyes, breathing through it. Phaedra was here. How?

“Hag.”

Silvanus? She’d never heard such venom from him before. What had happened?

“You take that back. I’m the most beautiful woman you’ve ever met.”

“You’re definitely the mostsomethingI’ve ever met, but it’s not that.”

“Admit it, you proposed this ridiculous exercise just to grope me.”

“I’m attempting to concentrate—”

“On my tits.”

“On the bond. Your constant interruptions only prolong this for both of us.”

Aurora got up more slowly this time and parted the cloth partition of her strange bedroom. The room was cosily decorated and lit with orbs radiating light. Phaedra sat across from Silvanus on plush cushions, their eyes closed, his hand pressed against her heart. What in the Loom were they doing?

“Oh, it’s prolongingsomething, you degenerate.”

Silvanus opened his eyes, pushing Phaedra to the floor with a growl. Aurora covered her mouth with her hands, feeling like she was interrupting some intimate moment. She hid behind her curtain, peeking through the barest opening. Didn’t they hate each other? Well, if Phaedra did hate Silvanus, she was more than equipped to deal with him as she saw fit. Suffocation tended to be an effective deterrent against most unwelcome advances.

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