I swallow thickly, remembering Kenneth’s limp body, the blood gushing across the bridge. “It’s already done. I—I had to stab him to stop him. Fatally.”
Salvatore blinks at me and then lets out a low whistle. His familiar grin stretches across his face. “That’s my girl.”
Another shiver courses through my body. Salvatore’s expression hardens. He pulls me close into the shelter of his brawn.
The heat of his body emanates into me, easing the worst of the chill. We’re both still drenched, though. The magical warmth I conjured for him is fading, and I don’t have the energy to gather more.
I press close against Salvatore’s chest for what feels like centuries, absorbing all the comfort I can. Trying not to think too much about the events I just set in motion. About all the questions still whirling in the back of my head that I don’t know how I’ll answer.
Just sitting this close to him has set off a heady tremor through my nerves. Every particle in my body seems to lean toward him.
Salvatore hugs me tighter and tucks my head under his chin, no doubt gripped by the same urge. He turns his gaze toward the wall he created instinctively in the river.
It’s a solid construction—no sign of deterioration despite the pummeling of the water. He considers it for a long moment. Another laugh tumbles out of him, this one breathless with awe.
“Everyone figured I’d have a blight talent. That is fuckingbloom. Refined too, if you can believe it. Look at that shit. Worth’s head is going to fucking explode when I show this off.”
He pauses. “I wonder…”
He extends one of the arms he’d wrapped around me and closes his fingers.
A stream of sticks rattle out of the brush, shedding the dampness of the past rain in droplets as they come. They collapse into a small heap. With a chemical crackle, whatever minerals his glim gathered flicker into a flame that catches on the wood.
In a matter of seconds, a small fire is dancing a couple of feet away from us, wafting a sharper heat.
“You’re an alchemist,” I say. As if I didn’t already know that, as if it only just occurred to me as I watched him work his power.
Not the kind of alchemist drabs once attempted to be, with apparatus and tinctures to break materials down to their component parts and reconstruct them. The lucent kind, building something new from the world around him through sheer magic.
“Thanks to you.” Salvatore looks down at me and peels off his own gloves. He cups my right hand in both of his, angling them so the nearly identical bond marks on our palms show side by side.
When he runs his thumb over the darker center of mine between the four spires, his touch is so reverent it sends a much more pleasant shiver down my spine. “IknewI was meantfor you, mia amata. So what if you’ve got three more matches hanging around? I’ll obviously be the best of them.”
Even as my smile returns at his unfiltered confidence, a pang shoots through my heart.
That’s the first nickname he’s used that I recognize, that my Salvatore called me. He told me it means “my beloved.”
How can this man be so much like the man I loved and yet not really be him?
I’m tied to this Salvatore now. No matter where I go, he’ll be able to find me through our bond.
After everything we’ve just been through, I can’t bring myself to regret that fact. Not yet.
Salvatore circles the center of my mark with an even gentler caress. He bumps his nose against my temple. “What incredible power did you wake up, my match?”
The deflection I used in my old life tumbles off my tongue automatically. “I don’t know. I didn’t feel anything happening.”
Salvatore gives a dismissive huff and turns me in his arms so he can bow his head toward mine. “There’s no way Elodie Devine doesn’t have a fucking fantastic glim. I can’t wait to see it in action.”
My throat starts to close up at the thought of how not-fantastic that would be, but then he’s teasing his fingers along my jaw. My whole body lights up, my nerves quivering in anticipation. The ache of longing expands between my thighs.
A new bond always compels matches closer together, sparking passion as well as our glims. Fate encourages new mates to find harmony between every part of our being, to solidify our connection in every way.
It’s already done. It feels soright.
The perfection of our bond sings right through my soul. I’ve been missing it for so long.
Salvatore delves his fingers into my damp hair and brings his mouth to mine. His touch wipes every other thought from my mind. As our lips meld together, my body melts into his.
