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  “From Earth,” I said, standing up and holding out a hand to her while I clutched my torn clothing with the other hand.

  Lucian’s mother looked at my outstretched hand as though I’d offered her a dead fish and she didn’t know what to do with it.

  Suddenly I understood.

  “Oh, sorry—on Earth when we meet someone for the first time we shake hands. But I’m sure you probably don’t have the same customs we do.”

  “Actually, we do pat fingers.” She showed how by raising both hands and lightly touching the tips of her long fingers together. “But I’m not sure where your hand has been lately, dear. So I’ll just give you a verbal greeting if you don’t mind.”

  “Oh…of course.” I withdrew my hand, my cheeks getting so hot I was sure they were going to catch my hair on fire. “Er…sorry.”

  “That’s quite all right, dear. Welcome to Denaris.” She turned a laser-sharp look on Lucian. “Darling, might I have a word with you in the food-prep area?”

  Lucian looked like he’d rather walk barefoot over a mile of hot coals but he only nodded. “Of course, Mother.”

  “Thank you, darling.” And she led the way out of the richly appointed living room and around the corner.

  “Whew…” I let out a breath. “Well that was awkward!”

  “More than awkward—wrong.” Drace was frowning like a thundercloud. “You know, I just couldn’t find a Beta I clicked with and I thought it was the same with Lucian—but now I’m beginning to wonder. Did she and his fathers really decide he wouldn’t be allowed to bond with anyone because they didn’t approve of any of his choices? That’s fucking cruel!”

  “I don’t know,” I said thoughtfully. “If that’s what they did to him, it is awful. But you’ve known him longer than I have.”

  “Yeah, but we didn’t really start talking until you showed up, baby,” he told me. “C’mon.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked as I followed him around the corner.

  “To find out what’s going on. Just keep out of sight and be quiet.”

  “Drace, no!” I put a hand on his arm. “We can’t do that—it’s eavesdropping!”

  “The hell we can’t! Lucian is our bond-mate—we need to know what the fuck is going on with him,” he growled. “Are you coming with me or not?”

  “All right,” I hissed. “But we’d better not get caught!”

  * * * * *

  Lucian

  “All right now, tell me how you got into this mess and how you intend to get out of it? How can you possibly break a psy-bond? It’s never been done before!”

  That’s my mother—she’s never been one to mince words.

  Rapidly, I explained how Drace and I had ingested ylla rolls with pieces of the same bonding-bud in them and had become psy-bonded in the first place.

  “But we haven’t sealed the bond,” I told her. “Which makes us think it will be possible to break it.”

  “You haven’t sealed it yet you mean.” She made a face, a delicate curl of her lip that indicated disgust. “But I saw what you were doing with those…those people.”

  “Those people are my bond-mates, Mother,” I said, frowning. “Even if their status is only temporary, I won’t have you speaking ill of them.”

  “But, darling, just look at them,” she nearly wailed. “Another Alpha—one of the Claw Clan no less? And that…that girl. If she’s a La-ti-zal I’ll eat my diamonds!”

  “She is a La-ti-zal,” I snapped angrily. “I have witnessed her power first hand.”

  “Oh, and what’s her power then? Whoring?” my mother demanded.

  Of course then I wished I’d kept my mouth shut.

  “She’s…a Binder,” I said reluctantly. “Rylee is a Binder.”

  “A what? But I thought you said you were trying to get free of them! Not bind them more closely to you!”

  “We are trying to get free of each other.” I couldn’t keep the exasperation out of my voice. “But we were told by Tanta Loro—”

  “What? You went to the Sea Witch?” My mother looked near fainting again—something she was prone to in her more dramatic moments. “This just gets worse and worse!”

  “She was the only one who offered us any hope, Mother,” I said grimly. “Even the Empress’s own physician said we would be stuck together for life. Tanta Loro at least showed us a way out.”

  “And what way is that?” she demanded.

  “There is a certain…artifact we need to get in order to sever our bond.” I didn’t want to tell her too much.

  “What artifact? How can it possibly help you?”

  “That’s my business,” I said shortly. All you need to know is that I’m working on it.”

  “Well you’d better work on it quickly,” she snapped. “Do you know what would happen to your fathers and I if it were to become known that you were bonded to another Alpha—an Alpha of the Claw Clan? Who do you suppose they would think was playing the Beta’s role in all this?”

  “I told you, Mother, we haven’t sealed the bond so neither of us is playing the Beta’s role,” I said through gritted teeth. “I know how bad this looks but don’t worry—I’m taking steps to correct it. And I swear it won’t impact you or my fathers.”

  “It had better not.” She crossed her arms over her chest and did her best to look down at me disapprovingly, just as she had when I was a small boy. The effect was somewhat mitigated by the fact that I was two feet taller than her now, but somehow she still managed. “If the ladies on the Fashion Council found out that my only child was bonded to an Alpha of the Claw Clan—”

  “Don’t worry, they won’t.” I had to work to keep my voice calm and even.

  “Just be certain you don’t seal the bond or do anything else to strengthen your ties with those two either,” she continued, as though I’d bonded myself to a couple of scruffy, disgusting indigents. No doubt to her, that was exactly what Rylee and Drace appeared to be. “Better no bond-mates at all than the wrong kind of bond-mates.”

  A sudden weariness overcame me—a sorrow so old it seemed it had been part of me forever.

  “Yes, Mother,” I said. “So you’ve been telling me my entire life.”

  Who could believe such a thing? That it was better to live a life of constant loneliness and emptiness rather than try to fill the void with someone of an “unacceptable” class or clan? That it was better to be alone than try to find someone to love outside the narrow strata of society my parents approved of?

  I had.

  I who had chosen to bury myself in my work and abstain from any kind of love because there were no “suitable” Betas to bond with. I who had sworn to myself that having a Triumvirate bond with another male and a female we both loved meant nothing to me.

  I who had lied to myself for years.

  “Now I’m not going to say anything to your fathers,” my Mother said, interrupting my bleak thoughts. “Because I know you’re going to get this fixed. And when you do, darling, I promise we’ll try again to find you some suitable Beta to bond with and then the two of you can find a nice girl from the right class and clan to take as a mate. All right?”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to say I didn’t want anyone else besides Rylee and Drace…but then I stopped myself because it was ridiculous. We were on a quest to be free of each other. Why would I tell my mother I wanted to stay with them?

  “Now, darling—” she began again but just then Rylee ran in to the food prep area, her torn clothes clutched in one hand and her eyes wild.

  “Lucian, it’s Drace!” she exclaimed. “Come quick—he just collapsed!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Rylee

  Lucian’s mother trailed behind us as I led Lucian around the corner to where Drace was out cold.

  We’d been standing there, eavesdropping for all we were worth and listening to Lucian’s mother go on about social class and finding the right people to be bonded to when he’d suddenly put a hand to his head and then to