Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
E verything went dark as it pulled me under, my lungs seizing as I fought and thrashed.
My hair had come free from its messy braid, and it surged around me, blocking my view. My waterlogged clothes dragged me down as I slashed and hacked with my dagger.
It was no use.
The creature that held me pulled me deeper and deeper, finding depths of the marsh I hadn’t known existed. It was as if my awakening the merfolk had somehow opened an unknown world beneath the mucky surface.
I was going to drown in this murky water, and that horrible creature would devour me with those sharp, pointed teeth.
Panic gripped me. My chest burned, and little black spots appeared in my vision.
Sooner or later, I would have to breathe, and my lungs would fill with water.
I slashed at the arm of the monster that held me, the edge of my blade skimming flesh. Blood tinged the water as I continued to hack and stab, fighting that fiery tightening in my lungs.
A flash of movement caught my attention, and I saw the second mermaid shooting toward me. It moved through the water like a harpoon, unnatural in its speed and grace.
It captured one of my arms and then the other, twisting until I thought my shoulder would pop out of its socket and sending my knife sinking into the murky depths of the marsh.
No.
One monster I might have been able to defeat. But two of them?
It was impossible.
Already, the agony in my chest was unbearable. I was out of air, and my lungs burned. If I didn’t take a breath —
A cloud of bubbles erupted in my vision, making me wonder if I was hallucinating. They swirled above me in a hypnotic pattern, chasing each other away from the silvery skeins of moonlight as a shadowy figure descended from the surface.
A blast of magic caused my hair to blow back, sending me spinning like a cork. The merfolk shrieked as the wave of power barreled into them, and those spindly fingers released my leg.
Strong hands gripped me under the arms and pulled me up toward the flickering prisms of light. Cold air pricked my skin as my head broke the surface, and my chest burned as I retched.
Hard muscles wrapped around me, ferrying me to the edge of the marsh. The sharp, spicy scent of charred cedar and night cut through the stench of standing water, and I let out a gurgling groan .
My rescuer dumped me onto the wet boards of the walkway, and I flung out a hand to keep from face-planting.
My dripping hair clung to my cheeks, but Kaden’s face swam into view, his stormy eyes glinting with a lethal edge. “Are you all right?”
“Never better,” I rasped, glaring up at him with all the fury I could muster.
“You could’ve been killed.” His voice was low. Shaky. Almost panicked.
“Yeah, no shit.”
“Why are you in the water?”
“I thought a swim sounded nice.” Did he seriously think I’d had a choice?
“This isn’t funny. Fuck , Lyra!”
“I fell in, you moron!” I shot back, pointing at the missing board a few feet behind me. “Of course it isn’t funny. I almost drowned in your godsforsaken moat. And why the fuck do you keep it stocked with merpeople?”
“Those merfolk are guardians of this house. They have my blessing to drown intruders and feast upon their flesh.”
“Seems a bit extreme,” I huffed, scooping my sodden hair out of my face and scrubbing at my eyes.
“I really don’t appreciate it when guests drop by uninvited.”
My nostrils flared. I’d had enough. “Well, you could have mentioned the merpeople.”
“Maybe I would have, if you’d given me the chance. Instead, you ran off and nearly got yourself killed.”
“Why do you even care?” I shot back. “Is there really such a shortage of Coranthe witches who can end your father, or are you concerned because I’m your mate ?”
Kaden gaped at me, all the blood draining from his face .
A little thrill of satisfaction rippled through me. For once, the bastard was speechless.
“How long have you known?” he asked finally, his voice so low I barely heard it.
“How long have you known?”
He dragged a hand through his wet hair with a sigh. “Does it matter?”
“ Yes .”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve been lying to me since the day we met.”
“I haven’t known that long.”
“How long then?”
Kaden’s jaw clenched. “I don’t want to have this conversation here.”
“Well, we’re having it,” I spat, pushing myself to my feet.
Thunder cracked in the distance, making the ground tremble. It was still pouring buckets, but we were both already soaked.
“I’ve suspected it since that first time I sensed you in the Quarter. It was how I tracked you down at Silas’s when —” He broke off, throat working.
When I’d almost died.
“When we were training in Adraeis, you broke through my shields to access my memories,” he continued. “Not even my father has been able to do that.”
I shivered. Thinking back to his memory of Silas’s basement, I could still feel that cold, unending rage. I remembered the shimmering gold thread that had appeared through the mist — the one that had led me into his mind.
It had been our mating bond, I realized. Some magical tether between us.
But there was one thing that didn’t make sense, and I was determined to get answers. “Back in the cave, after the avalanche, I asked you why you were able to sense me, and you said you didn’t know.”
“I told you I wasn’t sure,” Kaden corrected me.
“And I wasn’t. Not until my father tried to invade my mind in the Ravenous Woods and you pulled me back with that kiss.
When that happened, I could no longer deny the connection between us.
A mating bond is the only thing stronger than the hold my father has on me. ”
I shook my head, too incensed to look at him. “Were you even going to tell me?”
I hated that my voice sounded fragile. Hurt.
“Of course I was.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.” He let out a huff. “I thought you might figure it out . . . eventually.”
I ground my teeth so hard that I heard my molars crack together.
Was he serious? Of all the horrible surprises I’d had over the last few weeks, learning that I was mated to the demon prince had to be the most astonishing. There was no way I ever would have guessed.
“You were just so angry,” Kaden muttered. “I knew it wouldn’t matter what we were if you never forgave me for your mother’s death. For hiding the truth of what I am. For dragging you to the Otherworld and asking something of you that is so far beyond—” He broke off, scrubbing a palm down his face.
I stared at him, the chilly rain pricking my eyes as an unwelcome thread of understanding wound through my haze of fury.
When he finally met my gaze, a devastating hopelessness swirled in those stormy gray eyes.
“When you awoke in Adraeis, I knew you’d never trust me again.
That the only way you’d go along with my plan is if you thought you might get the chance to kill me.
But the more time we spent together, the clearer it became that I’d fucked up.
I’d made you think I was a monster. Made you hate me, and —”
I stared at him, trembling from the bitter cold and all the things left unsaid.
I knew why he hadn’t told me.
It was the same reason he’d allowed me to believe he was a full-blooded fae when we’d first met.
He’d assumed that I wouldn't accept him. Wouldn’t trust him. That my hunter blood and the instincts that raged at me to stay away would override everything else.
It was understandable. His own people had abhorred him from the moment of his birth simply because of what he was. He’d spent a lifetime being hated and feared, forced to fulfill the role into which he’d been cast to protect his only family.
But despite being the Taker of Souls, Kaden’s actions were not those of a monster. They were the actions of a male who would stop at nothing to save his kingdom and those he loved.
For the first time, it occurred to me that the only person who hated Kaden was Kaden.
“What if I didn’t?” I asked softly, my voice nearly lost in the hiss of the rain.
“It’s your choice whether to accept the bond or not,” he said wearily. “It is not fully formed until we . . .” He cleared his throat. “If you don’t —”
“No, I —” I broke off.
I hadn’t realized I could reject the mating bond — hadn’t realized until this moment that I didn’t want to .
I took a deep breath, hands trembling so badly that I clutched them in front of me to keep them from shaking. “What if I didn’t hate you?” I swallowed. “What might you have done differently?”
Something like amazement flickered across Kaden’s features, as if he’d heard every thought echoing through my mind.
His silver eyes flashed with emotion that stole the air from my lungs, and the thousand questions I wanted to ask suddenly seemed irrelevant.
Then he was moving. Or maybe I was.
His hand cupped the back of my neck, pulling me in to crush his lips against mine. He tasted like mint and fire, rain and mist, and I felt my whole body sigh as his arm curled around my waist.
As our bodies came together, it was like a key turning in a lock. There was a rightness to it that I couldn’t deny. Kaden was . . . mine .
Cupping my face in his hands, he canted his head to gain better access as his tongue teased the seam of my lips.
I opened for him, a groan escaping me as my fingers threaded through his silky black hair. His thumb stroked the ridge of my jaw as his tongue flicked into my mouth with a bold, claiming thrust.
A pulsing need bloomed in my core as my skin heated. Rain continued to pour from the sky, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to find our bodies steaming as I explored the stubble along his jaw and the corded muscles at his neck.
As I fumbled with the buttons at his collar, Kaden captured my lip between his teeth and speared his fingers through my hair. When I growled in frustration, he smiled against my lips, shucking off his jacket and tossing it onto the walkway.
The thin shirt he wore beneath was plastered to his skin. As my eyes roved over the ridges of his hard muscles, my trembling hands followed in their wake.