“Sorry. I was trying to find out if Enzo had experienced this when he slept with”—I grimace—“my grandmother.”
“Wouldn’t he have told you if he’d been able to communicate with Priya?”
My fingers find their way to the scar on my neck. “I suppose he would have.”
Cathal gently shackles my wrist and drags it away before I can scrub the skin raw, and then he’s folding his fingers over mine. “The way I see it, this is good news.” At my frown, he adds, “Mating bonds only clicking into place through sexual relations. If you don’t lay with another man, then I don’t lose you.”
His logic should appease me, yet I don’t feel at piece. No, I feel nervous—anguished, even, because I now know that if our bodies don’t mesh like Agrippina’s and Reid’s, then Cathal Báeinach is well and truly not my mate.
He squeezes our palms together. “Please say something.”
I try, but my throat has become so narrow that I can’t. Instead I press my body against his, press my cheek against his armor, and sink my hand into Cruaih’s long fur.
He sighs and kisses the top of my head. “No amount of magic will make me love you more than I already do, mo mila Sífair.”
An easy declaration to utter now, before knowing.
“I hope you feel the same. If you don’t—” He inhales a hoarse breath. “If you think the lack of aknotwill make you love me less, then?—”
Before he can suggest we part ways—again—I grip the back of his head and drag his mouth down to mine.
Chapter 54
Zendaya
The explosion that happens when our lips connect silences my worries. I suddenly don’t care whether our bodiesknot, because the connection we share is tremendous already. Not only did it survive my transformation, but its intensity has managed to augment in spite of the mind links I forged with others.
He breaks away. “Wait.” He suddenly stalks toward the door, but twists back, “Don’t move.”
All right…
He yanks open the door and calls out Asha’s name. Though she slides into my line of sight and I see their mouths move, I cannot grasp their exchange for my pulse thunders in my ears. I fathom it has to do with Cruaih since the little feline ends up nestled against Asha’s chest.
Cathal stands there a moment, as though to make sure Asha will treat his companion well. When my guard begins to coo at the tiny thing, which earns her chin a swipe of Cruaih’s tongue, the line of Cathal’s shoulders slackens and he pivots back toward me, eyes dark with lust. Right before he kicks the door shut, Icatch Asha waggling her brows at me. Of course she knows why she was given custody of the Crow’s pride and joy.
Cathal stalks back my way, his fingers moving over the straps that keep his breastplate in place. He plucks it off his head, then tosses it aside, and it clatters against the stone. And then he’s working off the vambraces. A smile touches my mouth when he struggles with the left one.
“Something funny?”
“Your haste.” I step toward him and replace his juddering hands with my steady ones. “I’m not going anywhere. And I’m not going to change my mind,” I add, as I slip the leather off his arm.
My promise doesn’t turn his movements any less erratic. If anything, it seems to deepen his fervor. He all but rips his shirt and boots off. “You’re a queen now, Daya. Even though I asked Asha to keep everyone out, I cannot keep you locked away from the world forever.”
My smile topples at the reminder of the responsibility I accepted, and so does my gaze. I stare at the crown glimmering on the velvet, almost wishing?—
Cathal brackets my cheeks with his palms, wrenching my gaze off the diamond-tusked serpents. “Don’t. Don’t wish it away.”
“How did you know that’s what I was doing?”
“I’ve seen Lore glare at his crown once or twice over the centuries.” He threads his fingers into my hair. “You might not be as free as you’d like, but youcanhave it all.”
“Even another child of yours?” I ask, stroking up the hard ridges of his clenching abdomen.
“Yes,” he says, his heart clocking the pads of my fingers as they venture higher.
Though his chest isn’t smooth, the hair’s scarcer than on his jaw. “You’re no longer worried about it being born a monster?”
“No child of yours could ever be a monster.”
