“Then what is the reason, Cuan?” All her worried confusion boiled over at last, spilling out of her in a torrent. “I don’t understand! None of this makes any sense. I don’t even know why you stepped in to protect me in the first place!”
His eyes changed—literally. A thin ring of gold blazed into life around his dark, deep pupils, threading through the emerald green of his irises in a fiery starburst.
The knotwork tattoos on his cheekbones lit up too, with shimmering, shifting shades of turquoise and indigo, as though he’d captured the Northern Lights under his skin.
Holy hotness.He had to be using magic on her now, despite his claim earlier that he couldn’t.
And at that moment, Tamsin didn’t care at all.
“Do you truly not understand?” That soft, growling whisper vibrated through her bones, curling her toes. “Because I think you do, Tamsin. You know why I would lay down my life for you. Why I would give my life to you, devoting my every remaining breath to your service, gladly. You know, as much as I.”
She could barely breathe, hypnotized by those gold-streaked eyes. She could only shake her head, the tiniest gesture of mute denial.
“You do. Not here.” He laid a single fingertip on the center of her forehead, briefly, then moved it down to rest on her chest, over her heart. “But here. You know.”
That light touch seared through every part of her body. Her heart was hammering so hard, he had to be able to feel it.
And somehow…she could feel his heartbeat too, as surely as though she’d laid her hand against his bare chest. Even though his face was still and solemn, she knew that his pulse was racing as fast as hers.
Unable to resist, she reached out to him, mirroring his gesture. He drew in a sharp breath the instant she made contact, his chest leaping under her fingertips. The shifting colors of his tattoos swirled faster, pulsing in time to the shared rhythm of their hearts.
“What…what is that?” she whispered.
“A connection.” His free hand caught hers, flattening her palm against his hard chest. “Or rather, the echo of a connection. I believe that our fates are already intertwined, Tamsin. The mate-bond is so powerful that it echoes backward through time. I believe—I know—that is why we are drawn so strongly to each other. You cannot tell me that you do not feel it.”
This is crazy! her rational mind shrieked. But somehow it didn’t feel crazy. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, to have him so close, to be bathed in his shimmering light.
“Your tattoos,” she murmured, spell-bound by those ever-shifting colors. “They’re glowing. You’re doing magic on me.”
“No.” The glowing lines highlighted his sharp cheekbones, casting the rest of his face in shadow. Her fingertips ached to map every hidden contour. “It is you who is doing this to me.”
Drawn by an irresistible urge, she reached up to him. He went very still, not even breathing, as she traced the intricate markings that curved down the sides of his face. Sparkles followed her fingertips, swirling around her hand as though she truly was casting a spell.
Cuan’s eyes burned even brighter, gold creeping further into the green. Slowly, he leaned forward, his intense gaze holding her captive. She found that she was leaning forward too, as if they were a pair of magnets, the force between them growing the closer that they came to each other. Her whole being yearned for him, with a fire that consumed all thought. Closer, closer…
Angus yapped, shattering the moment. He set his teeth in her sleeve, tugging her arm away from Cuan, growling.
Her dog dragged her back to her senses. She jerked away from Cuan, her cheeks burning.
“No. No.” She scooped Angus into her lap, holding onto him as though he could anchor her to reality. “This is crazy. It can’t be real.”
“I assure you, fated mates are very real. Rare, but real.” Cuan hadn’t moved, still leaning toward her. His gold-streaked eyes stayed fixed on her, steady and certain. “We will be mates. We are mates. How else can you explain the attraction you feel for me?”
“Because you look like someone put Legolas and Aragorn in a genetic blender and threw in a handful of Jason Momoa for good measure!”
Cuan’s lips twitched again. “I will assume that was a compliment.”
Tamsin groaned, pressing the heels of her hands into her eye-sockets to block out that devastating half-smile. “Never mind. Cuan, trust me, the mystery here is not why I’m attracted to you.”
But still, he was acting like a man who was totally smitten with her. Whether this whole mate thing was true or not, it was clear he believed it.
“Okay.” She dropped her hands again. “Let’s say for a second that you’re right about this soul mate thing. You said earlier that I wouldn’t like it. Why?”
The shimmering lights playing through Cuan’s tattoos went out as abruptly as if she’d flicked a light switch. The gold faded from his eyes, leaving nothing but wary, guarded green. The distance between them suddenly seemed vast rather than a matter of a few feet.
“Because mates cannot bear to be apart from each other.” He straightened back into that stiff, formal posture, back and shoulders rigid. “You would be permanently bound to me. To my world. To the fae.”
She stared at him, unable to believe that he hadn’t mentioned this before. “Well, that’s no use, then. The whole point of this was to break the curse on me, not make it worse!”