Page 96 of The Shadowbound King

She looked at me with resolve in her eyes. When she turned back to Andrin, her voice was steady. “Yes.”

Relief spread over his features as he captured one of her hands and bent over it. “I’ll make sure you don’t regret it, my lady. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Whatever happens, you have a home in Autumn.”

My gut clenched, disquiet moving through me. Finding the Kree was our biggest obstacle. But it wasn’t the only one. Mirella was mortal. Nothing would change that. Even if she left Andulum behind and chose to stay bound to me, she would die eventually. It was Walto’s dilemma all over again. For whatever reason, the gods denied the gift of immortality to humans. Mirella and I could find the Kree and restore it to the Edeloak, and it still wouldn’t change the frustrating, bleak, and irrefutable fact that one day, Andrin and I would be forced to bury her.

She squared her shoulders, somehow managing to look as regal as a queen even with her hair tangled down her back and a sheet pressed to her breasts. “Thank you, Andrin. I might take you up on that.”

I bit my tongue before I could demand to know how she could even think of returning to Eftar. So many things were new between the three of us. The situation was delicate, and Andrin and I had already pushed her enough.

Besides, talk only went so far. I didn’t have Andrin’s pedigree or Othor’s thorough, careful education. But I knew that actions often spoke more forcefully than words. Maybe I couldn’t convince Mirella it was better for her to stay in the Embervale. But I could show her.

Moving closer, I rested my hand palm up on her thigh. “My sigils will appear on your throat. And…your eyes might change color.”

“They’ll become like yours,” she said, her own widening.

My throat tightened, long-buried memories stirring. My purple eyes had commanded a lofty price on the auctioneer’s stage.

“It’s not permanent,” I said. “You, um, don’t have to worry about that. You won’t look like a— Like me. Not unless?—”

“I like it.” Mirella took my hand and squeezed it. “Your eyes are beautiful, Rane.” Her smile was soft—and sad enough to let me know she understood the source of my hesitation.

“Thank you, my lady,” I said, my voice raspy.

She looked at our joined hands. “Will it hurt?”

“No, my lady.” Gripping her fingers more tightly, I summoned my magic. Shadows swirled in my mind, the shifting, black shapes so vivid I could almost see them. I let them build, my heart beating faster as restless energy swelled.

Drawing a deep breath, I closed my eyes—and then Ididsee it. Dark as night, it glittered in my mind, its center studded with something blacker than black. Hard to describe to anyone other than a Shadow Eater. The darkness was absolute. Beautiful.

Ipushedit, letting it stream down my body and into my arm. The darkness flowed, carrying my magic with it. Funneling it into my hand, Ipushedagain, envisioning it leaving through my fingers and wrapping around and around Mirella’s hand.

Heat built between our clasped palms. When I opened my eyes, shadowy feathers swirled up her arm. They climbed to her throat and settled into her skin, fading to a light gray. Her eyes didn’t change, but the bond was new. The purple might come with time. Something tugged in my chest. When she gasped, I knew she’d felt it too.

She was shadow-touched, bound to me with the lightest ties possible. For as long as our bond endured, I could cross into Andulum without losing my magic. And for as long as Mirella remained in Ishulum, she was subject to my commands.

“I won’t order you to obey me,” I said. “I would never?—”

“I know,” she said quickly. “I trust you.” Something fierce moved through her eyes. “Don’t make me regret it.”

The hair on my nape lifted, a shiver shooting down my spine. Arousal followed swiftly, and I lifted her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. “One of these days, Mirella,” I murmured, “you’ll learn that threatening me just makes me hard.”

She narrowed her eyes, but I got the impression she was trying hard not to smile. “What about when I stabbed you? Were you struggling not to orgasm?”

“You really want me to answer that?”

She lost the battle with her smile. “You’re terrible.”

Andrin tipped her chin up with gentle fingers, his blue eyes moving over the feathers and faint vines on her neck. “I like seeing Rane’s sigils on you.” He met her gaze, and his voice slid lower. “Almost as much as I like knowing his come is still inside you.”

She made a soft sound, that disarming blush making another appearance.

Andrin tugged the sheet from her fingers, baring her breasts. He pinched one of her puckered nipples. “Remember what I told you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Blue eyes flicked to me. “Come here.”

I obeyed, my blood pumping faster as I let him maneuver me onto my back with my body horizontal across the bed and my head almost hanging off the edge of the mattress. At first, I didn’t know what he wanted. Then he grabbed Mirella around the waist and settled her over my face with her ass facing him.

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