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"You’ll not have Iures from my hand," Durzo said
"So be it," Khali said "Kylar, kill him Kill all of them" Her words washed over hinized it as a compulsion spell even as he rose to obey The spell was the full-grown older sister to the spell Garoth had laid on Vi, akin to the glamour Vi had used on him the first tilamour had been anchored only by Vi’s attractiveness, this co in front of another ioddess It pulled on his adoration for Elene, his loyalty and trust for her as his wife She was princess, goddess, immortal, lover, companion, wife--and all those bonds were ah Curoch There was no question of disobedience
Kylar stood The black ka’kari for to speak to hi him with But to use the ka’kari, he had to want to use it, and the co eyes and nothingher Even as his heart despaired and he wanted nothing more than to throw himself on his oords, he wanted to please heralone froh Kylar’s co It felt like he’d been falling froht only to have a rope tied around his wrists suddenly stop his fall Kylar gasped with pain--and stopped
Khali paused, surprised She looked at Vi "Dear girl," she said, "don’t you knohat happens when a wooddess?" She turned to Kylar and put a hand on her stomach "My love, you wouldn’t betray the mother of your child, would you?"
He couldn’t breathe Elene’s stoht on Khali’s face told hinant She’d known She hadn’t told him The new claim to his loyalty added another layer to the power of the co with that slut," Khali said The coht like a rope around his ankles He felt hi torn between coes chose that moment to loose a fireball It fizzled before it went an ar lore vyrden in the roo
"Kylar, helpon hith to hiuilt at what he’d put her through, how he owed her better, and his desire for her
Khali ed on what he owed Elene, on his desire for her, on thelove The co whatever hold a person had, whether authority, or love, or lust, or obedience Fueled with the ht of Curoch, it almost obliterated Kylar’stoward Vi He could feel Khali’s triumph, her pleasure at her mastery of him
Vi’s eyes held his as he walked closer She reached up and pulled out the band that held her braid Her hair spilled down like a copper waterfall For the first time in her life, Vi made no atte that she had kept private as she had lost all else
She spread her open hands and dropped the threads of lust and guilt in their bond Kylar saw her then as he’d never seen her before He saw the nights of agony hich she had paid for his nights of pleasure with Elene He sa gladly she’d done that for him, and at what cost Vi loved hi to that single cord--love--with all her ht
She looked up at him as he drew the tords back "Kylar," she said quietly, at complete peace, "I trust you" Then, impossibly, she released the bond Every clai--not friendship, not honor, not dignity, not friendship, not her life--nothing at all
With no clais failed
It shook hih his whole body It shook him from his suddenly freed wrists down to his bound ankles--and there, Khali had no answer to this kind of love She knew only taking It was like two people had been playing tug-of-war and one released the rope All therushed outward--toward Khali Kylar felt the huge wave of power passing through him as the vast pressures of the bond released into her, their force doubled and redoubled by her own pull on theiant crack that rattled Kylar’s teeth So The earrings were broken The bond was broken The compulsion had vanished Kylar couldn’t feel Vi--or Khali He was free of both of the on her heels, stunned
"I’m so sorry, Kylar," Khali said, but the tone was Elene’s
Kylar was at her side in an instant "Elene?"