Page 2

CHAPTER 2

KAIDEN

Impossible . How could my mate be a human? I’m a highborn lord and a distant relation of the royal Brossnin family. I’d always expected to match with a fae female who possesses at least as much royal blood as myself, a female whose powers are comparable to mine.

I place a hand over my aching heart and wish I could rip out the unbreakable tether the gods have placed between us.

My chest hurts. Being away from Mira is painful.

I replay the words she spoke earlier in the castle. Mira Ambrose, last of my household. Twenty-Six Sunflower Lane. I offer ten pieces of silver.

She’s alone. She’s an enchantingly beautiful female alone in a war-torn city filled with lusty fae males, most of whom would probably like nothing more than to make sport of her.

Fucking gods, she’s alone and I left her unprotected. I returned to the castle without placing any wards around her house.

Shame courses through me, and I leave my place on the dais and exit the castle. Watching the defeated humans offer their tributes is boring business anyway, and I’m not certain my ears can take any more of the high-pitched screams and pitiful sobbing. If they didn’t want to be conquered by my people, perhaps they should’ve refrained from attacking us first.

It's nearly dark when I emerge from the castle, and I shoot into the sky and head for Sunflower Lane. Mira’s house is easy to spot, as it rests at the end of a long, wide road, and it also happens to be one of the largest properties within the walls of the human kingdom. I land quietly just inside the gate, vanish my wings, then rush to the only illuminated window in the cottage. I place an invisibility shield around myself just before I press my face to the glass.

There she is. Seated on a plush chair in front of a crackling fire… sharpening a set of knives. How very interesting. Her methods are clumsy, however, making me suspect she’s not skilled with knives. But I’m further intrigued when she sets the knives aside, reaches for an ax, and drags the smooth piece of sandstone across the blade.

Firelight dances over her features, making her appear as an ethereal being. I muse that she looks like a forest nymph. Her long and gloriously wavy auburn hair hangs loose, reaching her lower back, and though she’s peering down right now, I recall her eyes are the most vivid green I’ve ever glimpsed. The white nightdress she’s wearing is perhaps only a shade or two lighter than her porcelain skin. Her face is beautifully flushed, and though I know it’s due to her exertions sharpening the ax, my groin tightens as I imagine she’s blushing for me .

I imagine she’s trembling beneath me on the forest floor, her wild hair spread out on the moss and leaves as she stares up at me with those pretty green eyes of hers. Heat pummels through me, all the blood in my body rushing southward as my pants become uncomfortably snug.

She glances up from her work, then sets the ax and sandstone aside. She rises to her feet and casts a cautious glance at the window. My heart thunders in my chest as she walks closer. She’s staring straight at me with a suspicious look, though I remind myself that the invisibility shield is still in place. She won’t see me unless I allow it.

Longing courses through me, though I try my best to push it away. She’s a human. A creature who doesn’t possess any power. It’s rare for a fae to be fated to a human.

I try to convince myself that perhaps she’s not my mate, perhaps I’m only imagining the pull between us, but there’s no denying the immense warmth that surrounds me when she steps directly up to the window, so close I can easily count the dark brown flecks in her eyes.

My scalp prickles and I get the sense that I’m floating. The urge to keep her safe surges within me, along with a murderous jolt of possessiveness. I want to slaughter every male who’s ever looked at her with lust before, and I want to keep her locked away from all other males until we have consummated our mating union.

But… a human . Could the gods be mistaken?

I give my head a shake, trying to banish the intense desire that’s threatening to burn me alive. I remind myself of the divination a head priestess once told my father regarding my future. He’d taken me to the temple not long before I began training as a soldier, intent to learn the name of my fated mate. Many of my people learn the identities of our mates this way, but sometimes the priestesses cannot provide a name. Sometimes they can only offer clues.

The words of the priestess echo in my head.

Lord Kaiden Valloc will take a mate from the far reaches of the realm, a female of great beauty and even greater power. It will be so.

I gaze at Mira, torn between hope and despair. She’s a great beauty, and yes we’re at the far reaches of the known realm, but she’s human and therefore has no power. Even if she were a witch, her powers wouldn’t come close to that of a fae.

She places a hand on her chest and peers out the window with a questioning look, and in my surprise, I nearly allow my invisibility shield to slip.

She detects my presence.

Wanting to verify her ability to sense me, I draw in a huge breath and flash into her living room, appearing directly behind her. Immediately, I fortify the shield, not wanting her to see me if she turns.

To my astonishment, she whips around and peers straight at me, her hand still over her heart.

“Hello?” She steps closer, and her sweet floral scent fills my nostrils and invigorates my senses.

Need clutches me. I want to touch her. I want to tangle my fingers in her long tresses. I want to kiss her and make her mine forever.

But I can’t. Each time she takes a step toward me, I back away.

No good could come from our mating union. To help protect my family’s holdings, I need a female whose power rivals my own. A fae female.

If I stay away and refuse to consummate our union, will the bond fade?

If I visit a temple and beseech the gods to reconsider, will they take mercy on me?

I think of my people, the regular faefolk who live on my family’s lands, those who depend upon more powerful fae like my father and me for protection. There’s a scourge of malevolent spirits called greshhlins inhabiting our lands, and it takes great skill to maintain the wards that keep our people safe, and even greater skill to fight the greshhlins during an outright attack.

Not only must I return home soon, but I must figure out a way to bond with a powerful fae female who will be an asset to my people. I think of the female soldiers who joined in the battle against Trevos, trying to summon warmth as I picture their faces in my mind. But it doesn’t work. The only female who brings me warmth is Mira.

Distance. Perhaps if I place a great distance between us, the bond will shatter and the gods will place a different female in my path, a powerful fae one.

I cannot fail my father or my people, and I must honor the memory of my mother by doing what’s right. Claiming a human would be foolish. Disastrous.

I draw in a long breath, savoring one last inhale of Mira’s delicious scent, then depart her living room in a flash of light she doesn’t see, returning to my previous location on the porch. The moment I glance through the window at her, she turns to face me again and mouths, “Hello.”

The prospect of leaving her fills me with so much agony, my body physically aches, and a blazing pain sears my chest. Everything inside me calls out to stay with her and claim her, and yet I cannot.

I retreat from the window and lift my hands. Tingles sweep up and down my arms as I place a protective ward around her home. I wish I had the ability to place the ward directly around her, rather than her home, but very few fae possess powers so great. After summoning wings, I jump-fly over the fence that circles her property, then place an additional protective ward around her property.

There. It’s done. No one will be able to set foot on her land or enter her house unless they are specifically invited by Mira herself. The wards will even keep fae out. Well, everyone except for me. Not that I’m planning a return visit.

Distance, I remind myself. I must do whatever I can to shatter the bond.

A dark thought strikes me. Humans have such short lifespans in contrast to my people, though humans who mate with fae tend to live about as long as their mates because they absorb their mate’s magic. If we never consummate our union, her time in this realm will end well before mine. Then what? Will the gods eventually match me with a fae female?

My gaze is drawn to Mira’s lovely silhouette in the window. A growl borne of frustration leaves me.

I shoot into the night sky and welcome the cold winds.