Kalilah POV

The situation with Auren and Lucien was… complicated. They seemed willing to enter into an allyship, but at the same time, I couldn’t shake the worry that they were only doing it to secure my hand in marriage. There was nothing inherently wrong with that—it wasn’t unusual for political or strategic unions—but… I had a mate. Or a future mate, if we wanted to be precise.

Damon was the one I wanted to be with. We had agreed to push things off for the time being, to wait until the chaos around us settled, but it didn’t change the fact that we were committed. No matter what schemes...