Page 146 of Between Soul and Vessel
What if she found us?
What would she do to Shadow for helping me?
My stomach churned at the thought.
“We should stop for a small break,” Shadow said, slowing our pace, those worried eyes on mine. He’d lost his mask in the river, something I wasn’t sad about. It was nice to see his handsome face, scars and all.
Lungs wheezing, I nodded at the male who was in much better shape. I stopped and leaned forward, tossing my forearms against my thighs as I gulped down breaths of air.
The forest floor was full of broken twigs, decomposing leaves, and various plant life. It was all part of a cycle of life and death—from soil to plant to animal to mortal and back to the ground again. Without the breakdown of the dead, the living could not flourish. One needed the other, and we allwere connected to it, whether we liked it or not.
“Here,” Shadow said, extending his arm, offering me the waterskin he’d pulled from the satchel.
“Thanks.” I panted as I straightened, taking it from him. For a brief moment, our fingers brushed, and my lungs turned to stone in my chest, frozen by that one little touch.
Shadow looked down at his fingers and I wondered if he felt it too—
“Do you think . . .” I trailed off, the last part of my sentence dying on my tongue, slaughtered by fear. Fear that if I spoke the words, if I put the thought out there only to find out he didn’t feel it too—
“I’ve suspected it for some time now,” he said, his words an ax to my doubt, severing me from it.
I took a slow, shaky breath. So I wasn’t the only one. I knew the odds, that the bond had become extremely rare after the emperor died, as he had been its primary driving force. But every so often, a star would fall from the sky on its own accord and shatter into two when striking the ground, thus creating a new pair of bonded mates. The connection between Shadow and I was so strong, it was hard not to wonder if we were.
I took a drink from the waterskin, wiped my mouth, then asked, “When did you first start to wonder?”
“When I was a teenage boy,” came his answer. His firm jaw pulsed. “It was the day your mother officially introduced you to court.”
Pressure built on my brow, lowering it as I tried to think back to that day, but the time that had passed between thenand now had rendered the memory full of cobwebs, the picture faded and cracked. And it seemed so strange because that had been a monumental day in my life, and yet, I remembered so very little of it.
“That was centuries ago,” I stated, grappling with what he was telling me.
“It was, but I still remember it as if it were yesterday, because that was the first time I really felt seen.” He stepped closer to me, the twigs crunching under his sandals. “I was standing by the empress’s throne, watching from above as you bowed before her. When you raised your head, your eyes met mine. And in that brief moment, it was as if you had removed the mask from my face, peered past the scars and damage, and saw the person inside. It was like your soul was speaking to mine.” He gave a soft shake of his head. “Ever since that day, I’ve wondered if we are . . .”
“Bonded,” I finished, taking a step forward and closing the distance between us.
There was a brief pause when neither of us moved.
The small moment before the spark erupted.
A breath. A glance. A striking of a heart.
A wish. A need. A hunger like no other.
We caved—and we collided. I dropped the waterskin and encircled my arms around his neck as he kissed me with fervency, his tongue lashing against mine. Years of pent-up desire ignited the flames of passion between us.
“We shouldn’t,” he said between kisses.
“We should,” I countered, tipping my head back, offering him my neck. My fingers wove into the ravenstrands poking out at his nape. I was tired of longing for him, and now that we were free, I wanted to know what the weight of his body felt like on top of mine.
His hands slid down my torso, roving over every inch of me, exploring and learning. The silk of my chemise, which was lighter than a feather, became very, very heavy, scratchy too, as if it were made of wool. I needed to get it off.
I reached for the hem, but his fingers stopped mine.
He pulled back. “Have you ever lain with another before?”
“No,” I answered him honestly.
A muscle kicked in his jaw. “You deserve better than this.”
