I glanced at my cards again. In my hand, I held two with the number ten drawn in the top right corner, while the left hand side held a small diamond on one and a crow on another. In front of the dealer, there were two more tens, one on either side. Between them, a Kral and a Kralovna rested, though both had a heart in their corners.

“Mmm, if someone has two more tens, they’ll be a lucky male,” Rapp teased from beside me, and my cheeks flamed, though I was grateful he had looked at my cards. I hoped the male on the other side of me hadn’t been able to read them with how I had them splayed in my hands.

Gozzak chuckled, his cards flat on the table in front of him. He lifted the barest hint of an edge before returning his attention to Rapp. “Might just be me, Hadvezér.”

“Let’s see the final card then,” Rapp said, holding a feral smile.

The dealer flipped over the fifth card—a three with a crow drawn in the corner.

More groans rang out, and more dropped out of play, pulling their coin backward. But Rapp and Gozzak merely stared, neither of them willing to budge on what they had already laid out. I waited too, as Rapp had told me to follow his lead.

“Final bets,” the dealer called. A few more tossed their cards to the center, until it was only Gozzak, Rapp, and me still willing to risk our money.

Blood pounded in my ears as I waited for what would happen next.

Did Rapp have a good hand? Did Gozzak? Did I? Was Rapp going to lose all his gold in an attempt to return my mother’s ring to me?

“Turn your cards over,” the dealer ordered. Swallowing, I did.

Gozzak’s face fell as he looked at both our cards. “Fucking Fates,” he cursed, and Rapp threw his head back and laughed. In front of Rapp, two cards with stamped hearts waited, one with a V and another with an A. In front of Gozzak, two more Kral appeared.

“Does that mean we won?” I muttered under my breath.

Rather than respond, Rapp pulled the pile of coins, with my mother’s ring, toward him. “Better luck next time, Gozzak.”

Surreptitiously, he tucked the ring between his fingers and slipped it under the table. Understanding his intention, I opened my palm. The light metal plopped into it, and I pocketed it immediately, not wanting to lose it. It was too small to fit around my finger in this form.

“Who wants to play again?” Rapp asked, wiggling his brows. “I’ll even be kind enough to return your money, since I’ll just take it again, and I do want to play more.”

A groan resounded around the table, but they dealt another hand. This time, I folded immediately when I saw a two and a three in front of me. As time passed, I found myself grinning and laughing along with the males, stumbling my way through the card game. It reminded me of the camaraderie I’d found with the Lovak Squad during our journey from Stryi, and with it, some of the ache in my heart eased.

For a little while, I forgot about Rokath, this mate bond, and being forced into another life I didn’t want. For a little while, I got to pretend I was normal.

When Rapp and I returned some hours later to Rokath’s tent, I hugged him profusely and thanked him for winning the ring. He’d left me so I could drop my magic and change, and I slipped the ring onto my finger, savoring the cool metal against my skin, almost like my mother was offering me a gentle embrace even now.

“Don’t mention it. Literally, Rokath will be so pissed,” Rapp laughed, returning the gesture.

“Where is he anyway?” I asked. The hour had grown late, and usually, the two were asleep next door by now.

Rapp shrugged. “Told me he was going off for a ride to think. He is a military genius, so I don’t question his methods. If it weren’t for Banand getting captured and forced to create that plague, we’d already be standing in Sivy.”

I paused with one large boot dangling between us. “Excuse me?”

Too late, Rapp realized his mistake. “Assyria, you cannot tell anyone what I just said.”

“I won’t if you explain,” I said slowly, mind whirling. The boot thudded to the ground. “I thought the Angels created the sickness?”

Rapp tossed the clothes I had worn to the side. “It’s best if you sit down.”

I went to the table and pulled back a chair. Bracing his hands on his hips, Rapp looked up and blew out a breath, shoulders dropping. “The Angels did, in a roundabout way. Banand is another burgundy-eyed Demon with the power to create targeted plagues. Pretty useful except to start one he has to get close to someone.”

Rapp rubbed the back of his neck, then joined me. My heart thudded erratically against my ribs. “We didn’t want to risk him infecting the Demons by accident, so we were capturing Angels for him to practice on. One escaped and told his superiors of Banand’s powers. It wasn’t long before they attacked, ambushed us from the treetops actually, with the sole purpose of capturing him.”

Rapp opened his palms, staring at them as if he was lost in the memory of what had happened. I held my breath and waited for him to finish. “The Angels must have lost thousands trying to get him, but they did. Not even a week later, the plague broke out. We lost tens of thousands within days, and retreated all the way to the wall within a week. They’ve pressed their advantage ever since.”

All I could do was blink as I processed that information. Everything I’d been told about the plague that killed my entire family was a lie. Rokath, Rapp, Xannirin, fuck, probably even Kiira had covered up what truly happened. At what level of power did the knowledge switch?

Am I now part of that cohort that gets to know the truth?

I clutched my chest as I struggled to breathe. My father, my mother, my sister, none of them would have died if it weren’t for the power the Giver blessed this Demon—Banand—with, and yet his power was a waste, just as much as my own. In the end, it only harmed the Demons.

What else was Rokath lying about?

This new information fed the embers of mistrust and stoked them into a rolling flame.

Rapp turned even more serious and leaned closer to me. “The Angels will do the same if they hear even a whisper of Rokath having a mate.”

A stone settled in my gut, and I pressed my hands firmly there as a sick feeling unfurled. The gravity of the mate bond settled over me with newfound understanding. The Angels had struck out in a similar manner before, and both Rapp and Rokath believed they might try again.

“But everyone knows I’m his fallen and nothing more, so everything will be okay,” I said, hoping to reassure myself as much as Rapp.

I would not die for Rokath as Banand had.

“Exactly. So don’t worry, Assyria, we’ll be strolling through Sivy in no time, and then all this hiding will be over.” Rapp straightened and went to pick up the discarded clothes.

“Thank you, Rapp. For everything. Especially for telling me the truth,” I murmured, disbelief still clinging to every fiber of my being.

He merely nodded and slipped outside.

Tears burned my nose and eyes a moment later. I strode to the bed, throwing myself on it and allowing them to soak into the blankets while I grieved the loss of everyone I loved in an entirely new way.

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35

Assyria slid from her horse’s back after another day of utter silence between us, landing with a pointed thud. All around us, males dismounted or approached the supply carts, dragging tents from their depths to erect around us.

At least today, we were camping beside a small lake. The water glittered as the sun began its descent over the mountains at our backs. She grabbed Blaeze’s reins and started to lead him toward it when I let out a low growl. “Where do you think you’re going?”