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“If there are more dishes, you can do them yourself.”

That earned me a twitch of his mouth. “We are going to train.”

I’d have rather done dishes.

* * *

“We aren’t far enough away.”

“Yes, we are. No one can hear us, see us, or smell us up here.”

We were, actually, very far away. We’d hiked for an entire hour to reach this spot, Arran leading the way. He must have found it while tromping around in his beast form.

It was isolated, along a ridge that overlooked the plains below. In the distance, I could see a herd of the thick-hided beasts, as well as the village where Osheen and Maisri were shopping.

Sparse shrubby trees lined one side of the ridge, shielding us from sight.

It was as good a spot as any. But I was sweaty from the climb, while simultaneously cold from the wind, and while I knew I needed to train, I didn’t want to.

I edged closer to the ridge, peering down. The drop was far enough to be deadly for a human, dangerous for a fae.

“What if I disappear over the edge?”

“Then I will be annoyed that I have to climb down and retrieve you.”

I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat, wishing Arran’s sarcasm had any effect at all. Only because it was just the two of us, and we were far enough away that no one could see or hear or smell, did I whisper, “What if I disappear entirely?”

Arran’s eyes cut to me. He’d been surveying the terrain, that brilliant strategic mind of his turning over whatever plan he’d concocted for me today.

But it all fell away.

His gaze narrowed in, focused on me with such ferocity, as if I was the only thing that mattered.

“I will find you, Veyka.” He caught a strand of white hair, loose over my shoulders, tucking it back behind my ear. “I will tear apart this world, realm after realm, until I find you. I will follow the bond, dig my own heart out of my chest to find that golden thread that connects us, and then I will use it to find you. I will never let you go. Not now, not in a thousand years. I am the greatest power Annwyn has ever seen. No one and nothing can keep you from me. Not even the void.”

My heart stopped beating.

Words and feelings rose in my throat, threatening to choke me. None of them were good enough. None of them could match the vow he’d made, the promise he didn’t flinch from, even when we’d said that none were required between us.

I drew in a shaking breath. “Well, then. I suppose that settles it.”

How could I not even try, after a statement like that?

Arran stepped back.

Did he know that I could hardly breathe with him so close? Did he feel the same?

I measured the distance with my eyes, comparing it to the feeling in my chest, that center where the mating bond lived. Maybe if I did it enough, I’d be able to place him at any given moment.

But it was a distraction, and Arran saw right through it.

“Focus,” he said, quiet but firm. A command. “Close your eyes and think about your power. Imagine it inside of you, flowing through you.”

I did as he said, letting my eyes float closed and trying to focus on the ember inside of me. I ground my heel into the grass. “It… that is not how it works.”

“Then tell me how it works.”

But he’d never dealt with anyone like me. I ground my teeth in time with my heel. “I don’t know. If I knew that—”