Silence.
Then the mist vanishes just as suddenly as it came, revealing an irritated Iris and a stone-faced Henny near the door, dark energy still curling faintly around his fingers.
Iris exhales sharply. “I need space. Room.”
“No,” Aelith says immediately, his voice hoarse but firm.
She turns to him fully, her eyes searching, really looking. Then she says, “You’re his fated.” It’s not a question. Kael stiffens beside Aelith. Iris lifts a brow. “But it’s not a fully formed bond yet?”
A beat. Then Aelith answers, voice tight. “No.”
She nods, gaze shifting, calculating. “Fine. You can stay. Everyone else, out.”
Tension crackles through the room. The mist stirs again, thickening.
Iris sighs and turns to Henny. “Fine,” she says softly, frustration curling at the edges of her words. “Stay. But disappear.”
Henny legit goespoof. One second, he’s there. A hulking, ominous presence. The next—gone.
I gape at the now-empty space. Will there ever be a time when I get used to this weird, monstrous shit? No. Probably not.
I move towards the door, Kael at my side—until Aelith speaks again.
“Kael. Stay.”
Kael hesitates. His shoulders tense. He’s torn.
I glance at him, catching the war on his face, the conflict in his stance. His concern for Aelith is palpable. And so, before I think too hard about it, I offer him a small smile. A reassuring nod. And I send comfort to him through our bond.
His breath stutters. His gaze flicks to me. Then he swallows, and I feel his gratitude ripple through the growing tether between us.
The door closes behind me. And fuck?—
Why does it hurt? It shouldn’t hurt like this. Right?
A shadow moves in front of me, blocking my view of the small window in the door. Varek. His massive frame looms, his presence solid. His expression? Not good.
“Sonny,” he says, voice low. “What the fuck have you done?” Concern laces his features, sharp and unrelenting.
I grimace. “You make it sound like I burned down a village.”
He doesn’t even blink.
“Frigthdrigth, Sonny,” he mutters, dragging a hand down his face. “Three days. Three days you’re out of my sight, and you what? Tell me what I’m sensing isn’t true.” His eyes bore into me. Waiting. Demanding.
I swallow. And suddenly, I really,reallywish I’d got a full night’s sleep before dealing with this shit.
CHAPTER
TEN
Varek had sensedsomething before Kael and I left in search of Iris. His woo-woo ways had tipped him off to the possibility of a bond forming, but when I confirmed that the mating ritual—or whatever the hell it’s called—had started, he’d been concerned.
He didn’t say why.
And now, nearly twenty-four hours later, his concern is becoming more obvious. Maybe because, after completing one of the three bond stages, I haven’t seen Kael since. Not once.
Not when I swung by the medical room before turning in for the night—only to be refused entry. Talk about a kick in the nuts.
