He sighed as he righted himself once more.“I do not see why we must spend every aching hour apart until then,” he grumbled.
I stroked his chin softly.“Because I’m a princess, and there are rules when you are bound to a princess.”
Bane rolled his eyes.“Archaic rules.”
I laughed as I kissed him and he relaxed.I despised breaking away, not wanting to let him go, knowing we both needed to part.
“We can still see each other,” I reminded him.“Just...not alone.Until the ceremony.”
He kissed me feverishly and I giggled.
“Yet you still find ways to seduce me.To feed me,” he said, kissing my cheek.
“You are not the only one who needs to be fed.”
He kissed me chastely on my lips in response.“And they think I’m the lust-hungry monster.”
I couldn’t help my laugh as his voice softened.“Go, my little spark.Before Delaney finds us and tells the entire kingdom about our sinful transgressions.”
I kissed him quickly before slipping away in earnest.
When I turned around, he was gone.Faded away into the shadows like a bat in the night.
“Violet—”
I turned the corner and nearly ran straight into her.
“Oh!There you are!”she mewled.“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
I straightened my dress nonchalantly as she reached for my hair.
“Bad hair day, huh?”she asked as she smoothed it with her fingers.
I fought the urge to smile.“Something like that.”
She gave me a knowing look.“Mhmm.”
“So...”I blushed, trolling forward.“What did you need me for?”
“The Squid Squad have officially arrived,” she breathed calmly.
When the academy officially broke for the summer, there was no question where I would be going, now that I’d discovered my true lineage.I’d had but merely two weeks to go home—to my mother and father who raised me—and explain what had happened.My mother, Queen Amaranth, had come as well, and though it was tearful and joyous as it was heartbreaking, I knew it was best.
But part of me wished I was there still, in my tiny bedroom, hiding from my neighbors and reading books all summer long rather than being sequestered in a giant castle and thrust into the middle of a world I knew nothing of.
I barely understood the basic history of Lir—my exposure to what was my kingdom had only been through what I’d learned in my history classes at Blackthorn, and my visions.
Discovering I was a long-lost fae princess was not on my bingo card when I stepped foot on the grounds of Blackthorn Academy.
And I certainly hadn’t expected to get tangled up with agancanagh—an incubus—who would steal my heart along with my virginity and save me from death itself.
Everything had moved rather fast.After my lineage had been announced and the Kingdom of Lir restored, there was much work to be done.There was truly no hiding the truth about my bond with Bane.My magic marked him in the same way it marked Delaney, Norman, and Wanda.
They were touched by my magic in one way or another.
But it was more than apparent to everyone that Bane and I were entangled in more ways than one, and after the night of the spring dance, when he’d claimed me...
Our bond was irrefutable.
