“He’s in the necklace?” Quin asked.
Roxy plucked the necklace—dry and gleaming and not at all looking like it had been drenched in blood only moments before—from the cup. “He is.”
“It’s over,” Kit breathed.
“That was the oddest fisting scene I’ve ever watched,” DJ said, tone unduly light. “Might give it another go, though. Ten out of ten for ingenuity.”
“Is there a spell to clean your brain of what you’ve just heard?” Kit asked Xavier.
Xavier shrugged. “I can pull any memory from your mind that I’d like.”
“On second thought,” Kit drawled, “I’ll live with the fisting comment.”
Xavier smiled, and Quin thought it might have been the first time he’d seen a genuine smile on the witch’s face. “Ready for the tether?”
Quin looked down at Kit, and Kit looked back at him. “Yes,” they said together.
As the vampire triad settled themselves on the sofa, Xavier had Quin and Kit join hands and stand face to face. It made Quin wonder how the witches managed to force the tether on unwilling vampires. One glance at Xavier’s intense expression had Quin avoiding asking the question, however.
As he met Kit’s gaze, it struck Quin how they’d need to stand like this again someday in front of his family when they made their vows.
“What is it?” Kit asked, inquisitive eyes searching Quin’s face.
Quin let out a breathy laugh. “We’re going to get married someday.”
Kit rubbed a finger over Quin’s bare ring finger. “I’ll need to get you one, too.”
Xavier cleared his throat. “As long as you’re not expecting me to lend you another one of my rings,” he said. “Now, you’re going to feel a little bit strange, but that’s normal. If you feel nauseous, that’s also normal. Inform me if it feels like your brain is melting, though. That means something has gone terribly wrong.”
“How reassuring,” Kit said dryly.
“My brother is fucking with you,” Roxy said. “Hurry up, Xavier. I would like to get to my bed.”
Xavier raised his hands, and his fingers began to play an invisible symphony in the air. He murmured words that sounded as if they were being said from somewhere far underground—indistinct and echoey.
But Quin didn’t focus on them. He focused on Kit. Thought about the life they would have. Imagined what it would look like, endless time spent in the darkness together. Candlelit evenings. Midnight dates. Slow early-morning sex.
Most of all, though, Quin took in Kit’s every reaction as Xavier weaved his magic between them—Kit’s unmoving chest and inhuman stillness, right up until an intangible tie snapped into place and his mouth dropped open with a gasp.
Kit’s eyes lit up, sparkling with wonder. “I canfeelyou,” he said. “It’s like…” he trailed off, turning to glance at Shaun before continuing. “It’s a bit like the creator-created bond.”
A frisson of alarm ran through Quin. “But neither of us can control the other through it, right?” he asked Xavier. The last thing he wanted was to have any unequal power over Kit.
Xavier shook his head. “No. A tether is mutual. The only time that you’ll ever be able to sense the other more than you do now is if they’re in imminent danger or close to death. It acts as a fail-safe.”
“Wanna test it?” DJ asked.
“How?” Kit demanded.
“I could attempt to pull your heart out and see if Quin notices?”
“I know you’re kidding, but don’t even think about it,” Quin warned.
“I’ve had quite enough violence for a lifetime,” Kit said. “But thanks for offering to rip my heart out with such gusto. Good to know that’d be your go-to murder method.”
DJ nodded sagely. “Any time.”
Roxy gave an exaggerated yawn. “I’m two hundred years too old to be up this late.”
