bChapter /bb205 /b

    Xander POV

    The way he exined it, the pull he felt toward April, it was the same way I felt the entire time Serafine was gone. A thread that never broke, a weight that never eased, no matter how far she was from me. I know what it means, I know what it costs.

    “You won’t like this, Eryx,” I say quietly, my voice carrying more weight than I intend. “But it’s a good thing you rejected her and sent her away. Because now it’s two lives at risk, not one.”

    He whirls on me, his anger shing like a storm breaking loose. I see it instantly. That surge of emotion, sharp and uncontrolled, is exactly what she waits for, and what she feeds on.

    Before I can even open my mouth again, the guards move. They don’t hesitate. Chains tter as they force him into the chair, the heavy silver bindings wrapping around his arms and chest. These aren’t ordinary chains. They’re soaked in spellwork and carved with runes, meant to silence the wolf inside and hold him still even when his strength doubles under her influence.

    “Hold him,” I bark, though they already are.

    Serafine is there next. Her hands shake as she draws the sigils into the air, her magic thickening into a barrier around him. The glow spreads across the floor, crawling like roots until thest strand seals.

    And then it happens.

    Eryx’s head snaps up, too sharp and too sudden. His eyes ze with a darkness that doesn’t belong to him, and when he speaks, the voice thates out isn’t my son’s.

    “Foolish wolves,” the Hollowed Queen hisses through his lips. “One of these times you’ll be too slow to bind this body and block

    me.”

    The snarl that follows tears through the room, animal and cruel, nothing like my boy. Serafine gasps and stumbles back, her hands trembling as she covers her mouth. I grip her shoulders and pull her tight against me before she does something reckless.

    “Leave my son alone!i” /ishe screams, the sound breaking. Is it not enough you drove his mate away, our daughter away, now you won’t leave our son?”

    Her body shakes against imine/i, and I hold her tighter, because I know the truth in her words. Eryx begged for his sister, but we couldn’t risk it. The Hollowed Queen would see her as a weapon, another thread to pull, another bond to break. We sent her away because it was the only way to protect her, even if it tore Serafine apart to do it.

    The Hollowed Queenughs, the sound echoing wrong in Eryx’s throat. Her spitnds near our feet, venomous and mocking.

    “He’s weaker,” she purrs. “The more control I take, the easier it is to im him. Even when I don’t step inside, his emotions fray, his temper cracks. He’ll snap himself in time, and when he does…” Her grin widens, sharp and merciless. “Anyone close enough to touch him will die screarning. Their death will be my statement.”

    Serafine sobs, and I keep my hold on her, my own fury pressing hard against my chest. I can’t let her see how much those words sink into me, how much I fear they might be true.

    Because the more she speaks, the more I see it, the slow unraveling of my son.

    There’s nothing we can do. We’ve got one chance, bthat’s /ball we’ll get. And if we don’t strike perfectly the first time, if we give her even the smallest opening, then we lose everything. We could have tried on the first day, but if we had failed, it would have been

    1

    :44 Mon,

    over. She would’ve taken himpletely.

    b20 /b

    0

    Now all we can do is wait. Wait for thest pieces to fall into ce, thest things we need to destroy her. I hate it. I hate the helplessness, the way she controls the pace while we’re left standing here with our hands tied.

    Herugh splits the room, sharp and cruel. I see blood dripping to the floor where she forces his nails to dig into Eryx’s palm. The sight twists my gut. I know without question that if she had one hand free, if we’d been even a moment slower with the chains, she would rip out his throat herself just to leave his body a ruined shell.

    “You think that feeling he has is his child?” she croons before breaking into another shrillugh. “No. That’s the bond. That’s his little mate getting closer to another man.”

    “Liar,” Serafine snaps, her voice shaking with rage.

    The Hollowed Queen tilts Eryx’s head, her grin splitting his face. “I’ve lived in bodies for years. I can tell the difference. Oh, there’s a baby, yes. But the tug he feels…” She inhales, a long slow drag, like she’s savoring a scent. “That’s thest thread of their bond. Her love for him, breaking, burning, and moving on. To someone else.”

    She’s lying. She has to be. Damon’s said again and again April barely leaves her room, that she shuts herself away from everyone. There’s no chance she’s with anyone else.

    “Shut your mouth, witch,” I snap, my voice low and sharp.

    Herugh is colder now, crueler. “What’s your choice then? Stay here, clutching your son, guarding him every moment until you waste away? Or go. Go see for yourselves. Perhaps you’ll get there before her heart is given to another permanently.”

    “You don’t know what you’re saying.” My jaw clenches. She’s trying to bait us, trying to drag us away from Eryx so she can break free.

    “No?” She tilts his head again, her eyes burning with that unnatural hunger. “Your alliances aren’t as strong as you think. Maybe I should tell Eryx myself. Maybe I should let him know someone else is already working to steal his precious mate.”

    I shake my head, refusing to give her words weight.

    “What a war that would bei,/ii” /ishe whispers, her tone almost giddy. “His emotions are already cracking, his anger spilling over. It’s delicious, the way it builds. Ready to explode. Imagine his reaction when he learns the mate he’s so desperate to save is lying in another man’s bed.”

    “Enough!” Serafine cries out, her magic sparking against her fingers, her whole body trembling.

    1 catch her before she does something reckless, my arms tightening around her. “Not now. We don’t have everything we need. You throw magic at her and she’ll win.”

    “I can’t watch her destroy him againi,/ii” /iSerafine whispers, her tears soaking my shoulder. “Every time it’s worse. Every time she

    takes more,i” /i

    Thold her close, my own chest aching at the truth in her words. “We’re not watching her destroy him,” I murmur against her hair. “We’re waiting, Waiting for the moment we can destroy her.”

    And I pray to the gods that momentes before she tears my bson /bapart.