Page 52 of The Curse of a Kingdom
“We are connected and have been so for a year—actually, more like a decade.”
“My magic is the complete opposite of yours,” he growled. “I’m not at all one of you.”
“Maybe that’s the point!”
His lips tightened into a flat line. “If we are, why can’t I hear him?” he challenged, pointing a finger at the Beekeeper.
Silence came over them again, and Nava turned her face toward the tall, treelike creature. “Aristaeus says you don’t let him in—not like I do. He says you have a block in your mind, that you've learned to shield against him communicating with you. Willing or unwilling—”
“I don’t want to hear any more of this nonsense,” he said and paced away. Not ten minutes ago, he had been deep into thoughts so dark, she would shiver over them. He didn’t deserve to be even near these two, let alone protect them.
She cleared her throat once again. “You had dreams of us, right? Maybe those weren’t dreams . . .”
Here it was again, the damn memory loss that didn’t leave him alone.
“Stop.” Arkimedes lifted a hand, while the other rubbed a circle on his forehead.
“Shh.” She shot the Beekeeper a pointed look. “Arkimedes, there is a reason—”
“I said I don’t want to hear it,” he snapped. “We should head back. I don’t want the king to send guards looking for me and realize we both left the grounds. It will be bad if he gets suspicious.”
“He is already suspicious of me.” Nava lifted her arms over her head, groaning in frustration. “He knows I was with you when he took you.” She let the words die on her lips, and they both stared at each other.
“Nava.” His voice sounded broken even to his own ears. He hated that sound.
Unlike anything his father had told him these last four months,thisfelt like the truth. That alone had his body shaking as it mixed with utter exhaustion. The thought of having lost a decade of his memories was an out-of-this-world notion. Hehadseen them before.
Nava and Aristaeus were familiar in a way they shouldn’t be. Devon’s distance toward him was like there was a wedge between them that hadn’t been there before. The extra scars he’d found on his body didn't lie.
With how much his father needed him to be here in this kingdom, it was no surprise that the king would go as low as to erase Orion’s memories.
It made sense, but it still deviated him from his original goal, which was to find answers as to why he’d been abandoned. Why his mother had been killed, and all that had led him here. To have ten years of memories gone.
He didn’t have time for strange bonds and falling for his brother’s fiancée . . . if that’s what she was.
“We should go,” Nava agreed, turning to the creature. “We will be back, Ari.” She flinched at apparent words he couldn’t hear.
“What did he say now?”
“If you didn’t want to hear about our connection before, believe me—now is not the time for what he said.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
ORION
Orion had hated these woods ever since the ghost of his mother haunted his dreams. It was a daunting task to come every night and hunt for arson when he knew the darker secret that lay behind. As he got closer to the spot he hated the most, his heart pounded alongside the building headache.
He needed a distraction.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, glancing back.
“Tired.” Nava’s brows twisted as she took in his features. “How about you?”
Apparently, she could read him like an open book. Did this have anything to do with the supposed bond they shared? He sure as hell couldn’t read her that well, but now he was wondering if he had been able to. Magical bonds came in all shapes and strengths.
The bond a shifter had with their claimed mate, forged with a bite at the time of selection. The bonds witches had with their covens. The bonds of brotherhoods and sisterhoods, formed with blood spells. Then there was the myth of a soulmate, chosen by the gods themselves. The only chance a soul had to find their other half.
This supposed bond Nava had blabbered about sounded a whole lot like a soulmate bond, except the creature was dropped in there, and Orion believed in soulmate bonds about as much as he believed the king’s lies.
