Page 263 of Bitten By the Fae
That left Kols, who, unfortunately, never took the opportunity to finish the mating before his duty to the source.
Thus leaving Aflora with only two of her anchors and a sadistic third mate.
“I hope it’s enough,” I whispered to myself. “I hope we can pull her back.”
“It’s never been just about her, Shadow,” Tadmir replied. “That’s the piece you’ve failed tosee—her fate is tied to Zakkai. To win this war, and to ensure the future we both desire, she needs to convince him to take the appropriate path. That’s the key.”
“And there’s no going back this time,” I added.
“Yes,” he agreed. “Not without risking your memories and hers, and then we’ll be right back where we started when I first approached you about fate.”
That seemed so long ago now.
And yet…
“Has that happened before?” I asked him, curious just how many times he’d used his Paradox Fae abilities to yank us through the circle of time. The purple sword on his hip glinted at me, as if in agreement with my thought process.
“You’ll never know,” he replied, but by the gleam in his gaze, I suspected it had happened at least once.
Which explained my inexplicable connection to Aflora.
Our souls had linked many times before, just as she’d bonded Kols and Zeph to varying degrees. I’d witnessed some, but perhaps not all.
And I’d seen what happened when she cut them off indefinitely as well.
Those were the worst iterations of fate.
The ones I never wanted to experience again.
“Aren’t you exhausted?” I asked Tadmir. “So many hundreds of years of masquerading as a Malefic Blood while traversing the realms of time and space in unending loops?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I do what I need to do to ensure that fate follows the correct path.”
His existence baffled my mind. He was half Midnight Fae Quandary Blood and half Paradox Fae—the true definition of an abomination—and he’d used his Quandary skills to rewrite his abilities to appear as a Malefic Blood after skipping into the future and witnessing the demise of his kind.
And he’d been plotting for this moment ever since.
The one where Aflora aligned with four mates to right the wrongs of the Midnight Fae Elders and the Council.
I’d originally joined the wrong side, choosing to listen to Zakkai’s rhetoric about the need for retribution.
Then I saw where that path ended several times over.
Now it was time to walk in a new direction, one Tadmir had tried to drive me down multiple times before. Only, on this attempt, I’d finally listened.
And broke my heart in the process.
I’m sorry, Aflora, I thought, wishing I could open our connection and tell her everything. But Zakkai was in her mind. Which was why I’d blocked her initially. If he found out what I’d hidden, all the fates I’d lived, the futures I’dseen, we’d be doomed.
Keeping Aflora in the dark was the only way we’d have a chance at winning this war before it truly started.
I just hoped she’d be able to forgive me in the end.
Prologue
I’m not a bad man.Of course, I’m not a good man either. I do what I need to do to survive, and that includes making a lot of unsavory choices.
Like biting Aflora.
