"Always has been," Bael sighs, "but I get why he did it this time. Even if he can't use his oh-so-special prodigy magic anymore…you're worth it, Maven. You're worth everything."
He leans over to brush a warm kiss against my forehead, his face softening when he sees the moisture trying to escape my eyes. "I'm gonna go shower all this shit off of me, so you can keep staring at your pointy-eared, sweaty nerd for a bit. But when I get back…"
"We need to decide where to go next. I still have to hunt down the Immortal Quintet."
He snorts. "You just killed Somnus fucking DeLune. I know we'll have to leave Everbound, but you deserve a small break. Wherever we go, we can lay low and take time to recuperate. But before we go...I'll need you."
I give him a sardonic look. "Such a one-track mind."
"It's not sexual. Not unless you want it to be," Bael adds with a weak smirk. But it fades quickly, and he shakes his head. "I just need to hold you for a while. Even if my curse is appeased from everything that happened today, my dragon's still on edge, and so am I. My mate just survived getting eaten by a monster and then burned to a crisp. You probably just shaved twenty years off my life through trauma alone, you know that? I have to covet you now and make sure you're taken care of. It's a dragon thing."
He places a sweet kiss on my forehead again and leaves the room.
My gaze falls back to Silas, and my fists clench when I see Silas's brow furrowed slightly in pain. He really shouldn't have done this. Sacrificing his powers just to heal me. This damn cutthroat blood fae does whatever he thinks it takes to get what he wants, but I'm going to give him hell for ruining himself for me when he wakes up.
"Youwillwake up," I warn him, moisture crowding my eyes as I reach out and run my fingers over one of his soft curls.
After all…most casters don't survive the transition into necromancy. Even really powerful casters don't always have the best odds.
When my emotions become too much to handle, I finally stand and exhale harshly. I should get all this blood and gore off of me, too. Sitting here getting misty-eyed isn't helping Silas. I need to come up with our next plan of action and get my quintet to safety before?—
Stay with me, sangfluir.
I freeze, staring down at the gorgeous blood fae. He hasn't moved.
But I heard him in my head clear as day.
Which should be impossible for unbound quintet members. That level of connection only happens with powerful quintets—ones that have already received the blessing of the gods, broken their curses, and had their hearts bound together.
And I don't even have a fuckingheartright now, let alone the blessing of a god, so this can't be happening. It's just in my head.
Silas?I think, concentrating as I try to push the thought to him.I'm here.
His brow smooths out slightly as he slips back into a deeper rest. The room is quiet as I try to decide whether I imagined that. One of my bare hands absentmindedly slips to my chest, rubbing the stinging sensation lingering there.
Then I blink.
Silas healed me with necromancy. I was burned to a crisp, and every other injury vanished without even a scar. So why is my chest still stinging?
Glancing down, I gasp at the straight, thin, rune-like line emblazoned directly over my scar—the quintet emblem for the House of Arcana.
Somehow, without a heart and without the blessing of the gods…
I've been bound to Silas Crane.
