Primary affinities were always the most efficient use of magic. Secondary affinities burned through a witch’s energy stores in swift and chaotic ways, and if they didn’t eat or rest enough, they could easily find themselves fainting on the battlefield.
Grace wiped the blood from her palm and healed the wound with her magic so that, when she drew the linen away, there was no sign of the cut. Though she was most adept with earth magic, she’d spent a great deal of time refining her healing, because her father had drilled into her the importance of being prepared for the worst.
Teddy met Grace’s icy blue eyes. She smiled and the whole world narrowed to her. He’d known her his whole life, and now she wasvowing to spend the rest of hers connected to him. She was his constant, his light that always guided him home when he felt lost.
He was suddenly overcome with relief that she’d gone along with his crazy plan. Dragging her to this temple in the middle of the night was a lot to ask, but she’d done it without hesitation. Now she stood before him, looking weary but so lovely that he had to fight the urge to kiss her out in the open. If all went well, they’d be set up in a retreat room post-bonding so they could learn to manage the new impulses and emotions that came with the connection. He’d have plenty of time to express his gratitude then.
“Please continue into the main temple and proceed around the edge of the room to line up next to the other visitors,” the priestess said.
Teddy nodded and led Grace into the large space. As they crossed the threshold, he glanced at the starry sky through the circular opening in the center of the temple ceiling. There was no going back now.
A holy woodsmoke haze clouded the dim space, nearly overpowering the smell of roses and freshwater emanating from the spring that ran through the center of the temple floor. Several other couples huddled around the edges of the room, their wide eyes focused on a group of priestesses seated on cushions at the center of the room. Their eyes were closed, their faces relaxed in meditation.
Teddy ushered Grace to the edge of the room behind the rest of the lovers. He kissed the place on her palm where the mark had been. “I know I sprung this on you and that’s unlike me, but I hope you’ll take it as a sign of my seriousness about you and not just a brash decision with my back against the wall.”
Grace brushed a lock of his hair back from his forehead. “I know your heart, Teddy. I’ve always known it and I have no doubt that you have thought this over—likely for a great deal longer than you should have. You need not agonize for me, too.”
She knew him so well. Though he’d decided yesterday, he’d spent the following twenty-four hours talking himself through every possibility—Grace rejecting him, their parents catching them, his father’sfury. No matter how he turned the problem over, though, the answer was clear. He wanted Grace more than he wanted to make anyone else in his life happy.
For once, he was choosing himself. The kingdom and all its alliances would be better for it. Grace would not only be a good partner to him, but a wise queen.
“Don’t worry so much,” Grace whispered. “If there’s one thing even your father can’t argue with, it’s a magical bond.”
Although the heart bonds created by the priestesses of Desiree were different from the soul bonds that were occasionally granted to witches and their guardians during the war, the people of Olney and Argaria had come to value them just the same thanks to tales of the heroics and romance of Cecilia Reznik and Rainer McKay.
A priestess in pale pink robes waved them forward. “Names, please?”
“Grace Cecilia Farlan.”
Teddy cleared his throat. Most of the other couples in line around the edge of the wall seemed to be out of earshot, but he was still a little worried about what scandal he might cause. “Theodore Davide Savero.”
The priestess gave him a knowing smile and wrote his name in the book.
“What is this for?” Teddy asked.
“We always keep records of who visits. A guest book of sorts. If you’re bonded, you’ll also be entered into the book of bonds so we can accurately trace the history of all duos.”
“How many bonds do you grant in a day?” Grace asked.
“It depends on how many couples in the room have true heart bond potential,” the priestess said, brushing her auburn hair behind her shoulder. “On a good night, we might have ten or fifteen percent of those who show up, but hearts can be fickle. And a heart bond is hardly necessary to have a happy relationship.”
Grace nodded. “And how many of those couples solidify their bond?”
“Such a curious one,” the priestess said with a smile. “It’s a deeplypersonal choice. Perhaps half of them. For some, the connectedness is too overwhelming. It’s not like when guardians and witches were bonded for the Gauntlet. Those bonds were created when the duos were just children. Children adapt so quickly. It’s harder for adults to adjust to the intensity.”
Teddy’s curiosity got the better of him. “How does the heart bond differ from a soul bond? Will I feel everything Grace feels?”
The priestess folded her hands. “Heart bonds are very similar in the way they allow you to locate each other easily in a crowd and feel what the other does, but they don’t usually run as deep as soul bonds and they cannot retrieve a soul that’s lost, as in some of the more famous soul bond stories.”
Teddy nodded stiffly, apprehension twisting in his stomach. Would Grace love him less if she felt his constant nervousness, or the way envy flooded him every time he watched his three siblings do little more than fight, fuck, and flirt while he carried the weight of a kingdom on his back? Would she love him if she could sense the depth of his pettiness? The rare moments when he lacked confidence?
Grace slid her hand into his and squeezed as they followed the line of fifteen other couples hoping for a bond. Finally, they came to a stop and he and Grace turned to face the center of the room. From their place along the wall, Teddy took in the starlight pouring through the open roof that shone down on the meditating priestesses at the center of the room. On the far side of the space, pink and red flowers and white taper candles in candelabras covered a large white marble altar.
Teddy glanced back at the door. There were a few couples behind them, bringing the total number to twenty couples.
A commotion at the door caught his attention. The priestesses in the room who had been in meditation looked up and began to whisper to each other. They rose to their feet and two of them split away from the group to go to the door.
Teddy’s hand went to his dagger. Out of respect, he’d left most of his weapons outside the temple, but it was very foolish of him to betraveling without the protection of guards, and even more insane to be unarmed. There was always a murmur of discontent leading up to the Gauntlet Games, but it seemed at a fever pitch this year. Someone could have seen him slip away. The Sons of Endros could have tracked them.
