Page 138 of The Soulbond and Her Beloved

For the first time in centuries, Sinai found no satisfaction in calling himhers. That male had nearly killed her.

She had only been awake for three days in the last two weeks, but the nightmares still came, dragging her back to that night... the longest night of her life.

The only reason Sinai had survived was because she’d forced herself to shift—using the last of her strength to take her beast form and hold it through most of the night. Her beast had taken the brunt of it, and even then, she had felt every harm, every tearing wound, every horror. When she finally woke again as a female, her body had borne the ruin of it.

A shudder wracked her. Her right arm was still broken, she was missing a toe, and the swelling along her jaw wasn't fully gone. The one time she found the courage to look in the mirror, three days past, a stranger had stared back at her—a female who looked as if she had fought four wild lions and lost. She hadn't done so again till today.

Is this what Emeriel went through?

Sinai refused to believe it. How had Emeriel survived? How had she remained so strong?

She could no longer deny the truth.Daemonikai would never be hers.And now, Sinai was certain she no longer wanted him to be.

At least Zaiper—dark and depraved as he was—still had his mind intact. Sinai had never thought to value something as simple as sanity in a male, but hey, better late than never.

Time to join hands with Zaiper fully.

“Make sure to pack my pickspin,” she said over her shoulder.

“Yes, Mistress.”

When the maid finished, Sinai turned to her. There was still one last thing to handle.

“Nora.”

“Mistress.”

“Listen closely. If anyone comes asking about me or demands to know where I am, you will tell them I went on a trip to relieve stress.Never, under any circumstances, reveal how much I packed for this journey or how desperate I was to leave. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mistress! I understand."

***

“We’ve been here three days, Your Highness. The Grand King’s elites are out looking for us—we’re being hunted like dogs. We cannot afford to stay in one place this long.” Kady’s voice came from the door.

“Close the door from the other side, Kady,” Zaiper growled.

Silence.

He heard no footsteps. No shift of weight upon the stones.

“Get out.”

Finally, movement. The faint scrape of boots. Then the low groan of the hinges as the door swung shut.

Zaiper opened his eyes, the familiar darkness greeting him. The small chamber was lightless again, just as he preferred it.

He closed his eyes once more.

Light brought reality, and reality was the last thing he wanted to face.

Perhaps if he stayed here, in this place where shadow masked all things, he could pretend. Just a little longer, he could pretend none of it had happened.

His secrets hadn't been dragged into the open, he hadn't lost his throne, and he wasn't the most wanted fugitive in all ofUrai. He could pretend he wasn't skulking through caves and abandoned hovels like a lowlife thug, waiting for the cover of night to keep moving to his most fortified hideout.

Perhaps, in this dark, he could still believe Razarr was just beyond the door, waiting for his command.

He had not watched Razarr die. It was merely a trick of his mind—a cruel hallucination. A delusion conjured by exhaustion to toy with his cold heart, degrading him to be like all those weakling males who felt emotions for others.

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