Bonus Chapters
Rionan
In The Rinniel – Porthan
Rionan lay awake in the darkness, staring upwards. Sleep had not yet found him. Alianna was curled up against him, the warmth of her bare skin radiating from her.
She was so peaceful. He listened to her soft breaths, even and unburdened, as she slept with her head on his chest.
Rionan ran a hand over his face and placed it on her waist. He processed the thoughts churning inside his head and the new feeling weighing heavily within his chest.
Rionan had not experienced this magic himself before, but he was no fool. Every Xanthian had heard of how it feels when some of their most sacred magic takes hold and intertwines you with another - one of the very few magics that he had no control over.
Rionan knew others who were soul-bonded.
Thallax was bonded. He knew how hard it hits, because he had witnessed his friend go through a stage of intense, protective obsession.
Thallax had told him of how it feels all-encompassing.
How you feel like separate beings, and two parts of one whole, at the same time.
But Alianna was mortal.
Rionan closed his eyes slowly, exhaling a deep breath.
She was mortal.
He would not allow himself to regret this or question it. Not for one moment. The bond between them was sacred. Precious. Sought after between Xanthians. And she…she sparked something in him that he could not describe. She was perfection, in every sense of the word.
But a mortal.
One hundred years was a fraction of a Xanthian’s lifespan. It was all of hers. More than all of it.
There were things he could do about her mortality, of course. He was one of the very few who could change this.
It would need to be her choice. Which would be difficult to explain. Difficult to ask of her.
How could he ever ask that of her?
What did she even believe they were? Friends? Lovers? Something more?
Would she feel this intensity within her chest when she awoke in the morning? Or would this bypass her, as a human?
She still thought his name was Max.
Rionan was many things, but deceitful was not a way he would describe himself. Shame washed over him, knowing that Alianna felt something so strongly for him – which he reciprocated – that it had invoked binding Xanthian magic. Yet, she didn’t even know his true name.
Alianna stirred in her sleep, shifting her weight against him and draping an arm over his abdomen. Rionan savoured the quiet of this moment and the intimacy of their closeness.
Once again, he resigned himself to the fact that he would need to come up with a plan. This time, the plan would involve explaining all of this to her.
How many plans was he supposed to be working on, currently?
Tomorrow.
This one could wait until tomorrow.