“This way.” Lukas grabbed my hand and started towards a gap in the coral trees.
When we arrived at a small clearing in the centre of the cavern, he motioned towards a flat rock.“Sit.”
“Really?” I laughed, but he just motioned to the rock again.
“I didn’t bring you here to talk about me, now sit.Please.” The desperation in his tone was enough for me to hold back the thousand questions on my tongue. At least for now.
Sighing, I paddled over to the rock and sat down. The moment Lukas joined me, he reached for my arm.
“Tell me about this.” His fingers circled my wrist and tapped the crystals.
A bolt of cold fear shot through me as my reply came almost instinctively. “I can’t.”
“But you can.” His grip around my wrist tightened. “Whatever hold the faery prince has on you, you’re safe here. He wouldn’t dare use his magic to conjure himself into this cave. We’re too far below the surface.”
“I’m not afraid of him.” I gritted my teeth. I was afraid, but I also was not about to give Lukas any excuse to march to his death. Arenn had told me before that breaking a faerybond was almost impossible, and that anyone who was willing to try had to love me more than the strength of our bond or they’d die trying…
I couldn’t let him risk his life.
“The crystals mean nothing,” I forced out. “Just a silly tradition from our engagement. Which, might I add, I never intend to go through with. He practically tricked me into the whole thing. There’s nothing between Arenn and I.” But somehow now even saying those words felt wrong. I held back a wince as the crystals throbbed.
“You’re lying to me.” Lukas scowled. “He says he can feel you. He says he felt you dying, Naria. How can there be nothing between you, nothing behind this,” he held up my arm again as the crystals glinted in the cave’s golden light, “if the man travelled across the entire realm intending on rescuing you? How did he know?” He dropped my wrist as my heart sank with it.
“I…” My lower lip trembled. I couldn’t tell him, but telling him a dozen lies seemed just as cruel.
“And your nightmares, Naria,” he continued, gaze darkening. “That one back in the palace had you bleeding. That was him, wasn’t it?” His voice turned murderous. “What did he do to you? Tell me so I can help.Please.”
“There’s no way for you to fix it. It cannot be undone,” I insisted.
“I’ll find a way.” Lukas shook his head, drawing closer. “Just tell me what happened. Everything.”
The words felt so heavy on the tip of my tongue, and I so desperately wanted to spill them. But then I glanced up and met his swirling grey eyes – the colour somehow still sovibrant in an ocean full of life.
A sob caught in my throat. “If I tell you, you must promise to never try and undo it.”
“Why would you—”
“Just promise me!”
Lukas blinked a few times before offering a weak, “I promise.”
“Swear on my parents’ graves.”
“Naria…”
“Swear on them!” My shouts sent all the fish retreating to their corals while Lukas just watched me.
“I swear on the late King Benedict and Queen Elowen,” he ground out eventually.
A relieved cry slipped by my lips. After a few deep breaths, my shoulders drooped.
“It’s some kind of faery bond,” I explained. “It happened when I agreed to marry him.” Holding out my wrist, my fingers brushed over the crystals. “I don’t know exactly how it works, but he can enter my dreams and I can enter his. Sometimes I can feel him too – if he’s close by. It feels…warm.” My stomach churned at the memory.
While I spoke, Lukas just stared at the crystals, as if just glaring at them hard enough would make them disappear.
“I can’t feel his emotions though, so the bond must be stronger for him,” I admitted.
“Hardly a surprise,” Lukas scoffed, folding his arms. “The man’s sick.” He frowned. “And given how obsessed he is, he’s a danger to you. How could you not tell me this sooner?”
