“We’ve got ten minutes.” Bree nodded at the guards on either side of her. “Can you give us a little space? I just want to talk to him.”
They shifted away, but only slightly. They’d still be able to hear every word. Bree nibbled on her bottom lip. She’d have to be careful.
Taveon pushed up onto his feet and met her beside the bars. His crooked smile spoke to her soul. “It’s been lonely in here without the bond. It would have been nice to feel that connection with you…”
She understood how he felt all too well. “Is there any way to redo it?”
He cocked his head. “Well. That’s certainly the last thing I expected you to ask.”
Her fingers inched closer to the bars with the urge to reach out to him. Once, it had felt as though their souls were entwined. He’d been a part of her, and she’d been a part of him. Together, the world had felt right. It had not been the same since they ended it.
“I feel as if a part of me is lost without it,” she whispered, real tears filling her eyes. She had tried not to focus on the gaping hole in her chest these past few days. There were far worse things to worry about. But now that she stood here before him, knowing they’d have to part in only moments, she wanted that connection back.
His eyes swept across her. “That’s what you came here to speak with me about?”
Bree nodded.
He glanced at the nearby guards, and then back to Bree, question-marks in his eyes. She merely pressed her lips together.
Eventually, he nodded. “I’d like that, too.”
He slipped his arm through the bars and took Bree’s hand. The guards stiffened, staring them down, but they did nothing to stop them from touching. They’d been ordered to stop Bree from breaking Taveon out of jail. Dagen had not said anything about this.
Taveon smiled. Bree braced herself. And then, less than a heartbeat later, magic stormed through her veins, lighting her up like the stars in the skies. She cried out, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Her body shook as the ground beneath her began to rumble. The guards barked out orders. Rough hands grabbed her arms and dragged her away from Taveon.
But Bree smiled as the magic singed inside of her.
The guards were too late.
They dragged her out of the dungeon, but Bree’s eyes remained locked on Taveon’s face until he vanished into the shadows. She was escorted back to her quarters and shoved inside. For once, Bree did not fight. She did not say a word. Instead, she waited until they were gone with her breath held tight in her lungs.
When the footsteps receded down the hallway, she plopped onto her bed and called out through the newly formed bond. “Taveon, are you there?”
For a moment, no answer came. And then that bold, soothing, warm familiar voice echoed through her mind, a voice as smooth as velvet, as rich as cake, and as sensual as a luxurious touch. She could feel him. There, just inside her soul.
It felt like home.
“Hello, Bree,” he said. “It’s good to have you back.”
She smiled, eyes still closed. “Good thing the guards didn’t realize something was happening until it was too late to stop this.”
“Indeed.” His voice turned serious. “Now, tell me. What in the world is going on?”
12
TAVEON
Taveon had not seen Bree coming. He should have expected she’d have something up her sleeve, of course. From the moment he’d met her, she had been nothing but trouble. The kind of trouble he loved.
The emotion bled out of him, travelling down the bond. He could even feel when she received it. She let her own emotion flow back, reflecting how he felt. They’d never spoken aloud about this. Any of it. The bond said enough.
“Dagen is a bastard,” she said after a tense moment passed. “He betrayed you, Taveon. He lusts for power, and it’s turned him into someone I did not think he was.”
“I know,” he said quietly, his heart strained. Lord Dagen’s betrayal had felt like a stab in the heart. Taveon had come to trust the fae, even after all their differences. In the end, he’d turned out to be everything Taveon had feared. Worse, in fact. “He acted as though he were giving me a choice, but he didn’t. He knows I’m nothing like the demons who threaten to invade this world. And yet…”
“So, you finally believe me, then.”
He sighed. “I do, Bree. I’m sorry I didn’t want to at first. It was…difficult. The last thing I want is for this world to be threatened because of who and what I am.”
