"How?" I demanded, tightening my grip on the brass candlestick. "How do you break a mate bond?"

The stranger did not flinch. He remained seated in the armchair, his ice-blue eyes gleaming in the shadows.

"A severing ritual," he replied, his tone smooth and unbothered. "It requires blood, silver, and a willing participant to anchor you. But you aren't strong enough yet. Look at you."

"I survived his rejection today just fine. I am stronger than I look."

"Barely." He stood up, towering over me by at least a foot. "Your temperature is already rising. The bond is fighting your indifference. He is with her right now, you know. Across the courtyard."

"I do not care where he is or who he sleeps with."

"Your conscious mind does not care," he corrected, walking toward the open window. The night wind caught his dark cloak. "But your wolf does. The magic tethering you to him is tearing itself apart. Survive tonight, Lin. We will talk again when you aren't burning alive."

"Wait. Who are you? Give me a name."

He paused on the windowsill. "An enemy of your enemy."

"That isn't a name. That is a riddle."

"It is all you get for now," he said. "Rest. You will need your energy for the fever."

He slipped into the darkness. I rushed to the glass, but the courtyard below was empty.

A sudden, violent spasm ripped through my chest.

I dropped the candlestick. It hit the floorboards with a dull thud. Heat flared beneath my skin, radiating from my heart outward.

The mate bond.

He was close, and he was touching her. The magical tether connecting us registered his betrayal as physical trauma.

I dragged myself out of the bedroom. I needed ice. I needed anything to cool this inferno.

I stumbled down the corridor, leaning heavily against the stone walls. The castle was quiet, the servants long gone to their quarters. As I reached the landing of the east wing, hushed voices echoed from the balcony below.

"You shouldn't be here, Kael. The elders might see." Lira's voice. High-pitched. Feigning innocence.

"The elders do not dictate my bed," Kael replied. His tone was thick, heavy with desire.

"But your wife..."

"My wife is a ghost," he interrupted. "She is locked in her room, crying over a contract she cannot change. Forget her. She does not matter to us."

I peered over the banister. Kael had Lira pressed against the marble railing. His hands roamed her waist, his face buried in her neck.

The pain in my chest doubled. The original Lin's soul wept inside me, a phantom agony that threatened to snap my ribs.

I gripped the wooden rail. "Could you two keep it down?"

They sprang apart.

Kael's head snapped up. His golden eyes locked onto me, flashing with immediate fury. "Lin. Are you spying on us?"

"It is my house too," I said, forcing my voice to remain steady despite the fever cooking my brain. "And you are practically shouting."

"Go back to your room," he ordered. "Now."

"Gladly." I wiped a line of sweat from my forehead. "Your perfume is giving me a migraine,