"If I only had one mate, and the entity kept draining him over time, he would eventually weaken… maybe even die. And if my mate died, the bond would drag me down with him. I'd wither after him."
The thought made her chest tighten.
"But they didn't expect me to have four fated mates," she added, lifting her eyes to meet Maxwell's. "With four of you, the vitality drain can be spread out. One can rest and recover while the other supports me. As long as it's controlled and we're aware of it, it doesn't become fatal. It becomes… sustainable."
Her brows furrowed slightly.
"That might not have been part of their calculation."
The more she thought about it, the more complicated it became. If the entity had been placed inside her deliberately, then it wasn't random; it was a calculated weapon. A slow, invisible method of destruction. Far subtler than direct assassination.
But that also raised another question.
