V hid her smile and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
The tingling between us grew intense for several minutes before the light and magic faded. The gem cracked and broke to pieces under our hand, and I let loose a sigh.
I hadn’t meant to hold my breath. It wasn’t common for a magical bond to fail, but not zero. I’d been terrified that since V was a hybrid, it wouldn’t bind the way it should.
I searched her eyes for another confirmation that it’d worked. I didn’t trust anything but her right now. Not even my own body.
Her gasp was sharp and soft. “Wow,” she murmured, lashes fluttering. “Is that…”
“Our magic,” I answered.
V’s head lolled back. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”
The intoxicating live wires of her incredible power worked their way through my nerves, and I could only agree with a nod.
Cassius made a noise of protest. “You have, love. Our bond was merely overpowered by everything else we were doing.”
“Whatever you say, my dude,” V slurred, drunk on my magic. “I’m going to have a hell of a time focusing with both of you around. Who thought this would be a good idea, anyway?”
“You’ll grow accustomed to it,” Cassius encouraged, sweeping over to her like it was the only place he was meant to be. “I’ll help you, dove.”
She waved him away, giggling. “Oh? Is that what your hand is doing on my hip?”
“Precisely.”
“Liar.”
I rolled my eyes. Annoying wasn’t a strong enough word for him, the fucking simp.
“Is it meant to feel this good? I’m shivery all over, but like, in a good way.” Her lustful eyes met mine in a lazy upward glance.
I smirked, more than a little proud my magic had that sort of effect on her. “Means that our magic likes each other.”
Her soft laughter was music to my ears. “You make it sound like it’s got a mind of its own.”
My grin grew. “Oh, it does. Fae magic especially. It’s entrenched in our emotions and personality. It’s a reflection of us in a way.”
The princess hovering nearby sneered. “That’s rather overstated, devil woman. It’s not a sentient being.”
“Never said it was, princess, but you can’t argue it embodies parts of us,” I said with quick a glare of reproach.
He huffed but didn’t argue, still crouched next to her like he never intended to leave her side.
“How long will it feel like this?” she asked me, ignoring the man next to her. “It’s pretty distracting, so I don’t think we should do any training until it settles down.”
My thumb stroked her hand. I hadn’t bothered to let go. I didn’t want to. “Not too long. Maybe a few hours.”
“Seems like everything here happens in a cycle of a few hours,” she bemoaned, but her smile suggested it didn’t bother her. At least not this. “Guess that’s that. We’ll wait this thing out and get started on training my mind and magic, get whatever favors Cash needs, then show our faces in front of Lyra. I don’t want to give that shadowy bastard time to come to his senses.”
She was right, of course. Long story short, shit was complicated.
Lyra would be on a warpath the minute she realized she’d been outwitted by a magical bond. With their mate bond, Aram was likely to find V again, so Lyra wouldn’t want to risk being around her more than necessary.
That worked in our favor.
She’d have no other option but to hope we didn’t kill her first. We still needed her help to destroy the Nether Royals. Better to go in with an army than the bare minimum. Until we knew what the bond did to them both, we couldn’t take any unnecessary risks.
But all that could wait. V wasn’t the only one distracted. Her magic was nothing I’d ever felt before. It was completely removed from how Reyna’s had sparked inside me or any other magic I’d sensed.
