Page 19 of Basilisk

“Xavier,” Bain said, voice dropping. “Was Clive in this vision you had about me?”

“Yes.”

That quiet answer froze the breath in his lungs. “I don’t understand why you never told me about this. Any of this.”

“Because I couldn’t.”

“Why?”

“You couldn’t know about Clive ahead of time because it could have twisted your destiny and stopped what’s about to happen.” Xavier paused. “I love you, Bain. And I want to see you reach the heights you deserve.”

Bain closed his eyes, working to bring his lungs under control. When he could finally speak, he whispered, “Are you saying that Clive is my soulmate?”

“Tell me something. What do you feel around him?”

Bain looked at his hands. “So much. It’s actually been hard to keep my hands off him, and I’ve never had trouble with clients before. But it’s more than that. I want to take care of him. In all ways.”

“And that feeling is powerful?”

“Like nothing I’ve felt before.”

“Then you have your answer, Bain,” Xavier said softly. “You are a lucky man. Keep your human safe.”

A painful thought hit Bain mid-center, one that had always stayed in the back of his thoughts through his long life. “But I’ll outlive him, Xavier. I’ll have to watch him grow old and die. I don’t think I could take that.”

“That’s the thing. As your true soulmate, he won’t grow old. He could still die, of course, as we all can. But it won’t be from old age.”

“How?”

“I can bind your souls, but they are already joining, and that connection will only grow stronger the more you’re together.” Xavier was quiet a few moments as Bain worked to take this all in. “You’re lucky that Clive doesn’t have any family that cares enough to notice him not growing old. It’s all going to work out, just as I saw in my vision.”

Bain couldn’t believe this. His heart raced with the kind of elation he’d never let himself feel, but that long-held fear still held him in its claws. He stared hard at his friend as something occurred to him. “Xavier, have you ever had a vision about yourself?”

“No, it doesn’t work that way. But I already know I don’t have a mate in my future.”

“How can you know that?”

This time, Xavier’s pause felt like an eternity, but Bain didn’t have the urge to strangle him because he knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.

“Because I already had one. And they died.”

Bain froze for a moment before he walked to his friend and stood close. “Xavier? You had a mate who died? Why didn’t you ever tell me? I’m the closest friend you’ve got!”

“Because I’ve never been able to talk about it.” Xavier met his gaze. “If I could have, it would have been you. You’re correct. There’s nobody I’m closer to than you. Your friendship has been my balm for many years and will continue to be so.”

“Who was she? Or he?”

A small smile pulled up one corner of Xavier’s lips. “He was a soldier. During a time and place where being with a man put us in more danger than the war we were a part of.”

“And which war would that be?” He had to ask even though he probably wouldn’t get an answer.

But Xavier surprised him.

“It was more of a series of blood feuds between families that eventually pulled in towns. It’s now referred to as the War of the Bands. I was living in western Basque Country, where I was born, and was pulled into the conflict because of my family’s standing in one of those towns. I had just met Aizo, and we fought together in countryside battles for years until he was killed. We had seven years together.”

“My knowledge of history is pretty good but I don’t recognize this at all. What year did he die?”

“1431.”

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