“Titus?” Vox asked, hovering over another tree that Sol was struggling to get to twist just right into formation. We’d been at it for hours. When Claire came back home, she’d have a peach orchard of a paradise in the back of the Spirit Quad.
If Cyrus would give her death, then we would give her life.
“Did you guys feel that?” I asked, stumbling back into one of the finished trees. A few peaches thumped to the ground and burst a sweet scent into the air. My flames had a mind of their own and threatened to burn the precious life pressing against my spine.
Sol grabbed me by the arm, abandoning his project and making Vox curse as the boughs slapped him in the face. “Something’s wrong with you,” the giant observed.
No shit.
“It’s like… she’s drenched.” Claire was always my burning flame, but now something had doused her with an unexpected tidal wave that had hit me just as hard.
And she was pissed off about it, fighting it as hard as she could as her flames called for me, seeking for anything to evaporate the hopeless ocean that threatened to consume her.
But there was something even I could feel that made her hate herself. She had allowed it, even if it was brief. It’d been enough.
Sol frowned, dropping me to a sandy spot of the courtyard where I’d been working to make the soil fertile with touches of fire. My flames immediately spiraled out and sank into the ground, crystalizing the fine grains. It was as if my element was trying to reach out to her, to protect her from…
Him.
“Is Claire okay?” Vox asked, sweeping his hair back into a warrior’s tail and securing the strands. “Do we need to go after her?”
It warmed my fiery heart that the Air Fae wouldn’t think twice about marching into the Spirit Kingdom. I shook my head. “Even if we could survive in that shithole, it wouldn’t be for long. And…” My eyes narrowed as my fingers curled into fists. “As pissed off as Claire is, she won’t need our help.”
“Why’s she pissed off?” Sol asked, crouching to look me in the eye.
Just saying the words aloud made me want to set the world on fire.
“Cyrus pushed the first stage of a mating bond on her. And I’m going to fucking kill him.”
Sol’s eyes went wide.
Vox looked stunned, then a slightly hysterical laugh escaped him. “Even the Spirit King can’t resist her,” he mused, shaking his head. “I feel for Claire. She has her work cut out for her if she really is going to put up with a mate like Cyrus.”
“What if he’s not just trying to mate with her?” I snapped, embers sparking from my fingertips and threatening to catch the nearby brush on fire. “That asshole is up to something, and if he uses her, or hurts her in any way…”
Sol slammed a fist into the ground, sending a quake thundering through the entire quad. “I’ll help you smash him,” he said, a wide grin spreading across his face. The Earth Fae looked overjoyed by the idea of finally getting to challenge the prick. “Together, we’d be a match for him.”
I’d been tolerating the ass until now, but if the Spirit King thought he could use Claire and throw her away, I would take Sol up on his offer.
Assuming Claire didn’t murder him first.
Claire
Fire licked across my knuckles, my ire at Cyrus growing with every step. He had barely said a word since we left the palace, only telling me to keep my head high.
Prick.
He bonded with me without permission.
And now he wanted to act like it hadn’t happened?
Well, fuck him.
Titus once told me this stage lasted a month. I’d have to ask him if there was a way to reject the link sooner. Maybe it would hurt. Oh, I hoped it would. Cyrus, specifically. Because the bastard—
“You can only sever a connection early when both parties are willing,” Cyrus murmured. “Just as, coincidentally, you can only create one between willing partners.” He glanced over his shoulder at me as he led me down a gravel path toward the darkness beyond. “So what angers you more, little queen? That I bonded with you without asking? Or that you accepted the bond?”
I glared at him. “Don’t read my mind.”