Page 89 of Let Slip the Dogs of War

Aodhan might be able to kill him.

How can this be the fate Lark has to fulfil? If we’re fated to be soulbonded, then how can his fate be to stay here and suffer through all of this? I sit up straight again. It’s not that fate has anyone living an easy life. I know that. But I just can’t get the two different facts to sit right in my head.

Fae can’t lie. The witch can’t have lied about what he agreed to any more than Lark can. And I could understand him agreeing to any silly condition, thinking that he would never be back.

But why wouldn’t fate step in? Or am I supposed to stay here like this, never truly bonded to him? Is this our way of being together?

“What is fate?” I say aloud and, bewildered, Grant and Ophelia turn to look at me.

“Are you…” Ophelia crouches down and squints through the gloom. “No, you’re awake. What’s going on?”

“What’s fate? The bonds… They’re fated.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“So what is it?”

Grant looks helplessly at Ophelia, who shrugs, but when she goes to answer, I shake my head. I’ve felt this before. Even as I ache and I’m so fucking tired, I’m also on a precipice. I know something. I just don’t know that I know it yet.

“It’s magic,” I say, and they both edge closer, though Grant throws a wary glance at the door that leads into the room.

“Of course it is,” Ophelia says.

“No,” I say, “it’s magic. That’s all it is. It’s without intention.”

Grant frowns and comes to kneel on the floor next to me. “I don’t get it.”

“I mean, we’ve been acting like fate and magic are two different things. Magic is something we do and fate is something done to us.”

“But the bonds are done to us,” Ophelia objects. “I didn’t—You didn’t…”

“No. I mean, yes, but—It’s just compatible magic when it comes down to it.”

“Yeah?” Grant looks up at Ophelia, who shrugs.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Right. So, if Lark’s magic is nudging him to wear a crown, then why would his magic be compatible with mine? Why would he leave in the first place?”

Ophelia gives up and sits cross-legged next to the two of us. “It’s not that simple. I think. I mean, following your theory, no one would ever be able to deny a bond, and they can. Wolves can.”

“And wolf magic comes from fae magic,” Grant adds.

I lean back against the wall. That feeling of discovery has all but gone. I really thought I was onto something. No, I know I am. This entire situation has been off from the beginning.

“Can fae see bonds like you can?” I ask Ophelia.

She shrugs, but Grant nods. “Why wouldn’t they?” he asks. “I can.”

“You can?”

“I mean, I can see mine and Vlad’s. And I can see Asher and Quinn’s if I try to look. The rest of the Hunt, too.”

“Did you ever…”

Grant shakes his head before I can finish the sentence. “No, I mean. I really have to try, but I’ve got more magic than the rest of them, though I bet Maurice can sort of see them too. If fae deal in bonds like they keep saying, why wouldn’t they be able to see them?”

“So why would they take you and not me?” I ask Ophelia. “Or why take you at all?”