“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime gift from the Cauldron, who will view its ejection as a dismissal of its generosity.”
“Mimi can surely fashion you a new one. Or perhapsIcould learn how to make one. I may be as gifted as a chicken with a paintbrush, but with some guidance?—”
“I didn’t know chickens were talented at art.”
I halt my rambling. “They’re obviously not.”
“Then why are you insulting my extraordinary fiancée?” he asks, scraping his nails along my spine.
“Because I’m shit at spellcasting, Konstantin. Like I’m shit at?—”
“Stop.” He presses on the small of my back to tilt me forward and capture my mouth in a brief kiss. “Stop.”
“Perhaps Mimi could amend its magic so that it doesn’t snuff out mating bonds?”
“I’ve asked her. I’m still waiting on her reply.” He caresses my back with little sweeps of his thumbs that grow harder and deeper.
I groan, then outright moan when he works the knots from my shoulder blades. The wordsI love yourush over my tongue, but I bite them back.
It’s his wondrous fingers that you love,I tell myself.What you feel for him is a lot of affection and attraction.
“It’s possible it doesn’t hinder bonds,” he murmurs, taking care of my deceased shoulder muscles. “It’s possible I’m not—” He swallows. “That I’m not the one for you.”
I lean back—well, as far back as his hold will allow—then imprison the harsh angles of his face between my palms. “You feel too much like the onenotto bethe one.”
He wraps me in his arms and pulls our bodies flush, nesting his mouth against mine.
“Is the underwear staying on until you receive Mimi’s reply?”
“No. Only until I feel certain that I could lose you without losing myself.”
Against his mouth, I murmur, “Perhaps you never lose me. Perhaps this is why your ring is on my finger in the first place. Not because of a sham engagement to piss off your niece and the antimorphs, but because I’m the woman you spend your whole life with.”
“Tell me how you’ll react if Meriam says the necklace doesn’t block bonds.”
“Mating bonds aren’t instantaneous.”
“But it’ll put doubt in your mind.”
“How willyoureact?”
“With more levelheadedness than if she tells me it does.”
Realizing what he means by that, I rush to say, “Konstantin Korol, I call forth my bargain.”
His eyes widen as he realizes what I’m about to do. And then he slaps his palm over my mouth. “Don’t. Isla, no. Don’t.”
But I do, because I can’t let him lose his shield to uncover whether we’re true mates. “You can never remove your talisman without my authorization, Konstantin Korol.” Though my words are muffled by his palm, I feel the band on my bicep fritter away and see a luminous dot scorch the skin over his heart.
Konstantin growls, “That was my decision to make, not yours!”
He stands abruptly, yet somehow still manages to slide me off him gently. A vein webs the skin at his temple and makes his eyes flash so bright I half expect him to blow me out of his bath, out of his suite, out of his life.
But he doesn’t blow me away. He’s the one who leaves, slapping a towel over his hips before pounding into his corridor.
Have I just ended us before we ever really began?
I’m startingto believe that I have when I don’t cross paths with Konstantin for three whole days after my return.
