Page 20 of Faeheart (Widdershins Supernatural Academy #2)

Wild

S omething was still buzzing in the back of my mind.

Ever since my frotting session with Elias the night before, I couldn’t shake it.

Our magical bond had deepened, of that I was certain.

But there was something else… a calling that I couldn’t quite place.

It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced, and it made me strangely uncomfortable.

So, like I usually did, I pushed it away and covered it up, trying to focus on the books in front of me instead.

We’d all gathered in Lydia’s library after a rather awkward breakfast, where none of us could quite meet each other’s eyes.

The ethereal servants had provided an impressive spread of food that materialized on the dining room table as if summoned by our collective hunger, but the meal had been punctuated by uncomfortable silences and the occasional spike of residual arousal through our bond whenever someone’s thoughts wandered to the night before.

Now, surrounded by floating books and the gentle hum of ancient magic, I was desperately trying to lose myself in Lydia’s research.

The emerald green journal lay open before me, its pages filled with meticulous notes about triune bonds and magical theory that should have fascinated me.

Instead, I kept finding myself stealing glances at Elias, who sat across from me with the midnight blue volume, his dark hair falling across his forehead as he read.

The strange buzzing in my mind intensified whenever I looked at him, like a tuning fork struck against crystal.

It wasn’t unpleasant, exactly, but it was persistent and utterly distracting.

Every time our eyes met, even briefly, the sensation would spike, and I’d feel something shifting in the very fabric of our bond.

“This is incredible,” Caden said suddenly, breaking the contemplative silence.

He held up the amber journal, his blue eyes bright with excitement.

“Lydia documented everything about her relationship with Sorrel. Listen to this. ‘ The fae bond runs deeper than mere magical connection. It’s as if our souls recognize each other across the barriers of realm and species, calling to something ancient and primal that predates the separation of our peoples .’”

Atlas looked up from where he’d been reading over Caden’s shoulder, his golden eyes thoughtful. “That sounds familiar. Pack bonds work similarly. There’s recognition that goes beyond conscious choice.”

“What about your journal, Wild?” Elias asked, his voice carefully neutral, though I could feel his curiosity through our connection. “What does it say about fae bonding specifically?”

I glanced down at the green leather volume in my lap, its pages seeming to shimmer with their own inner light. The text was written in multiple languages: English, Old Fae, and scripts I didn’t recognize, with diagrams that moved and shifted when I wasn’t looking directly at them.

“It’s... complex,” I said, scanning the elegant script. “Sorrel writes about something called ‘ soul recognition ’. Apparently, it’s the idea that certain individuals are cosmically compatible, their magical signatures harmonizing in ways that transcend normal attraction or partnership.”

The buzzing in my head grew stronger as I read, and I had to resist the urge to look at Elias again.

Whatever was happening between us felt too big, too intense to examine closely.

I’d built my entire identity around keeping things light, fun, uncomplicated.

Deep emotional connections were for other people, people who didn’t have to return to the political machinations of the Seelie Court eventually.

“That’s almost exactly the same as a fated mate bond,” Atlas replied once I’d stopped reading. “Like word for word.”

“Fae don’t have fated mate bonds,” I said, shaking my head.

“We aren’t like shifters. We’re sort of our own thing.

I’ve heard of magical bonds created at birth for high-level members of the Seelie Court so they maintain power.

But my family isn’t powerful enough for that.

” I looked over at Caden and Atlas. “And no offense, but my family wouldn’t have chosen to bond me to any of you. ”

“No offense taken,” Atlas said with a dry chuckle. “I can’t imagine my father agreeing to such a thing, either. It took long enough for him to accept Caden. He’s probably gonna flip when he finds out about this tetrad.”

“But that’s just it,” Elias said quietly, his finger tracing a passage in his grandmother’s journal. “According to this, Lydia believed that some bonds aren’t chosen by families or politics. They’re... inevitable. Written into the very fabric of magic itself.”

He looked up then, his brown eyes meeting mine directly, and the buzzing in my head exploded into something that felt like recognition. Like coming home to a place I’d never been but somehow always known. The sensation was so intense I had to grip the arms of my chair to keep from falling.

“Wild?” Caden’s voice seemed to come from very far away. “Are you alright? You look pale.”

I couldn’t answer. Through our bond, I could feel Elias experiencing the same overwhelming rush of... something. Connection. Certainty. A rightness that defied all logic and made my carefully constructed walls feel suddenly flimsy and inadequate.

Destiny.

Suddenly, the feeling became far too overwhelming. I pushed myself up from the chair, the force sending it clattering backwards to the ground.

“I need some time to think,” I said, already heading towards the door.

But before I could reach the library door, Elias was there, his hand wrapping around my wrist. The moment our skin made contact, the buzzing sensation crystallized into something undeniable.

Images flashed through our shared consciousness.

They weren’t memories, but glimpses of something that felt like prophecy.

The two of us standing together in a place of impossible beauty, our magic intertwined so completely that we moved as one being.

The sight of my own face looking at him with an expression of such profound love, it made my chest ache.

“Don’t run,” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion. “Please. I’m feeling it too.”

I turned to face him, and what I saw in his brown eyes nearly undid me completely. Wonder, terror, and a dawning understanding that matched my own. Whatever this was between us, it was bigger than the tetrad bond, older than our individual magical signatures.

“This is impossible,” I breathed, though even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true. Nothing about our situation had been possible. The bond, this place, and the way our magic sang together like it had been designed for harmony… and even though it felt right, I couldn’t help being terrified.

“Is it impossible?” Elias asked, stepping closer. Behind him, I could see Caden and Atlas watching with expressions of fascination and concern. “Or is it just something we weren’t prepared for?”

The green journal in my hands began to glow, its pages flipping open of their own accord to a passage I hadn’t noticed before. Words appeared in Sorrel’s elegant script, as if he were writing them in real time.

When soul recognition occurs, the fae involved will experience what we call the Calling.

It is not mere attraction, but a fundamental reshaping of one’s magical core to accommodate another consciousness.

Fighting it causes pain. Accepting it leads to a bond deeper than any court magic or political alliance.

Bonds are ignited via proximity, an inexplicable magnetic attraction.

However, they are not fully formed until they are consummated in the fae’s true shape.

“Soul recognition,” I whispered, the words feeling both foreign and familiar on my tongue. “That’s what this is.”

Elias’s grip on my wrist tightened, and through our connection, I felt his fear warring with something that looked suspiciously like hope. “Are you saying we’re... fated mates?”

“Sort of?” I said, swallowing hard as I tried to process what was happening. “Fae don’t have fated mates like werewolves do. This is... different, but also similar.”

I could feel Elias’s pulse racing beneath my fingers where they touched his skin. Every point of contact between us sent waves of that strange buzzing recognition through my entire body.

“Then what is it?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Atlas moved closer, his protective energy flowing through our tetrad bond. “Whatever’s happening between you two is affecting all of us. It’s like your connection is... intensifying everything.”

“Soul recognition is rare,” I explained, struggling to find the right words as the journal’s revelations echoed in my mind.

“It’s not something arranged or planned.

It just... happens. The old stories say it’s when two magical signatures are so perfectly complementary that they can’t help but call to each other. ”

Caden joined us, the amber journal still clutched in his hands. “According to Lydia’s notes, she and Sorrel experienced something similar. Sorrel called it the Calling , like their souls were two halves of the same magical equation that had to come together to make them whole.”

Elias hadn’t released my wrist, and I couldn’t bring myself to pull away despite the overwhelming intensity of the connection. Through our bond, I could feel his methodical mind trying to categorize and understand what was happening, while simultaneously being swept away by the raw power of it.

“But we barely tolerate each other most of the time,” Elias said, though the words lacked conviction. “How could we possibly be... whatever this is?”

I laughed despite myself, the sound slightly hysterical. “Maybe that’s why we drove each other crazy from the start. We were fighting this.”