Tears welled. “You don’t know what you’re saying. Think! You—” A thought occurred to her, and she glanced between the two combatants. “How are we able to speak of this in front of Zion?” Only an hour ago, she hadn’t been able to tell Vale, one of the most important people in her life.

Surprise knocked Bane back. “You are Adwaewethian,” he spit at Zion. “A hybrid. Sometime in the past, an Adwaewethian queen sent breeders to your planet. You didn’t just dream of Nola. You sensed her royal status, just as I did.”

Nola’s mind blew into a tailspin.

“You are right. And wrong,” Zion said. “I am part Adwaewethian, it’s true, but I didn’t come from a breeder, and I do not play host to a beast. I was created in a lab, genetic components taken from different races. The best of the best and the worst of the worst.”

That made a strange kind of sense. Thinking back, she realized she’d never really experienced mutism with him. She’d assumed she couldn’t share, so she hadn’t even tried. “Are you subject to the will of a royal?” Why ask? Why not find out for herself? “I command you to heal from Knox’s wound.”

“That won’t work with—” Zion pressed his lips together, going silent. Shock consumed his expression as he gazed down. “It’s working. I’m healing. I can feel the muscles weaving back together.”

She fluffed her hair and refocused on Bane. “Are you sure you wish to proceed with the Blood Rite? You know about the prediction now. What if, after the Blood Rite, I order you to let me stab you?”

“I’m sure you’ll have a good reason,” Bane replied. “But whatever happens, we stay together. We do not separate. Ever. Understand?”

He’d fought to reach her. Fought to stay with her. Always. He loved her; he must! The next thing she knew, she was running to him. She threw her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry I left you behind. I should have talked to you, admitted everything, but I was so afraid you’d grow to hate me again.”

“I will never hate you.” Cleaving to her, he said, “I am yours, and you are mine.”

“But,” she continued, “there’s no reason good enough to stab you. I don’t want to risk it.”

“Trust yourself, love. You have something the others queens do not. Do you know what that is?”

Had he just called her “love” instead of “dove”? “I have...you?”

A fleeting smile. “You do, yes. But you also have a strong heart.” He pressed his forehead to hers and traced his thumbs over her cheeks. “You have loved and lost. You know your mind, and what matters most. You have survived nightmares and thrived. I trust you.”