“NO!”
Golden light split my heavy eyes open. Gasping, my back arched as the strangest feeling poured over me. Like someone had dropped me into a warm bath. Except, I was still here, in the library, surrounded by endless candlelit bookshelves and wrapped in two familiar arms.
“Come back to me. Please come back to me,” Lukas panted into my shoulder, rocking us both.
Confused, I ran my fingers down his back. “I’m here.”
Lukas froze. Then he jerked back, his hands grippingmy shoulders while his grey eyes pierced into mine. “Naria?” he stammered. “You’re alright?”
“Yes?” I blinked. This was all so bizarre. The weakness I’d felt only moments ago had long gone, as if I’d just woken from the best night’s sleep. Carefully, I raised my arm and studied the back of my hand. The blood had vanished, leaving my fingers clean and my skin glowing. Even my chest glowed with a strange new warmth. And I felt so light. Like I could fly.
“How did you do that?” I gasped. “You healed me. Did you use your magic again?” Like the lightning strike in the forest all those months ago? But when I glanced up, he didn’t seem to be listening. Instead, his lips were parted as his gaze fixed on my wrist.
“What is it?” I followed his gaze. But then my lips parted too. The two crystals embedded in my wrist had dulled to a soft blue tone, and when I looked closer, tiny bubbles fizzled inside the stones.
A breathy laugh escaped me. “This can’t be possible.” I turned my arm, peering at it from every angle. “Did you actually just break the bond?” I concentrated hard, trying to focus on the feeling in my wrist. Normally there was a subtle tingling whenever thoughts of a certain faery prince invaded my mind, but now… now there was nothing. Nothing but a cooling sense of calm, like warm rain after a long summer.
I slapped a hand over my grin. “I can’t believe it.” I turned to Lukas. “You did it! You actually did it! This is so wonderful. I can’t feel him at all anymore.” Beaming, I let my hand fall to the floor. “But how did you—”
“I don’t know.” His voice cut me off along with the feel of two arms pulling me against his chest. “A few minutes agoyou were dead, and I couldn’t stand it, but then something happened inside me and now you’re here. Alive. Breathing.” He held me so tight I could feel his heart racing. “I don’t know how I did it, but I do know I’m never letting you out of my sight again. And I mean that, Naria.” His voice became a growl. “No more sneaking around with faeries. I’ll chain you to my bed at night if it’s the only way I can keep you as mine.”
I smiled into his shoulder. “That would hardly be proper for two unmarried royals.”
“It gets harder everyday for me to stay ‘proper’ with you.”
“Then don’t.” Red blossomed on my cheeks. Did I mean to say that out loud?
Lukas shuddered. Drawing back, his hands fell to my wrists. “Can you really not sense him anymore?”
I shook my head. “I feel nothing.” Nothing apart from the pounding in my chest and the now rather desperate warmth pooling deep inside me.
“Good,” he murmured, lifting his fingers to stroke the side of my cheek. Sighing, I drew closer. “So good,” he breathed before closing the gap and pressing his lips against mine.
I squeaked in surprise, but before I could melt into him, his hands dipped to the back of my thighs and he scooped me up, lifting me with him as he stood. My ankles locked behind his hips. Back arching, my tongue teased his, each stroke sending pleasant ripples down my spine. He tasted of caramel, sea salt, and the faintest whispers of wine. I hadn’t noticed he’d carried me across the room until my backside landed gently against the chaise lounge.
“There’s so many things I want to do to you.” He spokebetween kisses. “So many things I shouldn’t. Or at least, not until we’re married.” Keeping his body looming over me, his lips drifted to my cheek, then my jaw, then my neck.
I couldn’t help but sigh as he pushed me back to my elbows.
“You know I haven’t taken another to bed since the day you arrived in Drothmore?” He nuzzled against my neck, leaving another trail of kisses.
“You haven’t?” My eyes snapped open.
“When my father told me I was to be married, I told him I felt sorry for the poor girl.”
A knot formed in my throat.
“But then I met you.” His fingers twined in mine as the knot loosened. “And I realised I was the one who didn’t stand a chance… You charged straight into my life with your pretty hair, those perfect eyes and that damned mouth.” His lips pressed into my neck, sucking sharply until he pulled away, leaving me gasping. “No one had ever spoken to me the way you did.” Laughing deeply, his lips found my neck again. “You spoke to me like I was some spoilt prince.”
My brows lowered. “You were.”
“A spoilt prince who couldn’t stop thinking about you.” I gasped when he pressed his hips against mine. “And Forges Naria, that time in the rose garden when you drove me near insane with your talk of other suitors.”
“Well, you did have another girl fawning over you when I found you there,” I reminded him, scowling at the memory of pretty Giselle perched on his lap.
“I was under the impression that the best way to win the affections of a lady was to convince her I was in love withanother,” he said, meeting my gaze. “But that was wrong of me.” He swallowed. “I should’ve never done that. And if I could go back to when we first met and treat you how I should’ve done from the start, I would.”
My lips parted.
