Page 75 of Upon Shattered Bonds

“Nina, I know what changed the day of the wedding.”

“Oh?”

Her nails gently traced a nonsensical pattern into his chest. Eyes closing briefly, he savored the contact, delighting in her open affection and the warmth of her body next to his. But he knew honesty was necessary, even if it meant her anger.

“At the wedding, I heard you sing, Nina.” Gruff, his voice pitched lower, the confession wringing from his throat. “I fell in love with you all over again and realized I could never let you go. I am the reason this happened. I am the reason the future changed.”

The apology on the tip of his tongue threatened to spill over, but Nina put him out of his misery.

“Would you like me to sing for you again?”

Relief made him sag against her, the respite from crushing guilt letting him breathe again. “I would love that, mon cœur.”

By the time the newly mated couple made their way to the particularly fraught group of Raeths in the common room, it was to surprised silence. They’d cordoned off on either side of the room, but lines weren’t drawn on clan ties.

Zeke pinned Tzuriel with an incredulous look. “And what do we have here?”

Guilt colored his expression before he eyeballed Kaien like they were partners in crime. “A little disagreement that has since been solved by your awakening, sovereign.”

“About what, exactly?” Nina asked.

“About taking you back to your respective territories,” her twin replied, breathing out a sigh that said he’d eagerly be done with the conversation. “Are you okay, Nina?”

She nodded and approached her twin to envelop him in a hug. At the same time, Tzuriel caught Zeke by surprise with his own embrace.

Retreating after the short brotherly hug, Tzuriel held him at arm’s length with a stern expression. “Zeke, I swear if you ever almost die again, I’ll kill you.”

He nodded, feeling guilty. “Nina wasn’t the reason this happened. I was.”

“You?” Das was wholly unconvinced. “They attacked her.”

“When I heard her voice at the wedding, I fell in love.” Zeke raised his eyebrows for emphasis. “The reason they attacked her was because the future altered, and they figured she was the easier target.”

“And how wrong they were,” Tzuriel muttered.

“So, you almost got our sovereign killed because of feelings?” Remmus’ telltale sarcasm had Zeke’s lips quirking up at the ends.

“Yes, Remmus,” was his bland reply. “Feelings. I’d hazard a guess and say you’re unfamiliar.”

A shot of heat singed the other Raeth’s expression, but Remmus never lost the humor in his eyes. Instead, Kaien nudged him with his elbow. “Keep that up and you’ll lose your spot as number three. Zeke is our ‘co-sovereign’ now.”

Hemin cleared his throat. “Yes, how exactly will that work?”

Exchanging a heavy look with Nina, Zeke shrugged. “We’ll work it out.”

Kaien’s mouth dropped open. “We’ll work it out? What does that even mean? Shouldn’t we be diving into the new network and identifying weaknesses?”

Tzuriel answered instead of Zeke. “You need to learn to chill, Kai. Don’t worry; we can work on it.”

“And, in the meantime,” Arya said, “do we simply go about our lives as though nothing has changed?”

“Everything has changed.”

Nina straightened, placing her palm against Zeke’s chest to feel the steady beat beneath it. The contact was steadying, and he savored every second of it.

“We can’t pretend that our lives will be the same moving forward,” she said. “But we survived. Our clans are intact. Our way of life will undoubtedly be different as a result of our mating, but what we do, we’ll do together.”

Nina drew in a deep breath and continued, “Our path here may have been untraditional, but we’ve cleared the road. Neither Zeke nor I were faultless, me least of all, but I intend to spend every day making it up to him.”

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