2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

pissed off that he’d used that one shot of being unnoticed not to get you out, but to be with
you, and … Amarantha saw that jealousy. She saw me kissing you to hide the evidence,
but she saw why. For the first time, she saw why. So that night, after I left you, I had to …
service her. She kept me there longer than usual, trying to squeeze the answers out of me.
But I gave her what she wanted to hear: that you were nothing, that you were human
garbage, that I’d use and discard you. Afterward … I wanted to see you. One last time.
Alone. I thought about telling you everything—but who I’d become, who you thought I
was … I didn’t dare shatter that deception.
“But your final trial came, and … When she started torturing you, something snapped in
a way I couldn’t explain, only that seeing you bleeding and screaming undid me. It broke
me at last. And I knew as I picked up that knife to kill her … I knew right then what you
were. I knew that you were my mate, and you were in love with another male, and had
destroyed yourself to save him, and that … that I didn’t care. If you were going to die, I
was going to die with you. I couldn’t stop thinking it over and over as you screamed, as I
tried to kill her: you were my mate, my mate, my mate.
“But then she snapped your neck.”
Tears rolled down his face.
“And I felt you die,” he whispered.
Tears were sliding down my own cheeks.
“And this beautiful, wonderful thing that had come into my life, this gift from the
Cauldron … It was gone. In my desperation, I clung to that bond. Not the bargain—the
bargain was nothing, the bargain was like a cobweb. But I grabbed that bond between us
and I tugged, I willed you to hold on, to stay with me, because if we could get free … If
we could get free, then all seven of us were there. We could bring you back. And I didn’t
care if I had to slice into all of their minds to do it. I’d make them save you.” His hands
were shaking. “You’d freed us with your last breath, and my power—I wrapped my power
around the bond. The mating bond. I could feel you flickering there, holding on.”
Home. Home had been at the end of the bond, I’d told the Bone Carver. Not Tamlin, not
the Spring Court, but … Rhysand.
“So Amarantha died, and I spoke to the High Lords mind to mind, convincing them to
come forward, to offer that spark of power. None of them disagreed. I think they were too
stunned to think of saying no. And … I again had to watch as Tamlin held you. Kissed
you. I wanted to go home, to Velaris, but I had to stay, to make sure things were set in
motion, that you were all right. So I waited as long as I could, then I sent a tug through the
bond. Then you came to find me.
“I almost told you then, but … You were so sad. And tired. And for once, you looked at
me like … like I was worth something. So I promised myself that the next time I saw you,
I’d free you of the bargain. Because I was selfish, and knew that if I let go right then, he’d
lock you up and I’d never get to see you again. When I went to leave you … I think
transforming you into Fae made the bond lock into place permanently. I’d known it