Her voice is stronger already. The bond is healing her, knitting together what medicine and magic couldn't touch.
Then her eyes find me kneeling beside the bed. She looks at me like she's never seen me before in her life.
"Who are you?" she asks.
30
Chapter 29 Landon
My mate.
The Queen of Aelfheim is my true mate.
My knees nearly give when the truth settles in.
I remember the moment I crossed the threshold into her room. She'd been lying there, pale as death on that bed. I'd taken one step closer and the bond struck like lightning. Golden threads exploded between us, visible only to those who can see them. They wrapped around my chest and pulled tight.
I'd felt something at the ball during Calanmai. A tug and recognition. But I'd dismissed it as attraction, nothing more. The beautiful masked courtier in cerulean who made me laugh.
Now it's clear.
She's my mate. The one I was ordered to help destroy. The spy who violated my home wearing an enchanted mask.
Fate has a cruel sense of humor.
I stand outside her room in the healing house. I've just finished administering her medication, checking her vitals, doing all the things a healer should do. She doesn't really need the treatment anymore. Our bond is mending her thread by thread, knitting her broken body back together.
It demands proximity and thrums with need when I'm too far away. But my feet stay planted right where they are in the adjacent room, refusing to carry me back through that door.
I should be close to her. I'm her healer.
What the fuck am I thinking.
It's this stupid thing. The bond hums when I look at her. It snarls with possessive hunger when I think of touching her.
I didn't ask for this.
The husband watches me from across the healing house. I can feel his gaze like a blade against my throat. He stands in the shadows near the stairs, perfectly still. Those dark eyes track my every movement. He looks at me like he wants to rip my throat out.
The only reason my body is not torn apart and scattered across this white floor is because she needs me. This cursed bond that connects us is the only thing keeping her alive. The healers said as much when they saw her color return and her heart begin to beat with proper rhythm again.
I think the vampire felt it too. I know he did. The bond snapped into place the moment I crossed the threshold into her room.
I'm too old to believe in fairy tales about destined mates and cosmic love. But Fate does not lie. When they mark two souls as meant for each other, the universe itself bends to make it true.
She is mine.
The thought should bring joy. For centuries I've wondered if I'd ever find my mate, if the gods would grant me that gift. And now I have it. With her. The enemy.
Perhaps Eirik knows.
The Fae King somehow discovered that the Elven Queen is my mate. That could be the reason he commanded my assassination. But my legion didn't deserve the massacre thatfollowed. My warriors, loyal to the last, cut down by our own people on his witch's orders.
A knock on the door pulls me from my dark thoughts.
I turn to find Garrett Clayborne standing in the doorway. The golden-haired knight looks uncomfortable, like he'd rather be anywhere else than delivering this message.
"The vampire wants you," he says simply with no pretense or pleasantries. "North tower. Now."
