Desiree was leading Arden away from Stella as the prince looked over his shoulder helplessly.
Teddy shouldn’t have found it satisfying, but there was something calming about being right about Arden and Stella. It was a relief to trust that he could read people well.
The same priestess who had welcomed them all into the temple stepped up beside the goddess and looked over the crowd. A soft smile appeared on her face when her gaze locked on someone.
“Do you see what I see?” she asked the goddess.
Desiree nodded. She grabbed Arden’s wrist and dragged him forward. Time slowed as they came to a stop. It wasn’t until the goddess placed her hand over the woman’s heart that Teddy realized she was touching Grace.HisGrace.
“No.” The word was a death gasp on Teddy’s lips.
It took a moment for the shock to wear off and the reality of the situation to register.
Teddy stared at them. He kept waiting for Grace to argue, to turn and look to him for help, but her gaze was locked with Arden’s. A silvery-pink aura glowed around them.
“Yes, these two are a perfect match,” Desiree said.
“I agree,” the priestess said. “You can see it all around them.”
“And their heartbeats sync,” said Desiree. “I just knew it was going to be an exciting night. I gathered all of my essence to stay present as long as possible.”
Teddy knew that ascended gods could only stay corporeal in the mortal realm for limited periods of time. They drew strength from their worshippers, and they could wield a hint of the power they’donce possessed as gods. That was how Desiree created heart bonds. But he had not considered that the goddess might use that limited corporeal time to connect Grace to someone else.
It was a gross miscalculation. A wild bit of hubris that had led him to the conclusion he should have considered. Heart bonds were so rare that he’d assumed they would either be matched to each other or not matched at all. Teddy had never imagined she’d be bonded to someone else, let alone someone they’d both known their whole lives.
It was all wrong. Teddy could hear his father’s voice in his head chiding him for making assumptions, but this had seemed a safe one.
Teddy wanted to yank Grace away from Arden. He had nothing against his Olney counterpart, but he wasn’t ready to surrender his queen to the man.
Arden looked entranced by Grace. The two of them had spent plenty of time together at court parties over the years, but now they stared as if seeing each other for the first time, as if drawn together by some invisible magnetism.
Desiree placed a hand over each of their hearts and Teddy watched in mute horror as the goddess of love bound Grace’s heart to Prince Arden Teripin’s.
6
STELLA
Of all the impulsive choices Stella had made in her life, she hadn’t regretted any as much as coming to this godsforsaken temple.
It’s just temporary, she told herself. But the way Arden was looking at Grace like all of the light in the room glowed just because of her did not feel temporary.
Stella swallowed hard, trying to compose herself. She could see in her mind the web of decisions that had led to this moment—could retrace them back to Arden comforting her with the promise that they would be linked. Perhaps it was her own lack of faith to blame, because she hadn’t been propelled by love in that moment. She’d been bolstered by defiance. As if she already knew it wasn’t going to happen and was ready to dare the gods to try to stop her from getting what she wanted.
But this development had not changed anything. Her will was stronger than some game the gods were playing. She could weather two weeks with Arden engaged to one woman and heart-bonded to another. It didn’t matter what bindings tied him to someone else. Arden was meant for her, and this was just a bump in the road. Some day they would recall this story and laugh.
Grace was a good person, at least. Not a complete stranger. Not to mention that she’d come here with Teddy, so she had good reasonnotto want to stay attached to Arden.
Still, dread crept over Stella as the reality set in. Perhaps Grace would like being attached to someone so warm after spending all her time with uptight Teddy Savero.
The priestess who had bonded Arden to Grace ushered them toward the hallway through which they had entered.
Arden looked frantically over his shoulder at Stella. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.
It had been his idea to come to the temple, but it wasn’t his fault that Desiree was messing with Stella.
The gods loved to meddle in human lives. Cecilia had warned her over and over—her mother had once been their pawn too.The gods are all ancient and bored, Stella. Do not gain their interest or you’ll become their new toy.
It was easy for her mother to say now. Cecilia had lived an interesting life. She’d adventured and traveled. She’d met the love of her life.
