“And the consequences were?”
“He gained extra power and was also linked to me. He was already bound to protect me, but this upped the ante. The bond was broken on my death.”
“Interesting,” Poseidon says.
I roll my eyes. “My demise was anything but.”
“But your rebirth was written in the stars long before this moment. You are as you were always meant to be.”
I jerk my head back. “What?”
“You were made by the gods, Natia, in human form but never in human spirit. As long as the elements you were born from exist, your soul will be forever immortal. Your human shell was always meant to be shed for your true form. But events in the past meant you clung to it far longer than you should have done.”
“What events?”
Poseidon shoots a look at Archan, then looks back at me. “It doesn’t matter now,” Poseidon states. “The important thing is you have found each other and that you defeat Zeus.”
I frown and study Archan. He raises his eyebrows and shrugs. Seems the primordial god doesn’t know everything.
“So when is the bonding?” Poseidon asks.
I snap my head towards him. “Bonding?”
Poseidon waves his hand between us. “I can see his claiming mark on you, Natia. Have you gifted him with the same yet? Have you had the universe witness the bond?”
I lean back in my chair and fold my arms. “No mark, no bond.”
“Why not?” Poseidon snaps.
I point a finger at Archan. “He won’t tell me the fine print; which tells me it’s a little more important than a church service and an exchange of gold bands.”
“You can have a ring if you want one,” Archan says with a smirk.
I push my chair back, stand, and lean over the table. “Never mind the rings; I want to know the ins and outs of the bond. I want to know what the hell you are hiding from me, because without one hundred percent honesty I cannot trust you.”
“You want to know what I am?”
I shake my head and huff out a sigh. “I already figured out what you are. There are other more important things you are shielding me from. I want to know what those things are. For better or worse, that’s the saying. I want to know both sides of the coin.”
Poseidon snorts a laugh. “She was always tenacious, Sire. It’s what you find so attractive. If you wanted a woman who walked into your arms blind and uncaring to the consequences, you would have been bonded eons ago.”
“You would be mine, and I would be yours,” Archan says as if that answers every question I have. “You make a decision to be with someone else. They die. If I’m with someone else, they die. The bond won’t tolerate another, it will remove them.”
I plonk my ass down. “Like you’d lose your temper and kill them?” I whisper.
“No, as in the magic that bonds us will protect that union by physically killing anyone who I touch with intention, the same for you. This is the very root of the ‘forsaking all others’ often seen in human vows.”
“What else?”
“If I die, you will also.”
I suck in a breath and study the table. “And if I die?”
“It would weaken me, but I would survive. It’s part of my primordial makeup.”
I look up at him. “And if I’m human, you’d still want us bonded when my mortality looms over us?”
“Once bonded, I can feed you my life force. Mortal or immortal - you can live for eternity.”
