“I can take care of myself,” she mumbled, scowling up at him.
Ryu laughed. It was not kind. “Like you just did? You were moments away from being in that creature’s gullet!”
“Why do you care, anyway?” Ella grumbled, swaying a little as she put a hand to her head. “You hate me, just like I hate you.”
Ryu frowned. Yes, he did hate her. But he was bound to her, which he hated more. If he could just get the bond undone…
“How did you even know I was here?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He’d never tell her that he’d felt her distress, her wonder, and then the sudden clouding of her mind screaming across the bond they shared.
The psychic link between them had practically vibrated with the force of her emotions, there was no way he could’ve ignored it. But he wasn’t going to tell her that.
Ryu made a dismissive movement with his hand, and she frowned at him.
“Were youspyingon me?”
He nearly rolled his eyes but stopped himself just in time from doing something so undignified.
“Answer me!” After a moment, she spoke, her voice hard.
“I do not need to do such a thing,” Ryu snapped. “I knew you would find yourself in trouble sooner or later, so I—”
“You were in the grand hall,” Ella snapped, scowling at him, “with Princess Nitya and Lady Mizuki. Why did you abandon them to look for a human you kidnapped?”
“For the last time, I didn’twantto kidnap you—”
“Well, why did you?”
“Because we are bonded!” Ryu shouted. “Your life is bound to mine!”
“What?”
Ryu sighed. “When I healed you that night, your life became bound to mine. We are bonded by Elven magic.”
Ella fell back, her mouth open in shock. “Is that why my emotions are in such confusion these days?” Her eyes widened. “It was you! I’ve been feeling whateveryou’refeeling!”
Ryu frowned. It was true that bonded elves had some sense of their mate’s feelings, but if Ella was picking up his emotions as well, their bond had well and truly twisted into a compulsive need for each other, just as he’d feared.
Even now, the bond was pulling at him, forcing him to step closer to Ella and fill his lungs with her scent, drawing him closer to her like a siren song.
“Step back,” she said, her eyes flashing fire.
He ignored her. His blood was buzzing in his ears from the near miss she’d just had, and she’d just said that she felt him through the bond. He was just checking to see if the bond was influencing her, too. If she was as affected as he was.
She let out a strangled breath as he stepped closer, swaying into him as if she couldn’t stay away. “You are a wretched Elven beast, and Ihateyou! You promised you would break this bond and let me go, but you lied!”
“Well, that’s alright then,” he said softly, his hands coming up to hover over her arms. “I hate you, too.”
When he touched her bare skin, it was as if he was holding lightning in his palm. He didn’t have the Darkwalker ability to call upon lightning, but he could imagine it would feel this way—his skin tightening, heart pounding, mouth drying up, even as an endless thrill hummed through him.
“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you,” Ella cried, even as she fell into his arms. “I—” She broke off, stifling a moan as their bodies connected, chest to hip.
Ryu could feel himself reacting to her proximity, the bond feeding on itself in an endless cycle ofwant—need—crave.
“You smell like—”
“Like?”
