“She’s his sky bond,” he said baldly. “Their lives are intertwined. They cannot live without one another.”
I took a calming breath. I hated not knowing what my queen was facing. “What does that mean?”
Altair turned to Roya. “Tell me,larkial, are you feeling tired right now?”
She scowled at him. “Well, Altair, it’s been a trying fucking day. So, yes.”
“That’s because you’re tied to Icarus. Now that you two have met, you can feel what he feels. When he is injured, you may even bleed.”
I did not like the sound of that. If Icarus made Roya more vulnerable, that bond had to go.
“That makes no sense.” She bristled visibly. “I am not mated to him!”
“You don’t have to be; it’s not your choice. Wait, I didn’t mean—” Altair sputtered.
But she was already gone, striding down the beach.
I loved that woman, but her penchant for storming off when she was angry was going to get her turned over my knee someday. And I wasn’t sure whether I wanted her to keep losing her temper or not. The image of her bent over my knee, her bottom going pink under my hand… Kavin’s amused cough brought my thoughts back to the present.
The crew and Icarus should be out cold for at least another hour. We had time for her to cool off and still get out to the ship. Icarus had believed we had a week, but we would go today, leaving him and his men to find their own way off the island. With Kavin as our improvised captain, we could make it work. “Tell me, Kavin. What is a sky bond, exactly?”
“It’s a bond like an Alpha and Omega have, but more. It seems to incorporate a magic much like Roya’s,” he said, following us into the hut. “Where Omegas have the ability to heal and share strength, wyverns can—”
I held up a hand, cutting him off. The room was empty. “Icarus is gone.” There was a hole in the back of the hut, clear through the bamboo and palm wall, made with large knives. Or claws.
In the distance, I heard a scream that cut off abruptly, and knew I had failed once more. Failed my queen again, and possibly for the last time.
ROYA
Thorn had told me a thousand times that my temper would be my downfall. I knew better than to storm off when he had only just had me poison the whole group of men with us, not knowing who could be trusted. But Altair’s slip of the tongue—that it wasn’t my choice to be bonded or mated or whatever to Icarus—had driven me to the very edge.
The beach stayed sandy for a half mile, then to jagged rocks that thrust out into the water for half as long before becoming sandy again around the outcropping. I wanted,needed,to be alone to deal with the emotions that roiled in my gut. I hadn’t let Thorn see me cry in years, and I wasn’t going to let today break my record.
Kavin’s profession of well, love, it sounded like, had stunned me. And Thorn’s kiss… I lifted a hand to my lips, wondering if his touch had changed them on the outside the way it had reshaped my heart. It was as if he had kissed my soul, and left a print there that would never be removed.
I ran through the jungled area, hopping over fallen tree trunks and avoiding the briars without thinking, before stepping back out onto the sand, the brilliance of the bright sunlight blinding me for a moment.
“Omegas choose,” I muttered, blinking away the glare. “Well, I choose not to stay with those assholes.”
At first, it felt like bands of steel wrapping around me, crushing my chest and arms. Then a voice purred in my ear, “I can help you with that, Omega.” And then a rush of wind buffeted me.
I let out a short scream as the earth dropped away, and all that lay beneath me was water and air. I struggled, hoping whoever this was, whatever he was, would drop me and I could swim back to shore. But his grip grew even tighter, my ribs creaking the more I strained against his hold.
I let out another ear-splitting scream and heard a sigh, then felt an enormous hand wrap around my throat, choking me. Right before I passed out, the deep voice grumbled, “There’s my traitorous brother now. He’d better have a damn good explanation for why he made me wait so long for you, my bride.”
* * *
I woketo the sound of heated conversation, my stomach pitching like I was at sea.
I cursed internally. Of course it was. Iwasat sea.
My cheek rested on wooden planks that smelled of salt and fish, and the sounds of sails flapping, men working rigging, and the wind let me know we had set sail while I was unconscious. I kept my face still and eyes closed, listening over the sound of the rushing waves for the voices.
“You were to bring her to me at once.”
A voice I knew well answered, “Iwasbringing her to you, brother.”
“Don’t call me that. I am your king.” Icarus cursed. A sound like a hand striking flesh followed. “Enough, Branton,” the man—the king—commanded. “Icarus, if you had not left your ship where anyone coming from our island could see it, I would have thought you were hiding from me. Trying to steal a second bride.”
