He shouldn’t have liked it.
She ran her hands down her goosebump-riddled arms and pressed her palm to her heart. “What was that?” She touched her other hand to her swollen lips and looked up at him with wide doe eyes. “What did you do?”
Teddy opened his mouth to speak.
“You sealed the bond.”
They both jumped and spun to see Desiree standing in the temple doorway. She took stock of the candles and puddled wax spilled across the white marble floor.
“I knew you could do it,” the goddess said with a smug smile.
Teddy shook his head. “No, no, no. Take it back. I didn’t agree to this. I—” He tugged at his shirt, his chest suddenly so tight he couldn’t breathe.
“I don’t want to be connected to himforever,” Stella said. “I never wanted to be connected to him at all. We didn’t agree to this.”
“You did when you came here a second time—when you signed the book to enter?—”
Stella stared into Teddy’s eyes, and he saw his own shock and horror reflected there.
Mercifully, the goddess seemed to realize that they were already poised to explode and took a step back. “Well, I was going to offer my congratulations.”
“You were going to offer smug satisfaction and nothing else. You’ve done enough,” Stella said sharply.
The goddess arched a brow. “Don’t forget whose temple you’re standing in, Stella. I’m a gracious host, but I abhor rudeness in my house.”
Stella clasped her hands in a white-knuckle grip. “Thank you for your hospitality, goddess. But we’d like to be alone, if you don’t mind.”
The goddess smirked. “I bet you would. You may return to your rooms when you’re finished being in denial.”
Desiree offered one last smug grin and left them alone in the half-dark temple.
Stella’s chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. “Why did you do that?”
“Why didyou?” Teddy countered.
The air between them was still charged, like the atmosphere before a storm. Teddy wasn’t sure whether to stay or run. He had kissed her, but she’d pounced on him just as eagerly.
He took a step toward her and all the candles in the temple flared.
She held up a hand. “Just give me a second. This bond is messing with my magic.”
Teddy arched a brow. “The bond? I thought fire was your strongest magic.”
“It is, but my magic follows my emotions.”
Teddy looked at the flaring candles on the altar. “And you’re feeling?—”
She cocked her head and glared at him.
Anger. Good. That was safer. Whatever line they’d just accidentally stumbled over was dangerous and volatile. They needed to stay in safer territory.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” he said.
“It doesn’t,” she agreed, but a swift shock of hurt slid through their bond.
Did she want it to mean something? Teddy studied her, but her face betrayed nothing.
“I never thought you’d do that,” Stella said.
