“What’s wrong, Jaren?”
Tightening his hold on her face, he shook her head, desperation clinging to him, “What did he call you?!”
She grabbed at his wrists, holding herself steady from his jarring movements. She could see Trey in her peripheral, creeping closer. His hand hovered over his sword, ready to intervene if necessary.
She continued gazing into those green eyes, so bright and still so familiar, seeing something there that brought the truth to her lips.
“He called me Vera.” Her eyes flickered down to his parted lips, and she could have sworn she felt tremors in the hands palming her cheeks.
“Veralie?”
She pulled back, feeling like he’d struck her, but his hands were still clutching her, holding her in place. Her eyes whipped up, wide, and her heart beat faster and faster. How did he know that?
She thought back over all their conversations. She’d never said anything that could have hinted at who she was. There was no way he’d know Vera was only a nickname unless he knew her from…before.
She forced her lips to move, “How do you know that?”
He relaxed his grip, and she felt a nervous warmth spread through her as his fingers caressed her scarred ears, his eyes never once leaving hers. She didn’t even think he’d blinked since grabbing her.
She tightened her grip on his wrists, “Jaren.”
Hearing his name seemed to snap whatever spell he’d been under, and he shook his head. “It’s not possible.”
His gaze dropped to her throat, a hand moving down to swipe a thumb across where she knew he’d seen her scar. His eyes flared, darkening. “I watched you die.”
Her world was spinning, her mind trying and failing to keep up with what was happening. “I don’t know what you mean. I have no memory of Bhasura, Jaren. Just random images that come to me in dreams.” She swallowed, “I don’t understand.”
Understatement of the century.
“They took you,” his voice cracked. “I watched my own blade slice your throat right in front of me. I failed you so horrifically that night, Veralie.” His voice was guttural and raw, “Apparently I’ve never stopped failing you. How could I not know—”
Her heart lurched. His pain was visceral, coating her and seeping into her pours. She didn’t know what he was talking about, not even a little, but the pain in his eyes was so acute she couldn’t ignore it.
Releasing his wrists, she stepped closer until her chest brushed against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He didn’t hesitate, his arms immediately snaking around her, one hand flat against her back while the other cradled her head under his chin.
“Okay, so…feel free to explain at any time.”
Vera raised her head at the sound of Trey’s voice. He stood awkwardly to the side and looked uncomfortable and confused. With a start, she realized they’d switched to Thyabathi, and she hadn’t even noticed. Her emotions had simply taken over, and she’d slipped into it naturally.
Releasing Jaren, she took a small step back, switching to the common tongue. “Tell me everything.”
JAREN
Her nervous smile destroyed him. His fingers twitched, desperate to hold her again, to kiss her and bury his nose in her hair, to completely lose himself in her. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, little star.” His resolve almost shattered when she sent a half-hearted glare up at him.
Veralie.
His aitanta.
She was his fucking mate. It was like the veil covering his eyes had been ripped off. Everything suddenly made sense—every single fucking thing. What he felt? That tug? It was their soul bond.
Emotion choked him, and he felt light-headed. It was weak and buried behind years of loneliness, but the bond was real. It existed. She existed.
She’d only been five when he last saw her. A child. She looked so incredibly different; he wasn’t sure if he ever would have seen it on his own. She was breathtaking and fierce, and his.
Mating bonds grew stronger over time, maturing as they aged into adulthood. How the bond felt to him as a child was different from how it felt now. Even weak, he could tell the difference. As kids, he’d felt compelled to comfort and protect her, but now as he looked down her form, his compulsions were far more possessive.
He was so sure he’d watched her die that night. He’d watched her bleed out before being knocked unconscious. When he’d awoken, his fathers were hovering over him, and her body and attackers were gone. Nothing remained but the scent of her blood on the floor.
Jaren had buried his heart under so much anguish and self-hatred; he never would have believed what he now felt so clearly, stupidly believing it to be lust. And now that he knew, he couldn’t think past his need for her. As his soul acknowledged who she was, it demanded he take her and complete their bond.
“I remember your eyes,” she said, pulling him from his thoughts. “I mean, I didn’t know it was you, but I sometimes dreamed of eyes just like yours.”
She frowned, her gaze unfocused. “When I first saw you, I had this overwhelming feeling like I knew you. I thought it maybe had to do with you being Magyki.”
Jaren cringed, thinking back to how close he’d come to ending her life in Midpath. Would he have known the second her heart stopped beating? Would he have been forced to stand there, helpless, watching her die all over again?
“Are we related? Is that why you’re so familiar to me?”
His head reared back, a choking sound leaving his throat.
“Gods, no, we’re not related.”
His chest thrummed with satisfaction at her look of relief. “We were raised together under my fathers’ roof, but not because we’re family. We’re more than that, Veralie. We’re mates.”
Her head tilted to the side, “What does that mean?”
Sadness swept through him. His little star had no real memory of him, no knowledge of her people, and no understanding of the profound connection they could form. As much as he wanted to rush with her, make up for the fifteen years they’d spent apart, he knew he’d have to go at her pace. She didn’t see him the way he saw her. Not yet.
“It’s something I can explain in depth later when we’re settled for the evening.” And alone. He looked over her shoulder at Trey, still hovering near them like a lost mutt.
Jaren couldn’t help but smirk when Trey looked at him. “It means that I am yours, and you are mine. The pull you feel deep in your chest? The impulse to be near me? It’s a soul bond. A connection between two Magyki that no one, and nothing, can replace.”
She looked at her feet, biting her bottom lip and causing his body to heat. He wanted to pull that lip into his mouth and experience what it was like to sink his own teeth into the soft, plush flesh.
“Then why didn’t you recognize it until now?”