Page 357 of Bitten By the Fae
They were only mated on the first level, but Shade was no ordinary fae. I wasn’t surprised that he could converse mentally at an initial stage of a mating. He probably could have done the same with Aflora.
“Out loud,” Zephyrus said, those two words underlined in command.
“I’m telling him how we saved him,” Shade replied, his voice soft and reverent. “HowAflorasaved him.”
“We,” she corrected. “You were right to saywe.”
“What happened?” Zephyrus asked. “How did…? Why did…?”
“Constantine knew about the mating,” Shade said, holding Kolstov’s gaze. “He’s known since the beginning. And not initially from me.”
“Dakota,” I muttered.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “But I knew from previous experience that she was feeding him information. So I did as well to win his favor.”
“How many times has this happened?” I asked.
But I already knew the answer.
There was no turning back time with death.
We were in the final version of events, Kolstov forever in this state. If we went back, we risked leaving him behind.
“Everything always comes to a head at the Blood Gala,” Shade replied, his voice gruff. “Aflora detonates. People die. But this is the first time Kols has ever been stripped of the source.”
“What about your grandmother?” Kolstov asked. “They were going to get her?”
Shade snorted. “That was a ploy to make you both react. But it’s true that Constantine has known my grandmother’s location. Dakota told him, as did I—again, to win his favor. However, he can’t use the information because of where she created the paradigm.”
I smirked. “Yes, the Hell Fae realm isn’t typically fond of visitors. I’ve always wondered how Zen convinced them to allow her to hide there.” She must have engaged in a deal with Lucifer. From what I understood of the old fae, he was fond of those.
Kolstov and Zephyrus looked at me for a moment, then the latter shook his head.
“Okay, so what changed?” Zephyrus demanded. “Why would Constantine choose to act now and not before?”
“The bonds,” Shade whispered. “They didn’t exist before. Not for you. Not for Kolstov. Not like this.”
“She always undid them,” Kolstov replied, his voice gruff. “In my suite.”
“Yes,” Shade confirmed softly, his gaze going to a stunned Aflora. “You carried through with your threat in various ways, sometimes that day, sometimes a few days or weeks later. But it always ended the same way. And it took me seven catastrophic events to realize what you needed. Whatweneeded. And it’s finally done. We’re finally… here.”
Silence fell, all of us consuming that information in our own ways.
I already suspected most of this, had dreamt of many different instances that just felt too real to be fantasy. Aflora detonating… then nothing.
“You never let her finish,” I realized out loud. “That’s why there’s no end.”
“Not exactly,” he replied. “I… I watched her lose herself… and Isawwhat it would do to her in the end. All those lives taken and destroyed, by her hand…”
“She destroyed herself afterward,” I said, swallowing thickly. “That’s what you foresaw.” Or perhaps not him, but Zen.
He dipped his chin once, confirming. “Every time.”
“I would never… I could never…” Aflora shook her head, looking between us all. “Don’t ever let me do that.”
“We stopped you tonight,” I reminded her. “Which I’m guessing has never happened before.”
“The catalyst for her eruption changed,” Shade said. “Constantine has always found a way to provoke her, but he’s never used Kols.”
