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ZARIA

My words had stunned him. It was clear on his face. But I was tired of the not knowing, the constant push and pull. The passionate kisses we’d stolen when emotion took over, followed by long periods of nothing. The night at the inn before everything changed.

I needed to know if it was all in my head.

I’d had enough, and if the attention of a relative stranger was what it took to push him into admitting there was more between us, I would not waste it.

“If you and your mate continue staring like that, we are all going to think you’re talking about us, you know.” Jaxus laughed.

Nyx shot him a hard look.

There was that word again.

“Why does everyone keep calling me that?” I asked him mind to mind, not caring what the rest assumed we were discussing. I wanted to have this conversation privately.

“We shouldn’t discuss this here,” he replied curtly.

“Answer my question, Nyx,” I demanded, just needing to know now.

Conflict flickered in his eyes before he pressed them closed. “Fuck.”

“Nyx?”

When he reopened his eyes, they were filled with trepidation. What was happening?

“Sol, I wanted to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” What was I missing?

He exhaled harshly. “We are fated mates. Bonded. I don’t know how else to explain it to you. Those ties that connect us, they connect us in every way. You are mine, and I am yours, and every dragon here knows it because it’s a primal bond. They can sense it.”

“You mean...” There was a phrase for it in my village. “Folie a deux.”

His face twisted in confusion. “What does that mean?”

“I think the direct meaning is something like ‘madness shared by two.’ It’s a term I’ve heard in stories told by the field workers. But they weren’t real, just fireside tales. We can’t…”

But as I tried to deny it, it echoed in my head a whisper of truth. Could we be? My mind reeled.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“When? I wanted to tell you a thousand times, but when would it have been a truth you were ready to hear?” Sadness seemed to grip him.

“You should have told me from the beginning, Nyx.”

“How do you think that would have gone over? I kidnapped you from your village, and you had to learn magic in a world you don’t believe is real, and guess what? You’re my mate! Mine forever. Tied to me so completely, you’ll never have another. It seemed cruel, and you’ve never had a single choice that’s genuinely yours in all your life.” He looked at me pleadingly. “I wanted to be it, Sol. The choice you made for yourself.” He sighed. “If I told you it was fated, you’d never believe it was your decision.”

“And what if I chose another because you didn’t tell me?” If we were fated, I doubted I could really choose another, but I needed to hear what he thought he would do.

“I would have lived with it. It would kill me, but all I want is your happiness.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re an idiot. Do you know that?”

He flinched, closing one eye. “I deserve that.”

“Yes, you do.”

Neither of us said anything for a long time.