CHAPTER EIGHT
KADEN
The air was thick with the echo of our combined magic, lingering even after Instructor Seraphine severed us apart. I could feel everyone’s gazes burning into us, a mixture of awe and fear twisted on their features.
It took only a few seconds for Instructor Seraphine to recover, announcing that we all follow her for a tour around the rest of the Concordium. Gazes still lingered, but it didn’t take long for them to snap back to our instructor and follow her out of the combat hall.
Ronan waited and called Elysia over, throwing his arm around her shoulders and smiling wildly, her small frame slotting in perfectly at his side.
I hate how easily she fits there.
A muscle jumps in my jaw as his thumb traces lazy circles over her shoulder, casual yet simultaneously intimate. The kind of touch that means nothing and everything all at once. I shouldn’t care. I don’t care. But… fuck, I do.
Instructor Seraphine leads us through the Concordium, her voice echoing off the stone as she lists off rooms I couldn’t care less about.
The lecture hall, the meditation chambers, the binding archives.
The air hums with old magic and Thane’s voice muttering at my side, but all I can focus on is Elysia walking a few steps ahead, light catching on the curve of her hair, shoulders brushing against Ronan’s.
“You can’t kill her, you know?” Thane chimes at my side.
I groan, “Well aware.”
“I like her,” Sirena shrugs, “She’s ballsy, you need someone who isn’t going to shrink under the weight of your glare.”
“You would like her. She doesn’t throw daggers at you.” I snap.
Thane whistles low, “Touchy. Guessing you didn’t take too kindly to a blade in your shoulder?”
Sirena outright laughs between us, “Sorry, I’m just imagining your face—”
“You’re both horrible. What if she had killed me?”
Thane scoffs, and Sirena rolls her eyes, still laughing.
“I get the feeling if she wanted you dead, you would be.” Thane mocks.
He’s not wrong. I’ve been at the end of her blade more than enough times now to know she never misses by accident. Every move is calculated and natural all at once. She infuriates me and impresses me in the span of each breath.
Sirena’s elbow nudges my ribs, “You like her.”
“I don’t.” I deadpan.
“You do,” Thane adds. “If anyone else had stabbed you, they’d be dead. But she stabs you, and you’re… brooding.”
My jaw clenches, annoyed at their prying. “She’s not dead because we are soul-bound. That’s the only reason her heart still beats.”
Sirena scoffs, “Liar. You’re impressed by her.”
“Honestly, I’m impressed by her.” Thane adds, “How the fuck did she manage to stab you? I’ve not managed to land a punch in months.”
“Maybe he was… distracted.” Sirena sing-songs.
Thane hums in agreement, “By her?”
I shoot them both a look that should have incinerated them. Unfortunately, they’re immune.
Sirena’s eyes glitter. “I bet she looked him dead in the eyes when she did it, too.”
“Oh, definitely. Bold. Powerful… terrifying.”
They both sigh dramatically.
“You two are the worst,” I grumble.
Thane reaches around and claps a hand on my back. “It’s okay, brother. We can get you some healing tonic for your wounded pride.”
“Or ice,” Sirena adds, oh so helpfully.
“Fuck off.” I snap, though a small smile tugs at my lips.
Sirena reaches up, patting my cheek as we come to a stop. “We love you too.”
Ronan’s voice catches my attention as he mutters something stupid, I can tell by the way she rolls her eyes… yet she smiles for him anyway.
The walls could crumble around us in this moment, and I doubt I’d notice.
Ronan’s arm stays draped lazily around Elysia’s shoulders as he talks, his grin too wide for my liking.
She laughs at nearly everything he says, leaning into him as if she belongs there.
His hand tightens and draws her closer, and a faint tingle crawls across my own shoulder as the bond reacts to his touch.
With every laugh that leaves her, the tether between us twists, annoyance and corrosive fury flooding out of me in bands, tightening around my ribs until it’s hard to breathe.
He’s really pissing me off.
Instructor Seraphine finishes handing out our schedules and dismisses us for the rest of the day, and everyone exchanges goodbyes a couple of minutes later.
Finally, Ronan drops his arm from Elysia’s shoulders to look over his schedule. There’s light chatter between them before Brynn makes her leave, waving goodbye to Elysia.
Ronan lingers a little longer, whispering soft words that have nothing to do with classes and tracing a lazy path with his fingers up and down her arm; infuriatingly, she doesn’t flinch. Instead, she leans into his touch and replies with a voice smooth as silk, a warm smile curling at her lips.
Then he leans in and presses a soft kiss to her cheek.
Warmth surges through the bond, slamming into me like a hit I never braced for.
I have half a mind to release my shadows and snap his fucking neck where he stands, but the other part of me that still remembers discipline calls me a fool in mocking reverence.
I turn and walk away, pacing hard so I don’t do something I would never be able to take back. I need a drink, distance, air… anything to get away, to drown out the echo of her laughter.
It shouldn’t matter.
She’s just another arrogant High Mage wrapped in pretty skin and sharper words. Yet the sight of her in someone else’s arms turns my stomach like poison.
I hate it. I hate her. I hate myself for feeling this way at all.
The tether between us tightens with every breath, drawing blood from a wound I didn’t even know I had, the part of me that should feel nothing burning with fury instead.
Returning to the suite, I head straight for the kitchen, grabbing the first bottle of wine my hand touches. The cork pops, and I pour a glass too large to be respectable.
I down it in gulps, the burn doing nothing to cool the fury simmering under my skin. Another glass follows before I drift to the shared living quarters and sink into the plush couch, the softness a rare mercy against my strained muscles.
The door clicks open, and Elysia steps inside, skin flushed.
My jaw clenches.
“If you could keep your brooding to yourself, I’d appreciate it.” She sighs, her voice tired, as though my unbidden emotions have drained her too.
I sit forward, elbows on my knees, eyes locked on her retreating figure. “Did you enjoy it?”
She stops mid-step, spine stiffening. “What?” she breathes.
“Did. You. Enjoy. It?” I stand, punctuating every word with a step closer, “When he touched you?”
I’m honestly not sure why the fuck I care so much.
Her brow rises, “Not that it matters in the slightest, but yes—”
My shadows flare of their own accord, snapping out before I can stop them.
They coil around her wrists, pinning them to the wall above her head.
I close the distance in two strides, palms landing on the wall on either side of her as my knee slides between her thighs, parting them just enough to rob her of space for movement.
“What the fuck—” My shadows silence her, snaking across her mouth like serpents as her eyes narrow, seething fury rolling off her and feeding the storm inside me.
Why her words pulled this response from me, I have no fucking idea—and that’s what unsettles me most. I should step back, walk away, break the moment cleanly.
But there’s no going back now, not when I can feel her heart racing inside my chest, her breath catching as something warm coils low in her body in quiet response… fascinating.
I lean into her neck, driven by a need I don’t bother to name, brushing my lips over her skin in feather-light strokes. I hover above her pulse point, enjoying the way it flutters beneath my mouth, knowing exactly what I’m doing and hating myself for not stopping, for not wanting to stop.
Desire coils through her in a faint but undeniable pulse, and my mouth curves before I can catch it, a flash of triumph.
My fingers trail to the hem of her shirt, tracing slow, deliberate circles along the edge of her hip bone.
Teasing touches controlled only by force of will as every instinct in me screams to touch more of her, to claim her…
but I push the need aside, balancing on the edge of restraint, because wanting her more than this is dangerous.
Her skin is warm and electric under my touch, and the jolt of arousal it sends through me is immediate and brutal. I groan quietly, breathing in the scent of roses.
Intoxicating.
“Tell me, Elysia darling…” I whisper, voice low. “Did his touch send desire soaring through you the way mine does?”
Static prickles at my fingertips as our magic hums to the surface, pulsing in time with our hearts, as though approving of our sudden nearness. My shadows tighten in response, pulling a soft, involuntary whimper from her lips.
Flicking my tongue over her pulse, I rasp, “Did his lips on you cause magic to hum beneath your skin while pretty little whimpers escaped your throat?”
My mouth finds her jaw, leaving a trail of light kisses.
Her eyes flutter closed, her body arching almost instinctively into mine.
My hand slides higher beneath her shirt without thought, drawing slow circles just below her breast. She hums into my shadows, the tether between us pulled taut, leaving us both breathless.
“Next time he touches you…” I release my shadows from her mouth and lean in, just enough to brush my bottom lip across hers, a whisper of a kiss I ache to take but can’t. “Remember how this feels.”
Fuck. I hate that I want to kiss her.
Her eyes snap open, narrowing as she jerks beneath me. “Go to hell, Reinheart.”
My shadows melt away from her wrist with surprising reluctance as she slumps back against the wall. I exhale slowly through my nose and I step away, “I’m already there.”
She glares, her fury blazing bright enough to burn straight through me. “You think this damn bond gives you the right to touch me?” she spits, wiping the corner of her mouth as if my touch were poison.
My voice sounds rougher than I intend, like the words are scraping my throat raw. “It gives me nothing but torment. I’d break it in a heartbeat if I could.”
Her lips curl into a humourless smile. “I couldn’t agree more. So why don’t we agree to stay the fuck away from each other?”
For a moment, neither of us speaks. There is only our breathing and the muted thud of her heart pounding in my chest.
Then I give a single, slow nod.
She draws herself up at once, chin high, every inch the defiant woman she was raised to be.
“Great. Stay away from me, Reinheart.” She warns, voice trembling with anger. “Next time you touch me, bond or not, I’ll slit your throat.”
Her eyes flash a silent promise of violence, and then she’s gone, storming toward her room, boots striking hard against the wooden floor. The door slams and the bond snaps taut, thrumming between us like a curse.
I sink onto the couch again, fingers digging into my hair. The scent of her still lingering in the air, roses laced with defiance. I can’t tell which part of me hates it more… the man or the monster.