It crackles around me and through me. It glows like electric eels in the water, lighting me up. And still the rain whispers to me…Kill, curse, husband, kill, curse…
“Enough!”
With as much strength as I can muster, I push my arms upward, willing the lightning to follow my movement like it did before. The glowing strings of electricity speed upward, leaping from the water like spears. The lightning doesn’t stop there. Airborne once more, it strikes upward, lashing into the heart of the storm above me. Striking itself with my will.
An enormous crack slams my hearing so loudly that I scream.
Instantly, the rain stops. The water drains away into the floor. The thunderclouds disperse. All that remains is a wisp of white fog.
The storm is gone.
I stopped the storm, but not in the way I usually do. Normally, I wait patiently for it to do its thing. Today, I fought back. Somehow, I turned it on itself.
I drop to the floor, exhausted and drenched, hands loose at my sides, hair streaming down my back. There was a time I thought it would be fun to conquer the Vault wearing boots and leather like some kind of warrior princess. It turned out that was a good way to ruin expensive leather and chafe myself in all sorts of uncomfortable ways. The Princess before me wore a flowing white dress and floated on the water, meditating, even through the lightning strikes.
These days I opt for a black, full-body swimsuit made of thick material. Unfortunately, all attempts to waterproof it turned out to be useless. But it saves my dignity when I emerge from the Vault looking like a wet cat.
I drag myself to the first door, my whole body filled with worry, barely glancing up to see Elise pressed against the glass. Her hand moves, but I’m too tired to interpret what she’s trying to signal. She steps back as I push the door open. It’s spelled to open only for me so nobody else can get through it.
There’s enough light for me to see the worry written across her face. “Princess, you need to—”
My panic resurfaces and I babble over the top of her. “It’s gone wild, Elise. I can’t predict what’s going to happen in there anymore. I don’t know how much longer I can contain it on my own.” As much as I hate to admit it, I need to bond. Although, if I believe the whispering rain’s prediction that my husband will kill me, getting married is the worst thing I could do.
I shake my head and then freeze, realizing what Elise was trying to warn me about.
We aren’t alone.
Two male elves wait in the shadows near the far door, one taller than the other.
Before Elise can speak again, the taller male steps into the light, but his head is down so I can’t see his face. In a single fluid movement, he drops to one knee, both palms raised toward me.
I stare in shock at the red stone he holds out to me in his open hands.
Every Elven House has a heartstone. All of them are priceless, irreplaceable, but this one is… legendary.
The size of my fist, the rock casts ruby light around us from a thousand carefully cut facets. There’s no mistaking it. It was the first heartstone ever created—the first true heart.
This stone belongs to the House of Rath.
My heart jumps. The male’s head is still down. All I can see is his hair: light brown, with a telltale kick on one side. I almost reach out to run my hands through it. It’s been so long…
I haven’t seen Baelen Rath since we were teenagers. Or, more correctly, since the day I almost killed him.
His name passes my lips before I can stop myself. “Bae.”
If he heard me, he hides it. His arms don’t waver.
The heartstone glints at me.
The male beside him steps into the light, unsmiling, staring at me. “Princess, the stone is offered to you.”
I blink. “What?”
The male’s forbidding expression turns to confusion. He spins to Elise. “Is she not aware of the protocols?”
Elise is ashen, her face paler than I’ve ever seen it. She doesn’t touch me—that would be dangerous right now—but her hand lifts in my direction. “Princess?”
The protocols…
