Once in the bathroom, he examined the scar, loving the scripted A in the center of the moon. It was true, when he thought of the Plenilune, he pictured Rory writhing on the ground, moaning his name, but it was more than that.
Everything changed that night for him. She might have still been plotting his death, but when Caius stepped into the garden, he knew nothing would be the same.
Last night when she mentioned carving her name into his skin, he could think of nothing better than his ruinous little mate filleting the area over his heart.
The strange object the soulscape provided for him was perfect. He’d been deciding if he’d rather have a moon or stick with something simple like an A, and when he willed a knife into his hand, the pre-designed cutter appeared instead.
A quick scan was all he needed to know how it worked. It was perfect.
The raised scar was white against his tan skin, and he couldn’t stop touching it. Rory’s neck was proof that what physically happened in the soulscape bled into reality, but he didn’t think he’d scar. If anything, he should have woken up with a fresh wound that healed immediately.
Unless…
Old texts only told of theAeternumbond and how it connects two mates, but there was nothing about the actual magic surrounding it. When Caius thought of the design and knife, it was with the hope whatever he did would stay with him forever. What if the blade was infused with something to make it happen?
They needed to test the boundaries of their soulscape to see how powerful the magic was. What if it could transport one of them to the other?
The morning flew by as he went through the movements, lost in thought. An idea bounced around in his head, but he needed more research before testing the theory.
After grabbing lunch, he pushed through the door of Vincula’s library and raised a hand in greeting when Kit looked up from a book. “Hello, Your Grace.”
“When no one else is around, please, call me Caius.”
A mop of curly black hair popped out from behind a bookshelf. “What about me?” Cat asked him. Bellina and Lenora appeared moments later, and Caius forced his laugh down.
“It applies to all of you but no one else.” Lenora bustled around Cat and Bellina and hugged him. Guilt made the moisture in his mouth turn to ash. “I’m sorry I wasn’t the one to tell you about her memories.”
She squeezed him once and released him. It’d been two days since Rory’s memories returned, and when he saw Lenora in the kitchens, he was too caught up in his own problems to tell her.
Lauren told her that afternoon, but he felt awful for not tellingher immediately. It was unlike him to be selfish in matters such as these.
“You need to worry about yourself and my daughter,” Lenora told him, making him feel worse.
Bellina popped a hip and crossed her arms. “You didn’t tell us either.”
Caius looked to Kit for help, but she went back to reading. He saw her try not to smile.Traitor.
“I apologize,” he said sincerely.
Bellina opened her mouth to respond, but Kit stopped her. “Leave him alone,” she said from her desk without looking up.
The seamstress rolled her eyes and stepped forward. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”
It was good to see a bit of her old self peeking through after the attack. “I’m here to look for a book.”
This caught Kit’s attention. “You have an entire library of your favorite books.”
He followed Lenora, Cat, and Bellina to a table covered with books and notepads.
Cat sat down and pointed at the chair next to her. “You can sit here.” She jerked her thumb in Kit’s direction. “She has the catalog.”
Everyone else sat in their places and went back to reading. They devoted every day to researching ways to help his mate. Cat’s furious scribbling caught his attention.
“Did you find something new?” he asked.
While still writing, she tapped the book with her other hand. “It’s another story about Aemas and Lora.”
Aemas and Lora?
