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Matthias glared down at Saren, mouthing the words we will speak privately. Saren paled, saliva drying out. Nodding obediently, he grabbed the fork and kept eating.

***

Patryn and Matthias argued loudly in the council building's foyer.

“You will not punish him,” Patryn bellowed. His eyes flashed with vibrant color, the telltale sign that he was close to lashing out with his mastery.

Matthias wasn’t deterred in the slightest. “He is mine to teach, mine to punish. Guardian or not, you will let me deal with my pupil.”

“And he is mine to protect! Or have you forgotten a guardian’s role? Horris may turn a blind eye to your games, Greene, but I do not. He’s a child!”

Saren winced, inching closer to the front double doors.

“By Telex law, he is an adult. If not for his defective sex, he’d be preparing for his first heat and a mating ceremony to an appropriate alpha. Do not pretend he is anything but what he is—Maven or not, he is an omega, and he is beneath us.”

Patryn shoved Matthias hard, knocking the man back a few steps. “I said no! Do not challenge me on this. You will lose.”

Saren dropped to his knees as his tutor’s mastery slammed into him. It clawed at his pitiful mental shields, ripping them to shreds. Saren screamed and held his head. Unable to stop the prying, he was at Matthias’ mercy while he sifted through his memories like a picture book, absorbing everything. Saren’s fears, his desires, every secret he’d ever shared with Ryx and vice versa. Matthias focused on Ryx and how the boy made Saren feel. Telex could make it not hurt, easing into their searching so the receiver felt only a slight pull. But this? This was purposeful and cruel. Saren couldn’t stop screaming.

Energy wrapped around him as he desperately tried to siphon some of Matthias’s emotions.

Jealousy. And then finally rage.

As quickly as it started, it suddenly stopped. Saren fell forward on his hands, panting while the sounds of a body slamming into the wall echoed in his ears. He managed to look up and found Patryn holding Matthias by the throat, bloodied and beaten. “You speak a word of this, and I will bury you,” Patryn warned.

Matthias coughed. Blood and spittle gathered around his lips and teeth. “As if you have the power to do so,” he rasped.

“Saren.”

“Yes, sir?” he said, voice shaking.

“Go home.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Saren pushed himself off the floor and ran as fast as he could.

***

Ryx wasn’t home.

Of all the times to have snuck out, he chose the worst possible moment.

Saren needed him—needed to warn him and prepare for the very real fact that Patyrn might not be able to fix what was done. Heart in his throat, Saren started to pack Ryx’s things. His hand shook as he opened the drawers. All Ryx had were the clothes provided to him and his journals. Some of them were private, and Saren didn’t dare read them. He was halfway through stuffing contents into a bag when doubt speared through him.

What if soldiers came? That’d get them in even more trouble if it was found out Ryx was trying to escape. Tears burned Saren’s eyes while he put everything back in its original location.

If nothing else would come of this, Saren was confident Patryn would get Ryx to safety. He had to.

The monster in his belly, dormant for a long time, awoke with a vengeance, snarling and snapping its angry jaws. He held a palm over it, begging the pain to stop. Blood dribbled from his right nostril, so he swiped it away with his other hand.

As he stood there, guilt started to eat at him.

Three years.

For three long years, he’d protected Ryx. He’d done everything he was told, no matter how badly he was hurt. The things Saren did would haunt him forever. He knew that, but Ryx was worth the price. Nothing mattered to him more than the boy with raven-wing hair and steel-colored eyes.

Ryx was his entire world.

And he broke his promise.