Chapter 81: _ The Heavy Truth

’You idiot!’ Riven howled in total despair. ’You loud-mouthed idiot! He’s not going to keep our secret!’

Raice stopped pacing. He slowly turned his head, his violet eyes blinking in genuine shock. For the first time all morning, the manic light in his pupils vanished.

"What? Your what... That’s... that’s not possible."

"Forget I said that," I rasped, taking a step back toward the door. "I was exaggerating."

"She is a Dragon shifter and you are a Wolf. A cross-race mate bond? That hasn’t occurred for three hundred years. It’s a myth." Raice said, ignoring my retraction.

I opened my mouth to deny it again. I wanted to lie and tell him I was just mocking him. But then I looked at Raice’s face.

If Raice genuinely believed Elira was a Borrowed, his twisted sense of duty would drive him to execute her. He would hunt her down in her dorms, snap her neck, and burn her body to ashes before nightfall.

I had to protect her. Even if it cost me my pride.

"Of course, I am the only one capable of turning the tides of even things like myths." I threw my hands in the air, forcing my spine straight as I looked the Fae Prince dead in the eye.

Raice looked at me like I had grown horns. "What?"

"It’s real, okay? She’s my mate. I am the most revered Prince in all the realms. The Moon Goddess recognized that and picked me to break ancient records." I winked at him. "A divine mating bond cannot exist if she were a Borrowed. The Moon Goddess would never tie a soul-bond to a hell-parasite. So go find another object for your madness, Raice. She isn’t a spy."

The explanation struck Raice like a physical blow. He stumbled back a half-step, his hand touching his forehead as his mind tried to process the information.

"Not a Borrowed...?" Raice muttered, staring at the floor in disorientation. "Then... why? Why on earth did I have her with so much desire?"

The jealousy exploded behind my ribs almost made me since. Hearing him talk about desiring my mate—about tasting her and touching her—made Riven roar until my ears rang.

"It’s simple, you idiot," I snarled, my fists clenching at my sides. "She’s beautiful! She’s sharp, she’s alive, and she’s a breath of fresh air in this rotten hellhole! That’s why she’s my fated!"

Raice shook his head frantically, his white hair falling into his eyes. "No. I don’t care about beauty. I don’t desire women. I don’t care about commoners!"

"I don’t give a damn what you care about!" I yelled, stepping right up to him. "Whatever stupid impulse came over you two nights ago, it stops NOW! Stay the hell away from my mate!"

Raice slowly lifted his head. The disorientation in his eyes hardened back into iciness.

"And who are you to tell me who to stay away from?"

"I am her fated male!" I barked. "It is only dignified... even for a social outcast like you... to stay away from another man’s mate! She belongs to me, not you!"

Raice stared at me wordlessly. Then a cruel smile spread across his pale lips.

"Does she think so?"

I froze. "What?"

"Does she know she belongs to you, Wulfram?" Raice taunted, taking a step closer until his cold breath fanned over my cheek. "Because from my memory... when I had her against the wall two nights ago... she was kissing me back. She was desiring me. She was gasping in my ear, asking me to give her everything."

CRACK!

My sanity snapped into a thousand pieces.

A wave of green frost exploded from my boots across the flagstones. Before Raice could draw a breath to retaliate, I flicked my wrist, directing a torrent of sub-zero ice straight at his face.

The frost slammed into his jaw, instantly creeping over his lips and snapping his mouth shut in a solid block of thick green ice.

"SHE IS MINE!" I screamed, my eyes blazing full emerald as Riven’s aura burst around my shoulders.

Raice’s eyes widened in rage behind his frozen mouth. He didn’t try to break the ice on his face. Instead, he slammed his boot against the floor.

Violet Fae runes flared along the ground beneath my feet. Thick vines made of hardened dark-crystal burst through the flagstones, wrapping around my ankles with crushing force.

THWACK!

The vines yanked my legs out from under me. I hit the hard stone floor with a bone-rattling crash, my chin slamming against the quartz.

"Release me, you crazy bastard!" I snarled, struggling against the crystal vines winding up my calves.

Raice stood over me, his tall frame towering above my prone body. He didn’t say a word. He couldn’t. His mouth was still encased in a block of sparkling green ice.

Instead, he slowly lifted his hand, raised a single finger, and gestured toward his frozen mouth—demanding that I melt the ice before he snapped my legs in half.

That bastard!

I glared at Raice from my stomach, my jaw pressed against his dirty quartz floor, cursing every ancestor who had ever granted Fae shifters plant-based magic.

"Fine," I grumbled, my voice muffled by the flagstones. "I’ll melt the ice. Just untie my bloody legs!"

Raice didn’t move. He stood over me with his arms folded.

I let out a sigh, snapped my fingers, and summoned a gentle wave of heat magic I’d stolen from that Dragon girl I had last slept with. The solid block of green ice encased around Raice’s jaw dissolved into steam, evaporating before a single drop of water could touch his collar.

The moment the ice vanished, the crystal vines around my ankles cracked and dissolved into fine purple dust.

I scrambled to my feet, brushing off my tunic with aggressive swipes of my palms. "You are an absolute savage, Raice. An uncivilized, white-haired savage."

Raice worked his jaw slowly, flexing his mouth as if testing whether his lips still functioned. He ignored my insult, turning his back on me to walk toward his sofa. He swept a half-dismantled broadsword onto the floor with a clatter and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees.

For a long, uncomfortable minute, neither of us said a word. The wind outside howled against the cliffside windows, filling the silent cavern with a mournful whistle.

The chaos had cleared out, leaving only the undeniable truth hanging between us:

Raice Ignis-Dominus desires a girl. She is Ivar Wulfram’s mate. And she is a markless, dragonless commoner.