Revealing Truths

"Nedra, you have always been… very strong in who you are," Zagan's eyebrows pinched together at the claim that she didn't know who she was. "That is why I left you alone as much as I did. That is why I respected you."

"You respected me because I was the one who could offer you all of this!" She exclaimed, spreading her arms out to include the castle and the bent forest and the island beyond it.

"No," he shook his head. "I didn't need to respect you for that. I could have gone back to doing things the way I always did before I found you. Or I could have forced you… more directly to create what I needed. I could have tortured your mate. But you changed my mind about how to handle myself and about how to treat the alyko. You made me see things differently."

"My mate?" She seethed, squinting against the hot tears that were still coming. He was so wrong about so many things, including what Seth was to her.

"Yes," he said simply. "Your mate."