He placed his palm on her forehead and closed his eyes. “She’s weak,” he agreed.
An understatement. I could see the tendrils of her soul threatening to leave her body, the fear etched into her essence palpable. Hang on, little queen, I whispered. I’m going to fix this.
Somehow, some way, I would uphold that promise to her. I had to. Exos was counting on me. Claire, too.
“Your bond is strong,” he marveled, tilting his head to the side. “Very strong for being so fresh.”
“It was an accident,” I admitted, ashamed now more than ever. She deserved so much better. “We briefly kissed and it formed.”
His blue eyes—the same color as my own—focused on me, his brow crinkling. “You’re in the third stage, son.”
I blinked. “What? No. We just… It’s new… I mean…” What? I checked the connection, mortification and horror swimming through my veins. “Oh, Elements…” He was right. When I grasped for her element to mist her here, we’d bonded. Irrevocably binding our souls, proclaiming unspoken vows of eternity.
It was deeper than her link to Exos.
He’s going to kill me.
Fuck, Claire is going to kill me.
“You must finish it,” my father urged. “It’s the only way. I can feel the others she’s reached out to, but there’s no time to bring them here. She’ll die.”
“Finish it?” I repeated, my heart skipping a beat. “Finish the bond?” Without her permission?
“She needs your strength, Cyrus. Without the lifeline, she’ll never recover. It might already be too late.”
Sprites, this is bad. Very, very bad.
“You don’t have time. Either you save her or you don’t. But wallowing in your fate will cost the girl her life.” There was the father I knew—direct and to the point without a hint of remorse. He might as well have said I dug my own grave by initiating this link to begin with.
Which, yeah, he’d be right.
“What if she rejects it?” I asked, noting the very real chance of that happening.
“Her elements rule her now, and there’s no better water match in this world than the rightful Water King,” he replied, a challenge in his tone, daring me to contradict him. For once, I didn’t take the bait. This wasn’t about my conflicting destiny or the fact that my power outweighed his and all other Water Fae. This was about saving Claire.
“Tell me what I need to do,” I said, my choice already made.
I couldn’t leave her to suffer, couldn’t allow her to die because of my mistake.
Maybe I deserved a future of unrequited love.
At least Exos would be happy.
And Claire.
This was not the right recourse—bonding an unconscious female was the epitome of taboo—but what choice did I have? She needed a lifeline, and I was the only one available.
“Prepare the ceremonial chambers,” my father demanded, causing fae to scatter. “This has to be done right and quickly.”
I nodded, knowing what he meant. The best way to guarantee that Claire’s element accepted mine was to make her feel at peace.
She was so cold and small in my arms, her skin a now bluish tint.
I hated seeing her this way, hated more that I’d caused this through my own urgency to finish this task. Mortus may have set the trap, but I knew better than to step into it.
I’m sorry, Exos, I thought, knowing full well he couldn’t hear me.
He wasn’t anywhere near those death fields. I felt it now through the bond with Claire that Exos remained somewhere safe and untainted. Had I taken two minutes to prod her a little deeper earlier, after our initial connection, I would have sensed that.