Page 103 of A Trial of the Heart

I glanced at my right wrist, where his bite mark scarred my flesh. “Not even the mage could heal this scar,” I mumbled, “because it was the mark of a mate bond. High Fae stake claims on their mates like shifters?”

“Rarely,” Daxton replied quickly, shifting uneasily, and rubbing the nape of his neck. “But that’s not exactly what I did to you.” He was quiet, letting this information settle before continuing. “Please don’t think I staked a claim on you that night; I honestly didn’t mean to bite you. It isn’t thetruemating mark of the High Fae. That act is performed with willing partners during more intimate moments together,” Daxton countered with a shadow of unease pooling in his eyes. “I researched your culture as best I could regarding this. Determined to understand your mating bonds and how they align withours. I was desperate to find explanations for why I was feeling the influence of our bond, and why you might not,” he added, his eyes cast downward.

“It’s because I haven’t—”

“Shifted,” Daxton finished for me. “That’s what I concluded.”

“Why did you do this?” I asked, holding my arm out between us.

“Instinct.” He almost sounded ashamed as he swallowed. “I was dying, and … there’s no real excuse. Just an explanation of why.”

“Instinct?” I repeated, shaking my head. “Wait.” I paused. “This? This was how you found me in the hunter’s lair. The mate bond led you to me?”

“Yes.” He nodded his head slowly. “There’s nowhere you could go that I wouldn’t find you. Even if our bond is not sealed… death itself would not keep me from your side. The bond would lead me to you. Once a High Fae recognizes their mate, even if the other rejects it, they will always have a vague sense of each other.”

Silence passed between us as I paced along the babbling brook, holding myself tightly and staring blankly at the ground.

“Skylar, please understand that I would never force this. I couldneverdo that to you. When you were chosen as the champion, it only complicated things more. I couldn’t burden you with another twist of fate that you didn’t ask for.” Daxton spoke with a sense of urgency laced with a dash of fear in his voice. “That’s why I didn’t say anything. Why I tried to keep my distance, and even when—” He froze, his voice becoming nothing more than a whisper. I turned to see every muscle of his body tensing. “Even when I forced myself to step aside and allow you the chance to find happiness in a life that didn’t include me. A chance torenounce your role as champion and mate another male. To keep you safe, I would force myself to step aside.”

Gods above. He was talking about Gilen and the loophole that allowed another shifter to take my place.

I recalled the night he left me his first letter. He’d picked up Gilen’s painted stone and placed it back into my hand. And then the morning after I refused Gilen’s claim, Daxton was a raging lunatic in the training field with Castor. The reason why he was so pleased to hear I had slept alone in the forest that night was now so clear. The violent interactions with Gilen during my last night in Solace.

It all made sense now.

Even if the mate bond was not sealed, the strength and willpower required to allow your mate to be claimed freely by another wasunthinkable. Yet he was willing to do that forme. To keep me safe. To find happiness if I should choose a life without him. I didn’t know what to say. His actions went beyond what words could articulate.

“But I couldn’t bring myself to stay away.” Daxton’s hand tentatively reached out to brush against my arm. “Our night together in Crimson City, I submitted to the feelings I had been trying to hide, but in the end … I could never stay away. The night before the first trial, I knew I would forever be at your mercy. I belonged to you.”

Everything he was saying … was true.

“And now,” Dax said, “hearing you confess those three words shattered every barrier I’ve fought to build, and I could no longer keep this secret. I’m yours, Skylar.”

I turned away and continued to march along the smooth stones that framed the gently flowing waters.Trying to wrap my head around the fact that Daxton was my mate.

My mate.

A half-human shifter mated to one of the most powerful High Fae in history. What the fuck kind of twist of fate was this?

“Skylar, say something … Anything,” Daxton pleaded, his hands splayed at his side with his stare bearing into me. “Yell at me. Ask all the questions I know you have spinning in that cunning mind of yours.” I marched along the meadow’s edge, wordlessly working through all this. “Fuck … please, just say something!”

“I love you, you idiot!”

Daxton’s expression softened as hope gleamed in his bright eyes.

“I meant what I said earlier, Dax. I’m not a fickle female who breaks down or runs away when things are …complicated.” I paused, and I swear the air itself froze between us, heavy like morning fog over the vast seas. “I love you,” I said, seeing his panic vanish. His chest heaved, as he finally allowed himself to take a full breath.

“I’m just trying to get a grip and understand all of this.” I glanced around the meadow and took in the beauty of the surrounding mountains, which sparked a faint memory or perhaps even a dream. “Wait. Where are we exactly?” I asked. “I… I’ve been here before.”

Daxton cautiously approached, placing his hands on my shoulders as he stood behind me. The warmth and comfort of his touch was exhilarating, and I couldn’t help leaning into him. My love for him was never in question, but the gravity of a mate bond was monumental. Practically unheard of outside of a species, but then again, I had always questioned if my existence stemmed from just that.

Had my father, a shifter, experienced a mate bond with my mother, a human? If the veil had not separated us, would more mate bonds appear between our species?

“This hanging valley is my sanctuary, comparable to the green sand beach for you,” Daxton said as his arms encompassed me in a fortitude of strength and support that made me confident enough to take on the world. “Remember me telling you about my work with plants and creating different types that would grow and bloom in the moonlight?”

“Yes.”

“The moondance flower. Your favorite, as I recall?”

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