Page 78

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. He wanted to find you, too.”

“For some scheme of his, no doubt,” Arden said dryly, and she thought she saw him start to roll his eyes.

Lines formed between her brows as she realized that, although he was her uncle, he didn’t act like her senior. There was a spiritedness about him that made him seem youthful. But if he knew Hadeon before the fae wars, which happened fivehundred years ago, and one thousand years had passed here… Didn’t that mean he was at least a thousand years old?

Shrugging, she said, “Hadeon is many things, but he seems to be a male of his word.”

Why am I defending him?

Arden made a sound in the back of his throat that might have been a scoff. “I intend to speak with him at length very soon. But for now, tell me more about your mate.”

She licked dry lips, hesitating.

Did she dare reveal what Elias was? Had they figured out what Breckett was yesterday? She’d assumed Jessamine had told them when he needed to feed.

But more than that, Arabella wondered how the shadow fae viewed demons. They had likely faced countless demons since coming to the Abyss. Perhaps the dislike they’d had for the creatures of the dark had turned to hate—especially if the demons in the Abyss killed their friends and loved ones.

But if Arden agreed to help her, he’d soon learn what Elias was. There wasn’t a point in hiding it now.

“My people knew him as the Devourer,” she said, thinking of how—not so long ago—she’d run out of Shadowbank in pursuit of Elias when he’d returned Scarlett to them. How she’d wanted to kill him before he could take one of her sisters again. “Every ten years, he took an offering from my village. The enchantresses usually volunteered, and I was his latest offering.”

Head snapping toward her, Arden’s eyes widened. “Are you saying your mate is ademon?”

Rather than the disgust she’d expected to fill his tone, there was only surprise. Was that a hint of excitement she detected as well?

“He’s an erox,” she said. “A demon who feeds on the sexual desires of their prey.”

For a long moment, the prince stared at her, blinking in what she assumed was disbelief.

He’s in shock, she thought.Either that, or he’s thinking about kicking us out of these mountains at this very moment.

She wondered whether she’d have to fight her way back to her friends.

“Fascinating. Truly fascinating,” he rumbled.

She cleared her throat. “What?”

“Never in my twelve hundred years of existence have I heard of a demi-fae finding a mate, let alone mating with a demon,” he said, an odd twinkle in his gaze. “I’d always been told mating bonds were only possible between the fae—and occasionally demi-fae as well. Certainly not with any of the other races.”

“Um, thank you,” she said, uncertain how she was supposed to respond. After a moment, she added, “Can you tell me about mating bonds? I admit, I don’t know much about them.”

“They’re rare, as I said before,” he said. “Most mates can sense each other—how they’re feeling and where they are.”

She nodded. Those were things she’d experienced.

“They can also speak to each other, mind to mind,” he continued, and it took everything in her not to gape at him. “Or at least, full fae can. Perhaps demi-fae don’t have the same abilities. Or perhaps these things are only possible between two fae mates.”

A thought occurred to her.

“Is there a choice to accept a mating bond?” she asked. “Or is it fated once the bond is in place?”

His eyes turned to her, twinkling. “There’s always a choice. If one or both parties reject their pairing, the bond fades. But most of the time, the bond is accepted, and it forms a connection unlike anything in the natural world. I like to think of the mating bond as a sign that the pair is well matched.”

She nodded as countless questions peppered her thoughts. Before she could voice any of them, Arden spoke.

“Tell me about your parents.”