She hesitated, reaching out to pick up a round, purple fruit that tasted like a melon but with large, passionfruit-like seeds. “Bonding allows our energies to intertwine, and over time, there’s no telling what might result from that. It was a risk worth taking for me because there’s another bonus of this bond. When I die, you will inherit my power, and since I have no line left to pass it on, it’s imperative the power goes to one who is worthy. One I want to have my family’s protection.”
Tears sprang to my eyes, even though there was no reason to think Angel wouldn’t be around for another few thousand years.
“I don’t want your power,” I whispered, my voice choked. “I just want you to always be alive.”
She smiled. “I have no plans of going anywhere, but I like to be prepared. We always bond within our family, from birth actually, so no power is ever lost in our passing. I now have a millennia of family members’ power, and it cannot die with me.”
The odds of my immortal bestie dying before me was slim to none, but the fact that she considered me worthy of this honor, absolutely destroyed me.
“I love you,” I said, throwing my arms around her. “But if you do ever die, I’m going to be pissed as fuck. I’ll figure out a way to find your afterlife and kick your ass.”
She laughed, returning my hug with the skill of someone who’d been hugging her entire life, when I knew for a fact, she was brand new to the experience.
“I love you too, Mera. You’re the friend I never even knew I was missing in my life. You’re my ride or die, and I will bury every body for you.”
She was mixing Earth sayings like a pro there, and as a laugh of pure joy escaped me, I wondered why I even gave a fuck about Shadow.
This shit right here was what life was all about, and I was one lucky bitch to have it.
34
“Should we head to the wall now?” Ixana was all business, her white robe trailing down her body as she stood before us. Her hair was out of the braid, styled up today, with a different silver crown.
She looked very put-together and I would have guessed she’d made a true effort to dress up for her mate. Couldn’t blame a chick for that. Shadow was a catch, that was for sure, but no one would “catch” him with fancy clothes or hair. That wasn’t how he rolled.
Not to mention, girlfriend had the most advantage of all, being his true mate. Fucking fate wanted to push those two together, and they would feel a bond and craving for the other, based just on a quirk in nature.
It was kind of a no-brainer, and yet, there was a distance between the pair that she hadn’t managed to lessen. At least not yet.
No one answered her, but we all moved closer, which was an answer in itself. Angel and Midnight remained right at my side, and while Inky was with Shadow, the pair didn’t walk with Ixana. She was out front with her two main guards.
Once we left the room, it was again into the mindfuck of a house. “It’s ingenious,” Angel said, her eyes alight as she catalogued every twist and turn.
“Ingenious or insane,” I muttered. “Jury is still out.”
She just shook her head at me but couldn’t answer becausethe queenwas talking. “Once we reach the highest point in my castle,” she called back, having just stepped onto a rather steep and winding marble staircase, “we will have to fly across to the wall. My guards can arrange transport for those…” She paused. “Lacking the skillsto get themselves there.”
In this group, that was probably only me. But if she thought I was allowing Birdy to fly me anywhere, she was out of her mind. I’d argue at the top, though, because I was currently busy trying to walk up the longest, trippiest—literally—set of stairs in the worlds. There was no handrail, and they were shiny with zero traction, and a very narrow lip on the upward curve. It was the sort of stairwell that could have been the end of me if Midnight and Angel weren’t there to keep me on my feet. For a shifter who was not usually clumsy, it was an odd experience to be unable to gracefully ascend.
“Step closer to this side,” Ixana said, appearing in front of me so fast, I was fairly sure she’d instantly transported. She leaned over to point to the side closer to the spiral, which looked way too small for my feet to fit. I mean, surely she knew that, since she was near a foot taller than me and had bigger feet. “It’s another illusion to make the journey harder,” she explained as I narrowed my eyes on her.
She then let out a nervous chuckle, turning and hurrying away. Staring after her, I really wanted to disregard her advice and move to the farthest spot from where she’d told me to step, but I also knew the value of not cutting my nose off to spite my face.
With that in mind, I decided to swallow my anger and pride, pretend I was the bigger person, and try what she suggested.
Almost immediately, it was easier. She’d been right about the illusion, which hid small grooves, allowing me to find the traction previously missing.
Damn her.
I had no idea what her game was, but she was playing well.
“Almost there,” she called back a moment later. “You’re doing great.”
She might as well have given me a pat on the back and a “Nice work, honey.”I could hear the condescension in her tone, but since I was being a bigger person, I didn’t reply with equal sarcasm. My wolf let out a howl of annoyance in my chest, and I had to remind her we were above such things.
All class, baby. We were all class.
By the time we reached the top, I was almost convinced this was a devious plot to kill us through hours of stairclimbing, but apparently, it was just how high the damn snowflake was.
