Chapter 10
KORMAC
This was it.
Time to die.
Could I blame him? Wouldn’t I do the same to him? Here was the accident, the
moment when—
He lunged forward and grabbed my hand as the ledge gave away again. With shocking strength, he dragged me up to safety, tumbling backward. I landed on top of him. It happened so fast, the wind knocked out of me.
Me on top of him, our bodies pressed together. Sweat ran down my nose, dripping onto his cheek.
He gazed up at me, panting, some of his silver hair stuck to his forehead.
“I’m sorry, Kormac,” he breathed. “I’m sorry I took so long.”
“You resisted.”
“Yes.”
“An accident.”
“Yes. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let you die like that.”
“Because of the soul bond.
“No,” he responded quickly. I saw his instant regret. “I mean… This is dangerous.”
A vibration in my chest, something I could only describe as shock.
He hadn’t saved me because he’d been forced to? Was that true?
He saved me himself.
Prince Valance.
Really?
I got off him, helping him up.
“I hate this place,” he said, pushing his luxurious hair back.
The sunlight brought out the violet tones in those silver tresses, a strange fire on his head.
“We can clear that gap,” he said, wincing.
“What’s wrong?”
“My head,” he answered. “It doesn’t matter.”
He was right about the gap left by the crumbling chalk. Easily leaped over, with enough room for a steady landing on the other side—hopefully with no more crumbles to test either of us again.
He saved me on his own…
“I’ll go first,” I said, not giving him time to answer.
I jumped over the gap, clearing it easily.
Waited for him. He leaped, hair flying behind him.
Time seemed to slow down, his hair billowing.
More of that strange violet fire streaking the air.
My arms thrummed with the need to open, to catch him, and embrace him because he’d saved my life without the soul bond.
Because he was beautiful and graceful, and I was clearly losing my mind.
“Kormac?”
To my surprise, he already stood beside me.
“Are you ready?” he asked. “I really want to get off this ledge before the spell breaks. Second chances aren’t bountiful.” His sharp eyebrows came together. He looked angry. And that expression didn’t change as he gestured to the way ahead. “Come on.”
“Okay,” I returned, confused more than anything.
We made it down the next set of precarious stairs to the wastes proper. No more snakes, no more accidents. The bags were still fixed to us, though some of the goods had been squished during the drama on the ledge.
He saved me.
We walked a little way into the wastes, pausing at a huge boulder of chalk several feet taller than me even if another me sat on my shoulders.
A strange thought.
In silence, we drank water, and I watched the needle of my compass.
He saved me.
His soft laugh before the snake attack sang in my mind. I looked up at him, at his sharp edges breaking down for a brief moment, even if he was still frowning.
“What is it?” he wondered. His brows unknit.
A softness spread to the rest of him as a ripple from a rock thrown in a pond. And now this caring side, him having saved my life when he could’ve let the accident play out until the bitter end.
“You saved me.”
He nodded.
“You saved me.”
“Stop saying that.”
“But you saved me. Not the soul bond.”
He huffed, rolling his onyx eyes. “What of it?”
“You did it.”
Frowning again. “Shall we start walking?”
“You’re not denying it,” I said.
He said nothing.
“You saved me.”
“Kormac… Please stop.”
“I’m confused.”
“Then don’t think about it.”
“You’re not denying it. Why?”
“Because it’s the truth, and I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can we please set off before the snakes get free?”
I blinked at him. “Do you think they’ll follow?”
“I do not want to find out.”
You saved me…
You saved me…
Heat rising, and not from the sun.
You saved me…
I watched him drink again, some of the water running down his chin. He caught it with his fingers, licked at stray droplets.
This man saved me with his own mind. His own soul.
Damn.
Insanity took hold of me. I launched myself at him, driving him into the wall. Pinned him by the arms, my eyes fixed to his. He gasped, his eyes wide with surprise. But he didn’t push back.
The space between us was narrow enough for his breath to tickle my lips.
“You saved me,” I said again.
“What are you doing?” he returned in a purr. At least it sounded like it in my ears.
A faint dizziness, the sun really beating down on my head. “I… I don’t know.”
I held onto him.
His chest rose and fell in time with mine, his penetrating gaze never breaking. Sweat ran down his face, ran down my back. Got into every corner of me and clearly him. We both stank of sharp onions and dirt, but that didn’t deter my cock from firming.
“You saved me, Valance.”
A shudder from him, spilling out of his lips. “Kormac…”
I grabbed him by throat, pressed my body as close to him as I could. He shuddered again, pressed his throat into my palm.
“Do it,” he said. “Take me.”
“I…” My cock pushed against my breeches, grinding into his crotch. His hardness was there. As hungry as mine.
“Do it…” he whispered again.
Could I do it? Should I do it? My head was a soup of heady lust and confusion. Nothing new there, but much more at the forefront. With an extra layer on top of this cake. A special layer. A layer that changed the flavor of our relationship.
“You saved me,” I said for the umpteenth time.
“I saved you,” he replied.
His hands were on my hips. It was my turn to shudder, pleasant pulses in the spots he held. Our bond liked this closeness, this bubbling passion to fuck. My cock liked it very much. But my heart—
I released him, backing off. “I’m sorry.”
His eyes were a night to smother the day. “You can have me if you want me.”
“I… I can’t do that.”
“It will make things hurt less.”
“What?”
“Sex as a form of medication,” he added.
“Papering over the cracks,” I said, running a hand through my sweat-damp hair.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. I just can’t.”
He took a step forward. “I shouldn’t have said anything.
“I shouldn’t have touched you.”
He rubbed at this throat. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
If he kept looking at me like that, my hand would be back on his throat with his legs wrapped around me and my cock buried in his princely ass.
I turned away. “We should get going.”
The moment was over. Whatever spell had claimed me was dead.