“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you,” I said. I pulled away from thememory again, turning to face him. “I just thought… I needed you here to bring me back and I didn’t think you’d let me go.”
“First of all, Princess, I don’tletyou do anything.” He cupped my face, fingers digging into my hair. “I know I can’t stop you from putting yourself in danger. Although, that doesn’t keep me from being fucking terrified every time you do.” His thumbs smoothed over my cheekbones. “But please promise me you won’t keep me in the dark again. That I can’t handle.”
“I promise.”
He settled me back against him, opening his memory to me once more.
I had apologized to Finn and he had forgiven me. I thought.
Sleep had been impossible in her bed without her, but when I’d gone to my own room, it had no longer felt like mine. So I’d returned to hers, settling in her chair to stare at the empty bed and wait. I focused on the place deep in my chest where her light should have been, clinging to Finn’s words about the bonds and praying it meant what I hoped it meant.
Then I felt it. The faintest tug. The faintest flicker of light in that dark space.
I grasped that flicker and held on with every fiber of my being.
Come back to me, Princess. Fight your way back. I can’t lose you. Come back, come back, come?—
Something shimmered along that connection, and before I was conscious of the thought, I followed it into the ether.
There she was, bent over, gasping. Real. I didn’t hesitate, didn’t think, just grabbed her, kissed her, and felt that golden light flood back into the hollow space inside me.
I was never letting her go.
She kissed me back with equal desperation, and finally, finally, the world righted itself. I nearly took her right there, in that ruined temple. She seemed more than willing. But Finn’s presence registered behind me, and I forced myself to release her mouth, though I couldn’t stop touching her completely. My hands settled on her waist, spanning that impossibly small distance.
“This isn’t over,” I warned her.
She looked up at me, eyes glazed in desire, lips swollen from my kiss. Good. “No,” she said softly, her hand cupping my cheek. “It’s just beginning.”
When Finn appeared, she pulled away from me and I let her go. Barely. Watching her hug him was tolerable, but when he kissed the top of her head, something primal snarled in my chest.Mine. The word pounded through me with every heartbeat, like a creature clamoring to be released.
She glanced back at me, a question in her eyes, and I was beside her before she could blink, arm around her waist. I didn’t care what Finn thought. She was mine and I had to touch her, confirm she was real and solid and here.
I climbed the stairs at her side, her eyes finding mine and warming with a small smile that chased away the last recesses of my panic.
Then the smile faded, and she began to crumble.
I caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her in my arms. She was so still. If not for the slight rise and fall of her chest I would have thought…
“Andrei,” Finn said frantically, voicing my own thought.
I didn’t respond, just gathered her against my chest and teleported, somehow, directly to the healing wing, my heart pounding wildly.
I carried her through the healing wing, bellowing Andrei’s name, feeling her heartbeat against my chest. Too fast. Too erratic. When Andrei appeared and gestured to a bed, I reluctantly laid her down, fighting the urge to keep her cocooned in my arms.
“She is in stasis,” Andrei told me. “Her body shut down to protect itself. Her soul doesn’t know where to exist. The magic is trapping her between the realms.”
“What can I do?” I sat at her side, holding her hand. I hadn’t released her since catching her fall.
“Her soul needs an anchor here.” His look was appraising. “You said you couldn’t feel her when she was gone.”
I stared at her face. She was still—too still. Even in sleep, she movedmore than this. Her face was pale, her chest barely rising and falling. She couldn’t leave me. Not now. Not ever.
“She’s always there.” I pressed my free hand to my chest. “A presence in here.” I finally spoke the secret that I’d kept all these months. “She’s my mate.”
There. I had given voice to the thought that had consumed me for so long. Thank the seven gods Finn hadn’t caught up yet.
“I wondered. The way you act with her…”
