“Little weaver, I think we’re past the point of being in love enough that we both know you aren’t forcing me into anything. The spell will just make the bond snap between us; the heavens want us together. But they can't make the bond appear."
It felt wrong to do it. Everything in me screamed that it was wrong, and yet a part of me wanted to believe him—to believe the heavens hadn’t made us this broken.
“Elowyn,” he grabbed my hands, grounding me again. “The spell you cast to get a husband…”
“Yes?”
“I have a confession.” He looked at me, and something almost boyish flickered in his eyes. “I saw your binding circle.”
I stilled, my stomach twisting.
“What?” I asked quietly.
He smiled sheepishly, almost nervously.
“I saw it, and I stepped into it willingly.”
“But you told me to break the spell.”
“I panicked a little because I gave into you. I had been fighting the pull to you for years, but the more I thought about it, the more all I could think of was you and me. It felt right. I could’ve broken the spell if I wanted, but I didn’t.”
“Abram…”
“There’s more.” He let go of my hands and began pacing around the room, his movements restless, unhinged withemotion. “You told me that men didn’t pursue you, but that’s not true. I scared them away, threatened to break their hands if they came near you. When I was in hiding and Della suppressed my memories, I used my magic to protect the memory of you.
“You were the only thing I remembered, and I’d sneak out and visit you. I know your favorite flower is a lily, and that is why I carve them. You mentioned it the first time I ever laid eyes on you, and I didn’t forget. In fact, I pretty much remember everything you said to me.
“I’ve prayed to the heavens, tried to bargain with them to make you mine, and they finally listened to me. And I truly believe it’s because they saw how in love with you I am.”
He pointed to his chest with tears in his eyes, his voice trembling but resolute.
“It is consuming. It has always been you. I was going to find a way. We did. We found a way, and I am not going to let a mating bond take you from me. We need that bond. Without it, you will age, and one day you will die. Then I will die, and I will take the realm with me in my grief. You don’t get to leave me, ever. You die, I die.”
The words hung in the air like a vow and a curse all at once. My breath hitched. I couldn’t tell if it was love or madness—or if it mattered anymore.
“You’re not stealing me from anyone, Elowyn. You could never steal what has always been yours. I’m surrendering myself to you, to have, to keep. My soul, my body, my heart knows only you, and they will only ever know you. You’re not taking what belongs to another. I was yours before I ever drew breath. When the realm was made, the heavens carved your image into my mind, your voice into my ears, and split my soul in two, giving half to you.”
I stared at him trying to wrap my head around the fact that he wanted me out of everyone. He had chosen me long ago. He stared at me with nothing but love and longing in his eyes.
“Touch the threads of my soul, and you will see how in love I am with you. You’ll see our future, but you’llfeelmy love for you, like I felt the weight of your love for me when I saw your fate. You will see I am not lying, and I will never change my mind.”
I could feel his emotions. The consuming ache that he felt about me. But I wanted to see his fate too.
My eyes squeezed tighter as the images began flashing before me.
I stepped toward him, breath trembling in my throat, and lifted my hand. My magic pulsed outward, responding to his invitation. From his chest, a thread of luminous green seeped into the air, alive and humming. It shimmered as it reached for me—like it recognized me, like it had been waiting. I caught it between my fingers, and its warmth spread up my arm and through my ribs until it felt like my heart was glowing.
I closed my eyes as it wound tighter around my hand. The hum deepened, the world dropped away, and then I felt it—him.
The ache. The devotion. The unbearable tenderness of every lifetime he had spent waiting to find me.
And then the visions came.
Flashes of another time, another place. The two of us standing in a garden of white lilies under a sunset. His laughter, soft and unguarded, echoing through eternity.
I saw a home wrapped in ivy, children with dark hair and green eyes running barefoot through the halls. Him pulling me to him to kiss me any chance he got.
Every image pulsed with his emotion—the fierce protectiveness, the reverence, the love that had burned for centuries without faltering. It consumed me, wrapped around my ribs until I couldn’t breathe for the sheer force of it.
