Page 48 of Ties of Starlight

She then looked back over her shoulder to see everyone else was still far enough back not to be able to hear. Sheturned to him again, lowering her voice, and the spike of panic eased. “I mean, you're a result. I must have done something in this life, or it's a consequence of what I did in the last. He may not remember, but he can feel it. It explains the letter. He could tell there was something wrong with me.”

Nyrunn couldn't help the noise he made in the back of his throat. Idonea shot him a confused look, and he swallowed his words. To be fair, his protests were based on his feelings for...

He was far out of his depth. Had he actually had any feelings for Idonea or just who he thought she was? Could he have truly loved someone so complex, only having just barely scraped the surface? Really, what had he known about her when he’d decided he loved her? A few years that didn’t even come close to one seventh of the total lives she’d led? The mask she wore to hide the six other women she’d been?

She was as deep as the ocean and as vast as the night sky.

She was a killer.

“So… what does this mean?”

Idonea shrugged. “I guess now we figure that out.”

Nyrunn fell silent. That was... more than enough for the moment.

Idonea took a deep breath, nodded, and faced ahead again.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye.

Soulmate.

She'd called the cad who said absolutely vile things about her and left her at the altar her soulmate.

Still.

Of course she did. Olaug wasn't someone she had beenin love with a few years. He was the one she'd loved all her life. In every life.

Although Nyrunn himself could not fathom how someone could say such despicable things about their own soulmate and then run off, not to mention the number of times he'd cheated on her.

He was a bump on the road.

The latest obstacle.

What hope did he have of competing with the love of all her lives?

Chapter 18

Idonea was surprised at how well Nyrunn had taken everything. To be fair, she'd never had anyone to measure by, but she'd never anticipated it would go so well. She'd always imagined there would be more claims of insanity, being locked up, turned into some kind of spectacle to be studied by physicians. Things of that nature.

Although, she supposed that wasn'toffthe table. He could just be putting on a good face for now since no matter what they needed to finish the ceremony, then he might declare her insane and have her locked up. Which meant she needed to get ahead of that.

They’d fallen into silence as they rode, still far ahead of the group.

She could feel the turmoil swirling on the other end of the bond. She was highly tempted to use the time to put another wall up, but given her precarious situation, any intel on what Nyrunn was thinking—or rather, feeling—could be crucial.

But it also meant being subject to him making use of itas well, like he had that morning, using that strange feeling to calm her down.

She’d known it was possible. Every lifetime the Constella mentioned it, but she’d never experienced it before, the person on the other side using their memories and emotions to comfort her.

Of course, it was in Nyrunn’s best interests to placate her. If he believed her, that meant he was stuck with a murderer who could snap at any moment and kill him. If he didn’t believe her, then he was stuck with a madwoman who believed she was six other women as well.

She watched Nyrunn out of the corner of her eye.

The silence continued to stretch on and on, the sun having crested past its peak hours before. It would start setting soon. They’d been silent longer than he’d been questioning her.

How much time did an elf need to think?

If he didn’t believe her, why wasn’t he asking her questions to poke holes in her story? Asking her things she could only know about his father or uncle if she’d been alive when they were near Nyrunn’s age?

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