“What do you mean?”
“The Crystal can talk to us,” Seth said, putting a pitcher of blood-red liquid and some cups down before grabbing a deck of playing cards and poker chips. “It doesn’t talk to the drakcol, but it does to us.”
A talking rock. This place got better and better. “So I have to touch it?”
“Probably,” Seth said, pouring a drink. “You’ll be soul tested for sure, either way.”
“Don’t worry,” Caleb said. “The Ranks, they’re the Crystal’s priests and priestesses, are obsessed with Seth. They’ll leave you alone.”
Seth flushed. “They’re not.”
Caleb laughed. “They are. He’schosen.”
My eyebrows lifted, and Seth’s flush deepened. I wanted to poke his cheeks, but somehow I doubted he’d enjoy it, because, I don’t know, he was a full grown man, but god, I had the urge.
“Stop telling people that,” Seth said. “I was the first human to touch it. That’s it.”
“Technically,” Caleb said, “but it doesn’t matter. It likes you best. Because you’rechosen.”
Seth glared at him, and I swallowed a laugh. So, Team Human with an ex-human and a chosen one. Life had certainly gotten weird.
“What do you mean he will have to touch it?” I demanded.
Dontilvynsan lifted his eyebrows, and Kalvoxrencol laughed. Zoltilvoxfyn repeated calmly, “The Ranks have already sent a request to have Bartholomew appeal to the Crystal.”
“I am his mate,” I growled. “I will not surrender him.”
“No one is asking you to, Serlotminden,” Dontilvynsan said. “They wish to see if the Crystal will speak to him as well.”
“But if he appeals, it will show him his mate,” I forced out, trying to stay calm as my tail flicked. “He is too old for a simple soul testing.” Most drakcol were soul tested with a piece of crystal that connects to the true Crystal, but not us royals.We touched the actual Crystal in a ceremony when we were ten. “What if the Crystal shows him his soulmate and it is not me?”
“You don’t know that will happen,” Zoltilvoxfyn said.
“And you don’t know it will not happen,” I snapped. “He is mine.”
“I’m with you,” Kalvoxrencol said. “Though you won’t be Crystal-bound mates.”
“So?” I had no interest in that. Bartholomew was all I desired.
He didn’t look offended in the slightest and smirked.
Annoyed, I said, “No matter what, they’ll stalk Seth.”
His smile disappeared.
The Ranks had hounded Seth because of his soul. He was the darkest red, therefore the purest, warrior soul in recorded history. Caleb was a blue seeker soul with a tinge of spiritual white, which was perfectly fine and average, but drakcol venerated warrior souls. The purest warrior soul, mixed with the Crystal calling him chosen, had made the Ranks nearly feral for him. Kalvoxrencol had kept the anxious, shy Seth away from them to the best of his ability.
“I’m on your side,” he protested.
“My apologies,” I replied. Everyone felt like a threat to me and mine at this exact moment.
Dontilvynsan commented, “You are very desperate to root your Bartholomew here. Binding him to Seth and Caleb. Trying to make us like him. I thought you would use the Crystal to force him to stay.”
I looked at the floor, soul pounding and tail thrashing. Bartholomew had chosen me, but I sensed his hesitation. His expression when he’d learned he could return to Earth haunted me. The longing, the hope, the utter desire. He wished to go home, and I needed him to stay. I was asking him to remain with me and give up his life on Earth, to give up that longing, to give up his family.
“If he loves you, he will stay,” Dontilvynsan said. “I know you love him. I have felt it. I have experienced your grief at the thought of him being gone, but you cannot force or trick him, Speedy. In the end, it is Bartholomew’s choice.”
Kalvoxrencol moved to my side and pulled me closer, his forehead resting on mine. “I know the urge. Trust me. I felt the same with Seth, wanting to tie him to me. But trust your Bartholomew. I didn’t trust Seth for a very long time, and I almost lost him. Don’t make the same mistake.”
