Chapter Eight
BLISS
My phone buzzes with a text from Amelia assuring me that this meeting is going to go well. They’re going to tell me exactly what she has been telling me since yesterday, which is that I have nothing to worry about. My bond was activated and the stone just had a bit too much excess energy.
I don’t reply, sliding my phone back into the pocket of my jeans.
I don’t believe her words, and even though I’ve seen her twice since the night Taser healed me, she hasn’t said a single thing about him cheating. I can’t believe she’s trying to keep this a secret, but I push that out of my mind for now. I have much bigger issues.
Liz stands next to me as we face the committee head. She’s the same water nymph from the ceremony, long blonde hair styled perfectly in a low, neat bun. A sea salt scent, combined elegantly with a floral perfume, wafts from her.
“I’m so glad you were able to meet with us today, Ms. Rassard,” the nymph says, looking me over.
She motions for Liz and I to take seats across from her in the formal ornate sitting room.
My aunt and I sit in matching antique upholstered chairs, a side table between us boasting a huge bouquet of expensive looking flowers.
“My name is Tessa Bridgely,” she explains to me. “I’m the head of the Bond Committee, and I want to assure you both—” she glances at my aunt, “—that we’re looking into the unfortunate accident with the activation stone very seriously.”
I hide a smile behind my hand, flashing a look at Liz. Does the committee think we’re going to sue them? Or is Liz’s badass reputation just that widespread in the committee? I wonder if Liz and Bridgely have ever crossed paths before, when Liz used to work here.
“The stone does appear to be in working order, though,” Tessa continues, a frown forming on her face.
“What does that mean?” Liz asks.
I look around the room, allowing my aunt to take the lead.
The windows in here are closed and look like they don’t actually open, which really sucks because the air is becoming hotter and more stifling, though maybe it’s just me.
I already know what all this means, and I can tell by the expression on Tessa’s face that if it’s not the stone’s fault, then it’s mine.
I focus on the window that overlooks the fae district located just west of the Kensington Gardens in London.
Liz and I got up at an un-starly hour to travel via portal to arrive here just before noon.
I stifle a yawn as I force my eyes from the park beyond the fae council’s estate and refocus on the conversation.
“Well, we’re unsure,” Bridgely says diplomatically, clearly not wanting to come right out and blame me. I fight back a harsh laugh. “We’d like to have Bliss try again.”
My eyes snap to hers. “Why? So it can burn me again?”
“Well, as far as we can tell, even despite the mishap, your bond should still be active.”
“So touching it again would prove what? That it worked the first time?”
“Yes. If there’s no reaction, then it’s very likely the bond has already been activated, and whatever reaction the stone had to you, or you had to it, is something else. To those of us with our bonds already in place, the stone feels cold.”
“And if it happens again?” Liz asks, glancing at my healed hand.
“Then the committee shall continue our investigation to see if there is something specific interfering with the magic, or if there is something unique about Bliss that is preventing her bond from activating.”
“Something could be interfering?” A small hope starts to blossom that perhaps it’s not something wrong with me after all.
“I’ve seen a few hexes placed on fae over the years to prevent them from finding their mates, though never a successful one, mind you.
They usually backfire on the fae casting them, but it’s possible someone tampered with you.
Have you any idea of someone who would want to prevent you from finding your mate? A jealous boyfriend, or ex, perhaps?”
I exchange glances with Liz but shake my head. “No, nothing like that,” I lie.
Jordan. I guess I wouldn’t put something like that past him.
But I haven’t seen him in years, so it doesn’t make a ton of sense.
Though he always used to say that if we weren’t bonded, that he’d kill my mate so he could keep me to himself.
At the time, I hadn’t thought he would actually do that.
It was just something he was saying because he loved me so much.
It had sounded romantic. Now I see it clearly for what it was.
“Could the stone have been tampered with?” Liz proposes instead, but she throws me an odd look, like she’s not sure why I would have lied.
She knows my history with him and I have a feeling she’s thinking just how stupid it is not to mention him.
But my aunt isn’t like Amelia. She’ll only bring it up if she knows I’m comfortable with it.
But I’m not. The thought of any sort of investigation reeling him back into my life makes my body physically freeze up.
Tessa gives a small shake of her head. “Absolutely not. It’s kept under tight lock and key. Only I and a few other fae have access to it. It’s only taken out during ceremonies and it’s under guard while out.”
I nod. “Okay, well, let’s get this over with, I guess.”
Tessa ushers us out into the hallway, where we follow her to a small but equally ornate viewing room.
Two fae guard the stone, which sits atop a pillar like the one from the ceremony.
It looks like it did before, a soft glow coming from within it, and the flames from the sconces along the wall flicker in the reflection.
“The enchantment that readies the stone has already been cast. You may reach out and place your palm on the stone.”
Like I’m ripping off a Band-Aid, this time I don’t hesitate, reaching out my palm to the surface of the stone. My eyes squeeze shut as I brace myself to be thrown backwards.
But all I feel is a cold glass surface underneath my palm. I open one eye and then the other and look around from my aunt to the other fae in the room. “Well?” I ask, keeping my hand where it is.
“Does it feel cold?” Liz asks, and I nod in reply.
Tessa makes a non-committal noise in her throat and looks to the fae standing beside her. He shrugs. “Well, it appears that your bond must have been activated. We will continue digging into what caused the excess energy discharge.”
I take my hand off the stone and brace myself again to ask the question that’s been slowly eating away at me. “Aren’t you ignoring a possible explanation?” I ask.
“Such as?”
“That I have no bond?”
The fae in the room, including my aunt, all exchange shocked glances, like I’ve just uttered a gross expletive.
“Bliss, that’s not possible,” my aunt says, coming to place her hand on my shoulder. “Not all fae find their bond in their lifetime, it’s true, but every fae has a bond.”
“Not Made fae.” It comes out before I can stop myself. I know I’m not a Made fae, but what if there are also some Born fae that don’t have bonds? “What I mean is, isn’t it possible that some Born fae don’t bond either?”
“Impossible,” the fae standing behind Tessa mutters. The sharp canines give him away as a vampire.
“There is no record of a Born fae not having a bond,” Tessa says firmly. “Yours has been activated. There is some other explanation as to why the stone behaved the way it did.” She speaks matter-of-factly, and it seems like it’s the end of discussion.
But I don’t budge, even as Tessa indicates we should follow her out of the room. “How can you be sure it’s activated?”
Tessa pauses, looking thoughtfully at me for a moment.
“There are a few more tests we could do. One of them would be a spell that will essentially tug on your bond. If we tug and it gives too easily, then it could be that your bond isn’t attached to anything, and that would point to it being un-activated, but if we can pull it taut, then there’s someone on the other side of it. ”
“Well, let’s do that,” I say, the words spilling out of me. I need to know. I want the false hope that I have a mate squashed before my mind can carry my heart away into a fake future of joy and happiness only for it to shatter. I don’t think my heart can take that.
“It’s not quite that simple,” Tessa hedges. She clears her throat. “The spell can be quite painful. Not for you—for your mate.”
“Oh,” I say, my shoulders slumping. I don’t want to cause anyone harm, least of all my maybe not real mate.
“It’s not something that he won’t recover from,” Tessa explains. “We should still try it. I just want you to understand that it’s a possibility.”
Liz puts an arm around me. “It’s alright, Bliss. You’ll be able to apologize for it as soon as you meet him.”
“Doesn’t sound like a great way to start off our relationship,” I mumble. “But he might not even exist so, yeah.” I wave my hand in the air, indicating we should get on with the spell.
Tessa nods to the vampire behind her, who leaves the room, presumably to gather whatever materials the spell requires.
About ten minutes later, the vampire returns and he and Tessa get to work erecting a circle around me.
I sit on the cold marble floor, inside a ring of crushed up rose quartz, candles spaced evenly around the circle.
A book lays open in Tessa’s hands. The vampire places a black tourmaline stone right in front of me and steps gently outside the round of crushed stone, careful not to mar the shape of it.
“Place your hands like this,” Tessa instructs, holding out the book to me with an illustration of a fae placing both hands flat on the center of their chest. I mimic the position and Tessa nods. “Let’s begin.”