“Kalen,” I started.
“A bond. A vow that you are mine, and I am yours.”
My heartbeat quickened. “You mean, a marriage vow?”
“Afaemarriage bond,” he said roughly. “It is far more carnal than a human marriage, far more binding. Magic will connect our souls, preventing either of us from harming the other. It is unbreakable. It can never be undone. I will be yours for as long as I draw breath, and I will never take another for as long as I live. I will be linked to you forever.”
I stared into his eyes, the words stuck in my throat. He cupped my cheek and rested his forehead against mine, and he breathed me in, as if memorizing my scent, memorizing me. “Are you certain you want to do this? You’re fae. I’m mortal. I could die in fifty years, maybe even less. You could live hundreds more years. Do you really want to link yourself to a mortal like this?”
He answered by rubbing his thumb across my jawline, and my core tightened with desire. “You are mine. And I am yours. I vow it.”
“Kalen,” I whispered, tears flowing down my cheeks. “You can’t do this.”
“Your turn.”
“It’s too big a sacrifice.”
“For you, I would sacrifice it all.”
Heart pounding, I leaned back into the hardwood bookshelf, gazing up into his fiercely glowing eyes. He meant every word, and the determined set of his jaw told me he would not take no for an answer.
“You wouldn’t agree to this if it were the other way around,” I finally said. “If I were the fae and you were the mortal, you wouldn’t want me to be alone for hundreds of years.”
“Listen to me,” he demanded.
Swallowing hard, I stared into the depths of his eyes.
“I don’t know what’s to come, but if you’re right—if there is even the smallest chance I might be forced to raise my hand against you…” The muscles around his eyes tightened. “It would destroy me. I cannot do it, do you understand me? And so I will gladly bind my soul to yours if there’s even a chance this will override the vow I made to my mother. Anything to keep you safe. Do thisfor me, please.”
“You really mean it,” I said, searching his gaze for any sign he might regret it. But there was nothing there. Nothing but fierce determination and something else that made my heart pound even faster.
“All you have to do is say the words, and I am yours until I take my last breath.”
I swallowed. If I spoke these words, there would be no undoing it. But looking up at him, I couldn’t help but feel, deep in my bones, like this was right, like this was meant to be, like fate had brought us together just for this.
And so I clutched him tighter, and I said, “I am yours, and you are mine. I will never leave you. I vow it.”
Magic pulsed between us, and an invisible hand clutched my throat, choking me. I gasped for air, my eyes going wide. Kalen’s expression mirrored mine, and it was as if this unseen power wanted to drown us in our own words—as if it wanted to steal the last breaths we’d sworn to save for each other.
But then, just as quickly as it had come over me, that overpowering magic disappeared.
I pressed my shaking hands to his chest. “What in the name of light was that?”
“The power of the bond. It does not take our vows lightly. Our breaths are now linked.” The shelves behind me dug into my back as Kalen leaned closer, his breath hot against my neck. “I am yours now, love. For all the remaining days of my life.”
I shivered, melting against him as he dropped his hot mouth against my skin. Curling my fingers around his tunic, I tugged him closer. His voice rumbled against me, a low growl that sent shivers of delight down my spine. I’d felt tired and aching before, but now, I felt impossibly alive.
His mouth found mine, hungry, rough, and hard. My core tightened, and I moaned as his hands dropped down to trace the line of my hips.
“You are mine, and I am yours,” he said.
A shiver went through me, my thighs widening instinctively. He inched forward until his hard length pressed against me. Even through the material of our trousers, I could feel his need, matching my own.
Our kiss deepened, and heat seared through me. I reached up and wound my fingers through his silken hair, desperate to pull him closer, to erase every inch of space between us. And when I arched against him, pressing my core harder against his length, he practically purred.
Distantly, I was aware we were in a library and someone could barge through those doors at any moment, but I didn’t care. Not when I needed to feel his mouth on my skin, not with that pounding ache between my thighs, not when every part of me now felt linked to every part of him. We were bonded now, and I swore I couldfeelhis emotions as if they were my own.
When he pulled back, his scorching gaze burned through me. I untangled my hands from his hair and got to work on his buckle. A moment later, he started on mine, and soon, our trousers were in puddles by our feet, along with his tunic.
