Page 87 of Of Wind and Terror

None of the princes have asked me to use my powers. Maybe at first, that was their intention, but now? Treyton and Blaze both actively insisted I never use my gift because they didn’t want to see me hurt.

Was that just an act? A way to get under my defenses? Slither their way into my heart?

“I knew from the first vision,” Blaze tells me, his features grave. A muscle in his jaw twitches nearly imperceptibly. I imagine he doesn’t like being vulnerable in front of Treyton and Aleksander. “When we were standing on the two platforms. Do you remember?”

My brows shoot up in surprise. “I thought that was just a dream or a hallucination! I didn’t know you experienced that too.”

I turn towards Treyton for confirmation, and he nods once.

“I did some research, and some scholars believe that the platforms represent your souls. It’s only when the two fae meet in the center of the bridge does the mating bond complete. It represents a merging of souls, when two become one.”

And I haven’t ever dared step foot off my platform. I certainly didn’t walk across the bridge towards the males in question.

But…

But they weren’t the only two I shared that vision with.

Images of Calan pop into my head, and trying to stop them would be like halting the ocean’s waves with my bare hands. Some things are impossible to do.

Instead of voicing that to the three males in front of me, I turn towards Aleksander. “I never had that vision with you.”

I narrow my eyes in a silent accusation.

Treyton reluctantly translates for the elf, who simply grins at me in response.

“Ah. Those platforms, or whatever they’re called, are a part of fae mating rituals. Elves don’t have that. We simply…know.”

“Know?” I arch an eyebrow.

“It’s a feeling in our chest. When I saw you, I wanted to protect and care for you, despite being sent to capture you. I couldn't look away—no pun intended.” He chuckles, no doubt remembering the period when he was blind. “It’s only when I got to know and talk to you did I realize the bond went deeper than simple attraction. You are my mate.” He shrugs, as if his words don’t completely obliterate the world as I know it. “I’ll die for you. Kill for you too. My loyalties used to belong solely to the Elvin royal family. Now, they belong to you. Only you.”

I swallow. “Is that why you killed that elf?”

I still remember standing in those tunnels beneath Gaia’s temple, Patric unconscious at my feet and Aleksander standing in front of me. In his hand, he held the head of an elf I spotted following me and Calan.

“Apparently, I was taking too long to bring you in.” Aleksander’s chuckle is dark and devoid of any true humor. “My…employers, so to speak, hired the elf to check in on me. And to take you, if I were to fail.” He shrugs yet again, a lazy, arrogant gesture that belies his tension. “I took care of him. Did you not like the present?”

I rub at my forehead, hoping to fend off the encroaching migraine.

“I don’t know what this all means,” I sign at last, focusing first on Treyton, then Blaze, and finally Aleksander. “It’s a lot to take in. I’m not sure I want to be your mate.”

Treyton flinches as if I slapped him, Blaze nods gravely, and Aleksander simply grins.

“I’m always up for a challenge, cherub.”

I ignore him and contemplate my next words. I don’t want to talk about Calan or even Draven. Nor do I want to mention the strange fae I felt connected to in Draven’s dungeons.

But I know I have to.

Focusing on my hands—on the way my fingers twitch and contort to form words—I sign, “You three may not be my only mates, if what you said about the platforms is true.”

“Did you have…?” Blaze swallows and begins again. “Did you have visions like that with other males?”

“It was with Calan, wasn’t it?” Aleksander asks, sounding unsurprised.

“Calan?” Treyton barks, his tone incredulous.

“The fucker who kidnapped you?” adds Blaze.

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