“But they know we’ve exchanged a mating promise to each other.”
That must have been her definition for the third level. Seemed appropriate. “Yes. They know I’m your intended mate, and they’re aware of the complications involved with such a vow. Particularly as it’s well known that Shade has also claimed you and that I’m betrothed to another Midnight Fae.”
Her delectable mouth twisted to the side, the tears glimmering in her gaze slowly subsiding to an intelligent gleam that told me she was considering every angle of the puzzle before us. “This is why I need to break our bonds. It’s one thing to sacrifice myself. Entirely another to take you all down with me.”
I slid my palm to her nape, my thumb dancing along the pulse point at her neck. “Maybe I want to go down with you, Aflora.” Or on you, I added in my mind, my lips curling at the thought.
She snorted. “You accused me of tricking you into our mating, Kolstov. I know you don’t really want this.”
“Then why did we connect?” I countered. “From what I understand of Elemental Fae bonds, they require mutual agreement.” Very unlike Midnight Fae connections.
“We connected because we’re compatible,” she said matter-of-factly. “We’re both royals of very strong lineages, and we got carried away.”
“We did,” I agreed. “Because I knew from the moment I met you that you were a worthy female of mating potential. I tried to fight it, but I was too weak to resist you. And while the connection shocked me, thus causing me to act like a fucking idiot afterward, I don’t regret it. Which is why I won’t allow you to remove it.”
I pressed my lips to hers, silencing whatever argument brewed inside her thoughts. Because I meant it. I refused to let her break this bond.
Would it make things easier for us all? Maybe.
Would it save me from certain punishment? Absolutely.
But somehow I just knew we’d end up right back here, with my soul tied to hers and a whole hell of a lot of bad blood between us as a result.
I didn’t see the point in fighting the inevitable. “I want to find a way to make this work,” I told her in a breath, my mouth brushing hers with each word. “We may not have meant to tie our souls together, Aflora, but it already happened. And ra
ther than fight it and each other, I’d like to figure out how to move forward. Together.”
She shook her head. “It’s impossible, Kols. I shouldn’t exist.”
“But you do,” I replied, kissing her again, this time with more force than before. Her lips yielded to mine, her body betraying her mind. “You exist and you’re mine,” I added, then fully claimed her mouth with my tongue. My grip shifted from her neck to her hair, my fingers tangling in her thick blue-black strands and holding her to me as I devoured her.
If she didn’t want to acknowledge my words, then she could listen to my body.
My opposite hand went to her hip to guide her across my lap and encourage her to straddle my thighs. She followed my lead and wrapped her arms around my neck, then began to return my kiss as if to say goodbye.
I saw right through it, felt her magic humming to life to test her resolve, and tugged on her hair to expose her neck. “Try it,” I dared her, my incisors already at her throbbing pulse. “I’ll just bite you again and again, Aflora. And you can’t break our Earth bond unless I allow it, which is never going to happen. Our souls are already welded together.”
At least that was what I understood after talking to Exos and Cyrus. They said something about my essence weaving around hers, similar to how theirs always gravitated to Claire’s in the Spirit Realm.
“Don’t you see that it’s for the best?” she whispered, her body shaking over mine with a convoluted mixture of arousal and resolve.
“You’ll implode,” I warned her before licking the tempting point of her neck. “I’m the one absorbing most of your magic right now, Aflora. If you release me, you’ll detonate.” It wasn’t a lie. I’d absorbed the brunt of her power the other night, my connection to the dark source forcing me to serve as a funnel.
Her fingers threaded through my hair, her grasp tightening as if to yank me away from her neck, but I didn’t budge.
“You’ll have to try harder than that, sweetheart.”
She growled in response. “You’re being impossible.”
“And you’re being unreasonable,” I retorted, nipping her neck. “I won’t make excuses for myself, Aflora. I reacted badly and I’m sorry.” I nibbled my way up her throat to her ear. “Our relationship is forbidden. It breaks all the rules. It’s probably going to cost me my crown. But you know what?”
She swallowed, her nails biting into my scalp. “What?”
“That all only makes me want you more,” I admitted. “And if given the opportunity to do it all over again, I would, even knowing what it would cost in return.” I nuzzled her tender skin, my lips skimming her pulse once more. Her blood called to the predator within me, urging me to bite, to claim. But I wouldn’t. Not without her permission.
Unless she tried to unweave our bonds.
In which case, I’d bite her repeatedly until she stopped.