19. Declaration
Blue Ridges used his weight to pin me to the wall, his fingers crushing along my throat. I flailed at the side of his head and clawed at his face, but he just laughed.
"You'll suffer so much before you die," he gloated.
Tagger bit him in the back of the calf.
With a grunt, Blue Ridges kicked him viciously.
"Don't hurt him!" I barely managed to choke the words out as I struck at Blue Ridges.
Cursing, he backhanded me, and my head struck the wall. Blood filled my mouth. Everything slowed.
Blue Ridges flung me across the room. My body cracked against the stone as he pounced on me again. "Don't worry, you pathetic little human." He kicked me in the side. "I won't kill you. I'll just kill the otter. Then I'll reunite you with your love. You'll have so much fun." He kicked me again and again, laughing.
I grabbed for the knife but grasped my stew spoon instead. I cracked it across his face. The glue bond snapped, and the pieces fell apart.
Blue Ridges cuffed me. I staggered backward, striking one of the stools. I met the ground.
Snarling, he leapt on me.
The force of his weight on me drove the air from my lungs. His fingers clamped around my throat. The taste of my own blood filled my mouth.
Everything blurred.
I jammed the broken end of the spoon into his shoulder near the juncture of his neck.
He recoiled, screaming, then hit me again. A knife flashed in his hand as he lifted it over me.
The door slammed open.
"Don't you dare touch her!" an animalistic voice bellowed. A great streaked shape lunged at him, tackling him to the ground.
"Corvin?" I struggled to open my eyes. Even breathing hurt.
Corvin seized Blue Ridges by the throat and slammed his head back again, rendering him unconscious or killing him. I couldn’t tell. "You hurt her, you deal with me," he snarled.
"Corvin!" His name stumbled out of my mouth, slurred.
His gaze snapped up to me, his expression nearly feral.
Before I could say his name again, he grabbed me. He pressed his bloodied hand against the back of my head, tangling his fingers in my hair and cradling me to his chest. His breaths whooshed against my neck.
"I'm fine." I tried to pull my mind back into focus. My heart hammered, and my head spun. Pressing my cheek to his shoulder, I tried to ground myself.
He was back.
Corvin.
He was all right.
My eyelids slid shut, breathing in his scent. Like Tagger, he now smelled more like fish and salt, but I didn't care. It was him. "They were going to kill you. The king." My voice rasped.
"That's not important." He held me close. His cheek pressed against mine. Golden light flashed between us. He stiffened, not letting me go.
"No—" I bristled, pushing back. "What do you mean that's not important? The king is going to take all your blood. He's going to kill you." I paused, realizing the pain in my throat and sides had vanished. Some minor soreness and weariness remained, but nothing serious. "You didn't use medicine…"
His bright-green eyes remained wide as he traced his claw down my throat from where a bruise had been to my bloodied hand. The blood remained, but not the cuts and scrapes. His thumb stroked along the back of my hand. "No…I didn't." He frowned as he turned my wrist over. Some of the bruising remained. "You started to heal…"
Was he injured? The vivid colors had returned to his stripes and face, but there were scrapes and scars.
"I'm healed enough." I placed my hand on his chest, staring up into his eyes. "Corvin…"
He was looking at me strangely now, his hand flattening over my throat. "I healed you…again…" He curled his claws lightly against my skin, his gaze fixed upon me with something like reverence and awe.
My breath caught in my throat.
He knew.
And so did I.
His throat bobbed as his claws lightly traced a line up to my lips as he held me close. "How can you be so beautiful? So perfect?" he whispered.
Tears spilled down my cheeks. Looking up into his eyes, I felt—I wasn't just seen. I was seen and accepted and wanted.
He leaned down and nuzzled me. A trembling breath escaped me.
His lips brushed mine, featherlight.
Something stirred in me, heating with each breath and flaring through me.
A low growl rumbled from his chest as his tongue pressed against my lips.
That set my pulse surging and thundering.
With a moan, I returned his kiss.
The moment that moan escaped me, his arms tightened around me. He engulfed me as I clung tight. My fingers tangled in his hair.
Salt's bane, this fae could kiss! That rumbling purr that vibrated through his chest drove me wild. I needed to be close to him.
I had to be closer!
"Mine," he growled against my mouth.
Before I could repeat it, his mouth devoured mine.
My hands rubbed along the contours of his shoulders and up the back of his neck before curling once again in his silky-soft hair. Sharp jolts of pleasure shot through me as I rubbed against him. I loved him. He was mine, and I was his.
I knew what I wanted.
I wanted him.
"My sweet mate," he gasped. The sound grew ragged as his eyelids shuttered, and he held me tighter, his forehead pressing to mine. "And I have to let you go." His voice shook at the end, racked with pain.
His words cut through me. I froze.
No.
No!
I wasn't going to lose him.
"Come with me," I said hoarsely. My fingers pressed against his scalp and neck as I clung to him. "You and Tagger. Come with me. We'll find a way. We'll get you away from the King of the North Sea. We'll get you away from all of this."
He dipped his head forward. A shudder passed through him as he held me closer. "I don't know how this happened. I don't understand it. But, darling, you are the most precious gift in my life, and I can't let them destroy you."
"Listen to me." I bit back a sob. "Just listen to me, Corvin. You have to come with me. They've been lying to you all your life. Those herbs are suppressants. They've blocked you from finding your mate and shifting. You aren't diseased. They're using you and the other shifter fae. Harvesting your blood. Keeping you isolated. You started burning through the medicine after we met because…"
He pressed his finger to my lips, his bright eyes soft now. "All my life," he whispered, his voice rough and resonant with emotion. "All my life I have been alone. I thought I would always be alone. I had no mate, yet I longed for one. And now it turns out there was someone for me. Even better, she's the one I would have picked if I could."
I knew what I felt. It was intoxicating, powerful, and comforting all at once. "So you do feel the bond? That's what this is?" I wanted to stay in his arms forever. To never be apart from him. It all made sense.
He nodded as he nuzzled me, but sadness filled his voice. "The mate bond is coming into place. It's working in my blood and my core even now. But, my dear sweet, beautiful Mena, it doesn't matter. It's more important than ever that I get you to safety. The only comfort that will be left to me is knowing you are alive and safe."
"Why can't you come with me? If you get onto the island, we'll protect you. I'll fight to the death to protect you!"
"The magic prevents me from setting foot on the island of my own will. Even if you dragged me onto the land, it would pull me back eventually." He shrugged. "The best I'll be able to do is get you back to your mother. Hosvir has already alerted Baider. Another ship is on its way. The boundary line will shift again, and they will be able to rescue you. Now come on. Once the king discovers my treachery, he'll start activating the claws in my wrist. If I'm in the water when that happens, it will make me far easier to track."
"Then we'll find some other way," I said sharply. "I'm not leaving you behind. What about the temple with the staircase and the portal?" I ripped out the book from my pocket and opened it to one of Mama's drawings. "The one whose twin is on that island."
He scowled. "It would still require going in the open waters unless we took the cave passages. But do you know how dangerous those are? They're dark and cold and narrow. And there's no guarantee that that portal will work when we reach it. No one has entered the temple for decades."
"Mama said that the only reason that the portal hasn't worked on the grounded staircase is because the right runes aren't being used. I know how to make those. Or I can figure it out based on what she wrote." I flipped to the section where it listed reagents for the basin to empower the runes. They were relatively basic: stone, lavender, caraway, feathers, blood of the speaker, fire. Easy enough to obtain. Fire would be the hardest, but I had my flint. And I knew there was oilcloth in the storeroom. "And the portal would open up. We'd jump into the middle of the island and hold on to you long enough to open the portal up to another place. Then we'd jump through and sever the last of that bond!"
He shook his head, pushing the book down. "You don't comprehend how dangerous the cave paths are, darling. I can't guarantee that you'll come out alive on the other side."
"Does the cave path allow us to reach the temple without swimming through the open ocean or at least cut down on our time in the ocean?"
His jaw clenched. "You might not survive it. Risking the open waters, even with the leviathans and the water fae pursuing us, isn't as dangerous for you. And unlike in the caves, if something happens to me, you'd have a chance of reaching the surface while I dealt with them."
"You're fast, but I doubt you can swim faster than a leviathan." I gripped his hand.
His brow lifted slightly. Then he shrugged.
Son of a scallop! He hadn't planned on surviving at all. It wasn't just a high chance he wouldn't make it. My mate planned to lay down his life to save me.
I smacked his shoulder and glared at him. "Don't you dare come up with any more plans in which you die to save me. You said everyone always abandons you. Well, I'm not. So stop trying to abandon me. We finally found each other. I learn I'm your mate, and you expect me to just accept you're going to die? No!"
His eyes widened. His mouth trembled between a smile and a frown. "Mena?—"
Tagger suddenly bolted back, screeching and squeaking. His hackles were raised as he stomped his feet.
Corvin's eyes went hard. He lunged at the door and raked his claws down the runic carvings along the panels. Light flared up, and something heavy ground into place. He'd barely gotten it done when the whole cavern shook.
We were out of time.