My heart stalled and then began to beat super-fast.

Azren shook his head slowly. “No. She can’t. We’re not ready.” His eyes flashed dangerously bright and his glamour flickered, leaving his hands curled into talons and the lower half of his body flickering and wavering.

I held up my hands, mind racing. “It’s okay. We’ll explain what’s been happening and why we’ve not had any luck.”

But Azren was glaring at Valance. He took a menacing step toward the prince. “What did you do?” he demanded.

Valance slapped a hand to his chest. “Me? What has this got to do with me? I didn’t do anything.”

“Elora wouldn’t bring the date forward without a reason. So tell me, Valance, what did you do?”

Valance’s face hardened, all angles and chiseled planes, and his startling blue dragon eyes narrowed to slits. “You don’t get to call me by name. You never get to call me by my name again.” He stalked closer until he was toe to toe with Azren.

This close together, the differences in their bulks and statures were evident. Although Valance was taller by a couple of inches, he was leaner, broader in the shoulders and slender-hipped, whereas Azren was bulkier, his body packed with tight muscle. They glared into each other’s eyes, but Azren was the first to break contact; he turned his head slightly, nostrils flaring as something dark flitted across his harsh features.

Valance’s throat bobbed and then he took a deliberate step away from Azren. “I was commissioning another dagger for Azren and Elora found out. She now knows you lost the first one and she’s furious.”

Azren growled and stalked off toward the kitchen, but pivoted on his heel before reaching the door and headed back toward me. “I’ll go alone.”

Valance sighed through his nose. “No. She won’t accept it. She wants to see you both. She’ll want her pound of flesh for the disappointment, for the loss of the dagger, but Wila won’t be her target.” His tone was tight.

“She’s going to hurt Azren?” My eyes were wide. “Hell no.”

Valance frowned, looking from me to Azren and then back again, and then he tucked in his chin and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh, you fool, Azren. What have you done?”

Azren locked gazes with Valance. “It wasn’t intentional.”

Valance exhaled sharply. “No, of course it wasn’t.” His eyes roved to me, skimming over my face. “It never is. But you’ve put her in danger now, and we have no choice but to deliver her into it. If Wila refuses to attend the meeting, Elora will utilize the clause in the contract that allows her to send Shedim to claim her, and Wila will have broken the agreement, which means she’d be back to the original sentence of death.”

“And if she goes, she’ll wish she were dead,” Azren said softly.

This was me they were talking about? My fate, and the possible pain Elora may put me through, but Valance had been certain she wouldn’t hurt me a moment ago, and now, not so much. What had I missed? “Hey, guys. Talk to me, why would she hurt me?”

“I explained this to you already,” Azren said. “I told you what would happen if we went to her emptyhanded.” Azren kept his back to me, but Valance met my gaze, his mouth twisting in annoyance.

“Enough.” He glared at Azren. “Tell her the truth, demon.”

Azren hung his head.

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Valance stepped around him and faced me. “Azren is Elora’s ... pet. He belongs to her. He isn’t permitted to have outside attachments, particularly not the feminine kind.”

Oh, God. My dream. It was real. “She killed one of his lovers.”

Azren turned sharply. “How could you know that?”

I swallowed hard. “I dreamed it. I’ve been dreaming stuff. It’s like I’m in your body when it happens.”

His chest heaved as he stepped closer. “What else have you dreamed?”

I glanced at Valance. “I saw you about to beat Valance.” I winced.

Valance’s face drained of color, and he took several steps back.

Crap, Gilbert had been right. “Oh, shit, it’s true. She made you do that? But why?”

Valance was breathing heavily. “How is this possible?”

The question wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, but I answered anyway. “Gilbert seems to think it may be something to do with the whipping the rogue Shedim gave Azren. The whip touched me too. He thinks it may have linked us somehow.”

“Elora can’t know about this,” Valance said, waving a finger between me and Azren. He pushed past Azren, who was staring at me dumbfounded, and gripped my shoulders. “Do you have feelings for Azren?”

My mouth was suddenly dry and the words failed to come. I slid a glance the Shedim’s way. He parted his mouth as if to speak but then snapped it closed, his expression shuttering.

Valance released me. “Your face ... Not a poker face. She’ll read you like an open book. Fuck.” He looked to Azren. “It’s up to you now. You need to convince her Wila means nothing to you.”

Azren nodded.

“And you,” Valance said. “You’re with me.”

Bossy much? “Firstly, I have an excellent poker face when not taken off guard, and secondly, what do you mean with you?”

Azren made a low sound of disapproval in his chest.

“Seriously?” Valance rounded on him. “You want to get all territorial now?”

Azren hung his head, hands on hips. “This won’t work.”

“Trust me,” Valance said. “When I’m done, Elora will be planning Miss Bastion’s and my nuptials.”

“Wait. What?”

Valance rolled his eyes. “Keep up, Miss Bastion. I’ve already paraded you around at the ball and told everyone I love leather-clad women. It won’t be hard to convince my mother that her man-whore of a son is fucking, rather than eating, a neph.”

My stomach quivered, partly at the thought of playing his lover, but more so about what she’d do to me if we fucked up the charade. “What will she do if she finds out the truth? I need to know.”

Valance blinked slowly and it hit me that he hadn’t blinked in ages. The whole blink thing was voluntary, an afterthought to fit in. “I don’t know. Elora is mercurially creative when it comes to her punishments, and the contract you signed allows her to mete out punishment for failure to deliver on the terms. If we can hide the connection between the two of you, she’ll vent her frustrations on Azren. Let you watch, to ensure you get the point, and then send you both packing.”

She was going to hurt Azren. This was a definite by the sound of it, and my stomach tightened. “How? What will she do?”

Azren was the one to reply. “It doesn’t matter what she does. What matters is that you remain unmoved.”

“You want me to watch her hurt you and not be bothered by it?”

Azren’s expression was hard, his jaw flexed. “Yes. That’s exactly what you’ll do, because whatever she does to me is nothing compared to what she’ll do to you if she sees you react. Do you understand?” My horror must have shown on my face because his expression softened. “Wila, I have endured far worse than you can imagine. The only thing that can hurt me now is watching you in pain. Don’t give her that power.”

His words slugged me in the chest and melted into my heart. It was the first declaration that he more than cared for me. I blinked and averted my gaze, unable to meet his vibrant eyes. Azren’s anxiety about facing Elora hadn’t been just about having nothing to show for our time searching for the rogue Shedim, it was about his feelings for me. Feelings he’d been fighting. He’d pushed me away the last couple of days in an attempt to dilute the attraction, and now we were out of time and it was my attraction to Azren that could possibly get me killed.

Valance cleared his throat. “Are we agreed?”

That was it, then. There was no option but to play the part. I plastered a grin on my face. “Agreed. And hey, you never know, she may be seduced by my sparkling personality, entranced by my stunning wit and humor, and find me a perfect match for her dashing son. Her heart will be warmed and torture will be off the table.”

Valance let out a breathy laugh. “Oh, Wila ...” He sounded equal parts amused and despondent.

“She has asked you to bring us in personally, hasn’t she?” Azren said.

Valance’s eyes filled with shadows. “Yes.”

A freaked-out giggle bubbled up in my throat, but I tamped down on it. Now wasn’t the time to lose the plot. Now was the time to don a facade and play a role and hope to God Elora bought it.

“Wila?” Gilbert materialized behind Valance, his form a murky residue of the man he used to be. “What’s happening?”

“I have to go, Gil. Elora’s summoned me.”

“Early?”

“Yes. I won’t be long.” I injected a cheery tone into my voice.

He scanned my face. “I have a bad feeling. I don’t think you should go.”

He had no idea. “I don’t have a choice.”

Azren made a tortured sound in the back of his throat and then stormed into the kitchen for real this time.

Valance stood between me and Gil, his chest heaving as a series of emotions I couldn’t quite catch passed over his face, and then he pushed back his shoulders and followed Azren into the kitchen.

“Call Noir,” Gilbert said urgently. “Get a transponder. You need a way out.”

“I can’t. If I run, then I breach the contract, and if I breach the contract, then I go back to the original sentence of death.”

“She can’t get you on this side of the border.”

“I signed a blood contract, Gil. Even the Arcana can’t protect me from that, and if they find out I lied to them about the contents of that contract, Elora won’t get a chance to kill me, because the Arcana will do it for her.”

Gil’s form flickered in agitation, and he drifted closer. His presence wrapped itself around me in a hug and then my skin began to prickle.

“What are you doing?”

“Lending you my strength.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “My endurance ...”

And then he was gone, and the tingling soaked into my skin, leaving a pleasant warmth in its wake.

Azren strode out of the kitchen, followed closely by Valance. I straightened and hooked arms with Valance. “Well, come on, stud. Let’s go put on a show.”

Valance shared a look with Azren. Azren nodded, then grasped my right elbow. The world tilted on its axis.

We materialized in a gray stone chamber, just the three of us. Chains hung from bolts hammered deep into the walls. And shackles lay on the ground attached to thick chains which had been bolted into rock. There were other things hanging on the stone walls too, shadowy pointy things that made my toes curl.

I finished my survey of our welcome chamber. “Well, isn’t this cozy?”

Valance made a choking sound but Azren was silent, his hand still on my arm, grip a little too tight.

“What took so long?” Elora emerged from the shadows. Her gaze zeroed in on Azren and then dropped to his hand on my arm.

Azren released me and walked away to stand beside his liege. All expression melted from his features and he was an impassive automaton. The show had begun. I stepped closer to Valance, and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

Elora arched a brow.

“Mother, Miss Bastion has complied with the contract by being here. I’m thinking we can get this wrapped up quickly. We have dinner reservations.” He dropped a casual kiss on my head, like he’d been doing it forever. I tilted my face up and smiled; his vertical pupils dilated, and his mouth softened and then descended on mine in a kiss that had probably been intended to be a peck, but as soon as our mouths touched fire raced through me, my mouth parted, and his tongue swept inside. His hands twined in the hair at the nape of my neck, tugging, forcing my neck into an arch, allowing him to deepen the kiss. I fisted his shirt, pulling him closer, inhaling him, breathing him in through the connection of our mouths.

“Really, Valance? Playing with your food again?” Elora’s tone was flippant, but there was a definite edge of steel to it.

Valance broke the kiss. Oh, God. Had I just whimpered?

His dazed expression cleared, and his mouth turned up in his signature cocky smile. “You know me, Mother—ever the unconventional male.”

“How long have you been fucking her?”

His grip tightened a fraction on my waist. “Oh, about as long as you’ve had her under contract.” He winced. “I may have proven to be a slight distraction.”

Elora growled and then focused on me. “Miss Bastion, what news have you for me? What have you discovered about the rogues that plague me?”

I glanced at Azren, but his gaze was fixed somewhere over the top of my head. At first glance, he seemed perfectly at ease, but the white-knuckled fists at his side told another story. Heat seared my face, and my gut twisted under the Draconi liege’s intense scrutiny.

“Answer me!” she snapped.

I flinched. “We had a couple of run-ins with them. The first time, they got away, but Azren managed to snag one with his dagger.”

“The dagger that is now lost?” Her gaze flicked to Valance, lip curling.

I cleared my throat. “Totally not our fault. Azren was wounded by a Lupin and got infected with a drug that was killing him, but we managed to save him.”

Her eyes were narrow. “Go on.”

Oh, God, her eyes. They were like daggers poised to spear my soul. I shifted my gaze slightly to avoid direct contact. “Then he got kidnapped by the Shedim, and I had to go find him.”

“And I assume this is when you came upon their location.”

“We barely got out alive, and when we went back with reinforcements, they were gone. They got the dagger.”

“So, you failed. Twice over.”

Her tone grated and the words were out before I could stop them. “I’d like to see you do better.”

Her mouth parted in surprise and then clamped down in fury. “I don’t need to try, Miss Bastion, because I have you to do that for me. You and my favored Shedim, who succeeded in getting himself captured and needed a neph to come save him.” Her tone dripped with disgust. She turned her head to survey Azren’s profile. “Haven’t I taught you better, pet? Don’t you know by now that failure is not an option?”

He remained stoic.

“Valance, dear. It’s time for you to leave us.”

Valance gathered me closer. “I’ll drop Miss Bastion home.”

“You misunderstand. It’s time for you to leave. Miss Bastion stays.”

Valance had anticipated that she’d make me stay and watch the punishment, but he put on a good show groaning and sighing. “Oh, come on. Dinner reservations ...” His tone was affected, light. But the undertone was desperate, and if I could hear it then there was no way Elora couldn’t.

“You’ll get your plaything back soon enough, but this is business, not pleasure.” She flicked her wrist. “Go.”

Valance vanished. Azren tensed, and then slowly, imperceptibly relaxed. He was affecting nonchalance, and calm just like Valance. Did they think it would soothe the Draconi liege?

Elora strode toward me, her boots clipping on the ground. She grasped my chin in a biting grip and jerked my head up. Her demeanor shifted completely, nostrils flaring.

“What did they do to him? What did they do to my Shedim?”

Oh, fuck, that hurt enough to bruise. “They were whipping him, and I stopped them.”

Her eyes widened, and she released me abruptly, spinning to face Azren. She studied him warily.

“Did they hurt you, pet?”

“No, my liege.”

“And what did they say to you?”

“I cannot recall, my liege.”

She walked to him and stood in front of him, peering into his face. After several long seconds, she whispered softly, “You remember nothing?”

“No, my liege.”

“A shame.” She didn’t sound sorry. “But you understand that your failure cannot go unpunished.”

“Yes, my liege.”

She pressed a hand to his chest, leaned in, and kissed him. Azren’s fingers twitched, but that was the only movement he made. She pulled back, her emerald eyes sparking dangerously. “Would you rather be kissing someone else?” There was a manic edge to that tone.

“No, my liege.”

This time when she kissed him, he kissed her back, cupping the back of her neck and pulling her roughly toward him. Blood roared in my ears, and my eyes grew hot. I looked away, unable to watch him with her, unable to bear the twist of the knife in my chest. Finally, she pulled away, gazing up at him in triumph.

She walked over to the wall and unhooked a barbed whip. It unfurled with a crack, and the tiny barbs on it were suddenly visible. Oh, God. Heck no.

She strolled back to Azren. “Turn around and take off your shirt.”

He did as instructed and his shirt melted away at will. She reached out and ran a hand across his shoulders and down his spine. His muscles shifted beneath her fingers and my stomach roiled. There was intimacy in that touch, ownership. The manner in which she trailed her fingers over his skin, pausing here and there to watch the play of sinew, spoke of familiarity. Valance had said Azren was her pet, but it now made sense what kind of pet he was. My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms. She stepped back and raised her arm, ready to bring the whip down.

They’d warned me to remain unmoved. To not react, but there was no stalling my heart, no stopping the instinctive cry that erupted from my lips.

“No!” The word was an explosion.

She froze.

Azren was a statue. Shoulders so still, it was obvious he was holding his breath.

Elora turned her head to look at me with an arched brow, her skin rippling as scales rose to the surface like a wave that rose and ebbed. “No?”

I raised my hands palm upward in a placating gesture. “Is the violence really necessary? It’s not like we aren’t trying to get you what you want. It’s just taking longer than we’d like. I have a map to the undercity. We were actually planning on scouting underground tomorrow night. I’m sure we’ll find something. But if he’s all wounded, then it’s gonna take us longer.”

She pursed her lips. “I’m glad there is some progress. However, that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve come to me emptyhanded. Besides, Azren will heal nicely. I’ll make sure of it. I always do.”

She acted too fast for me to stop her and brought the whip down with such force the sound echoed in my bones. Azren’s skin ripped open, but he didn’t make a sound.

My breath locked in my throat, trapped around a scream, and then she brought her arm back for another blow and my body acted on impulse, running right for her. We collided just as the whip came down. The wicked barbed weapon missed Azren and licked at the stone floor with a crack and scrape, but Elora barely budged. Her body was an immovable rock. My bones cracked as I made contact, and then I was stumbling back, barely succeeding in keeping upright.

She spun at me. “How dare you. How dare you?” She was expanding, growing. Her eyes slanted, her jaw elongated, and adrenaline coursed through my veins like wildfire. The whip arched toward me. I raised my leather-clad arm to ward off the blow, hoping to fuck the enchantment made it Draconi weapon-proof, but before I could test the integrity of my dustkicker, a hard body slammed into me, pinning me to the ground. Azren’s sweet scent enveloped me, and then his body jerked as the whip cut into him instead of me.

Elora’s roar was pure primal vengeance. “No. What are you doing?”

Azren raised his head and scanned my face. “Stop,” he mouthed. And then he shoved me away and stood up. “My liege, she will not withstand the whip, and we need her to find the Shedim. If she dies, we will lose our way into Arcana.”

Elora watched him through slitted eyes and then her mouth turned down, and scales rippled across the lower half of her face. “Oh, Azren. You forget how well I know you. You forget that I can see into your very soul. You care for this creature.”

“No.” He took a step back toward me, using his body as a shield.

“Oh, yes, Azren, and you know very well how I feel about that.”

“Elora, please. I have no attachment to this creature. I am yours, body and soul.” But his words were rushed and frantic.

She watched him carefully, her chest heaving as her skin rippled and seethed. He reached for her, pressed his palm to her chest just above her breasts. “I am yours to command.”

This time he sounded sincere, and even though I knew it was an act, his words tore at the deepest part of me.

Elora looked down at his hand, and then slowly reached up to cover it with her own. She exhaled and the scales melted away. “Maybe I’ve been too harsh. Maybe I simply missed you in my bed.”

Bile clawed up my throat and I swallowed it, eyes burning at the bitter aftertaste.

Azren remained still, waiting, as if afraid to prod the beast.

Elora shrugged. “Ten lashes, my love. That will be all. And then we’ll say no more about it.”

Azren dropped to his knees and bowed his head, placing his powerful body at the bitch’s mercy. She was going to hurt him and there was nothing I could do. She was going to tear the skin from his body, and I was helpless. My scalp prickled in foreboding.

The whip came down with a sickening crack. Azren flinched and blood spattered across the flagstones.

Don’t react. Don’t move. He was doing this for me. He was protecting me, protecting us. I needed to—

Another crack.

Oh, God. Oh, please, let it be over.

Whimpers filled the chamber. Me, that was me. Shit, was I crying?

Azren raised his head, and locked eyes with me as the third lash rained down. His jaw was clenched. I’m here. Oh, God, make it stop.

The fourth lash brought me to my knees. Elora was oblivious, her attention on the ravaged flesh of Azren’s back.

Rage raced like liquid lightning through my veins, it pooled in my solar plexus, building and churning and oh, God. What was happening? Azren’s head whipped up, his eyes flaring neon green, and something inside me snapped. The rage wasn’t rage, it was something else, a tension, a power, an unknown entity called forth by my distress. It exploded outward, dragging me with it, propelling me toward Azren, into his waiting arms. It enveloped us, fusing us together.

Fire raced across my back, stealing my breath and constricting my throat, and then Azren was twisting, trying to shield me, his grip like steel.

Elora’s screech stabbed at my brain and then the whip came down again. Barbs cut into my arms, snagging the back of my neck. Pain. So much pain, but then something tugged sharply at my solar plexus, breaking, cracking, and pooling out.

Azren cried out, crushing me painfully against him.

His eyes locked on mine, the shadows seeping out to reach for me. The crack of the whip, the bite of the barbs, and Elora’s rage faded away as a strange, familiar heat infused my limbs. Home, I was coming home. There was nothing but Azren. Nothing but us.

Azren’s eyes widened and then his lips found mine. Heat rushed into me from the point of contact and slammed into my center, replacing the pool that was rapidly flowing into Azren. He swallowed my gasp, parted my lips, and claimed the inside of my mouth with a sweep of his tongue. His teeth sliced my tender flesh, and the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth, but he was quick to lick each nick, each puncture, healing me with his magic tongue and claiming me again and again. Elora’s scream of anguish faded as we floated away into dazzling light and through a waiting door.

We stumbled onto a battlefield, Shedim against Draconi, and at the helm of the Draconi force was an emerald dragon, eyes flashing, claws slashing, jaws feasting. Her wings folded tight and she shifted into her humanoid form. Elora stood on the rise and surveyed the carnage, triumph gleaming in her eyes.

The terrain shifted and we were in an assembly chamber where Shedim and Draconi stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder. A regal man stood on a platform, his hand clasped with a beautiful dark-haired female. Her lower body wavered like smoke. A Shedim.

“Today, we forge a new peace, a new hope, and a new world,” the Draconi male said. “Today, we are equal.”

The crowd erupted in applause. “All hail Liege Ivan.”

My eye caught movement to the right of Ivan. Elora—her eyes hard chips of disapproval, her mouth a thin, angry line.

The scene rushed away, and then we were back in the stone chamber, entwined, connected in a way I didn’t comprehend.

Azren pulled back, his eyes wide with horror, but his grip on me remained intense and desperate. “Wila. I remember. I remember it all.”

We glanced down at his chest in unison as black ink crawled across it in an intricate design.

“No!” Elora’s exclamation was a roar.

Azren’s head jerked up, his lips twisting in fury. “You! It was all a lie.”

Pain exploded at the back of my skull, and darkness claimed me.