Page 25 of Veil of Shadows (Fae of Woodlands & Wild #2)

CHAPTER 25

Jax carried me from the bathing chambers, my body limp and sated. Internally, a new bond hummed inside me. Golden, beautiful strands danced within me, linking my soul to my mate’s. We were mated. Bonded. This was more than just a stag claiming a female, and there was no going back. I’d heard that mate bonds allowed you to feel the other, but I’d never known it would be like this .

I felt Jax’s presence, his very being, and his emotions strummed into me. Love. Satisfaction. Possessiveness. The ultimate victory.

Back in the bedroom, he set me down on the cool sheets, his eyes glowing like twin sapphires. He crawled in beside me and gathered me in his arms.

Soft kisses were pressed to my mouth, throat, cheeks, eyes, breasts, stomach...everywhere Jax’s mouth traveled, I felt his love filling me up, rolling through me like a warm spring coming to life after a harsh, cold winter.

My bond vibrated in contentment.

“We’ll figure this out,” he said softly. “I don’t care if my father and mother disown me. I don’t care if I’m dishonored among the Houses. I won’t give you up.”

I laid a hand on his cheek and nodded. “I’m not giving you up either.”

A soft knock came on the door, and Jax immediately growled and whipped the covers over me. Possessive energy strummed from him, and my insides curled as the extent of his protectiveness washed over me.

So this is what it’s like to be mated.

It was the only thought I had before Jax called, “Enter.”

The door opened, but Lars didn’t step over the threshold. The mid-afternoon sun shone on his scarlet locks, vibrantly highlighting them as he kept his face firmly positioned toward the floor. “We were going to head back to the clearing, and the others are wondering if you plan to join us?”

Jax nodded. “Yes, we’ll be out in a few minutes.”

But just as Lars was about to close the door, I called out, “Wait.”

The guard stopped but didn’t remove his gaze from his toes.

I clasped Jax’s hand tighter. “There’s so much going on here, Jax. So much we don’t understand, but we need to if we’re going to save your brother, and I don’t think returning to the clearing to continue our search is going to provide any further answers than what we found this morning.”

I let my words sink in, the inner meaning of them hitting Jax, then Lars.

“No,” Jax growled just as Lars’s breath sucked in.

“ Yes ,” I emphasized just as sharply. “I need to do another calling for you. It’s the only way to truly understand what’s occurring and find Bastian.”

Jax’s jaw locked, the muscle in the corner sharpening. “Absolutely not. I’m never doing again to you what I did back at the palace?—”

I brought my fingers to his lips. “But what if it’s different now? We’re mated . Bound by the very stars in our galaxy. And I’m stronger. My magic is freer because of the loosened collar, and I wasn’t adversely affected when I ventured to the Veiled Between in my dream. I firmly believe that it won’t be like last time.” I removed my hand from his mouth and coasted my finger over the mark on his inner wrist. “Please trust me.”

A shiver racked his entire frame when I touched my mark on him. “But is it too soon to demand answers of the semelees?” he asked.

I shrugged. “It’s close to two full weeks since your last calling, so it may be okay, but regardless, we’re mates. A bond lives within us that’s born of the gods. I no longer know what rules are at play.”

Warring emotions surged across Jax’s face, and I could practically feel Lars’s trepidation at the thought of me venturing to the Veiled Between again.

“Please,” I added quietly. “Let me help you. Let me find Bastian. Do it for me?”

I felt it the instant he surrendered to my wishes, as though a power greater than himself demanded that he please me.

A low rumble shook his chest, but eventually he nodded. “All right. We’ll try it one more time, but if it’s anything like the first time, that’s it, Elowen. I’m never allowing you to do a calling for me again, and please”—his voice turned hoarse—“don’t ask it of me again.”

I nodded, my brow furrowing. “I won’t. You have my word.”

I lay on the bed, similar to how I had the first time I’d done a calling for Jax. The others all stood around me. As soon as I willed it, my magic rose, and my soul detached from my body and shot me through the stars.

Amazement filled me at how easy it was to call upon my lorafin powers, but I also knew it’d only been days since my collar had been loosened, and sooner or later, it would tighten again and lock down my magic with chained suppression.

But at the moment, I was mostly free.

I shot through the galaxy, spiraling amidst the stars as I traveled to the very edges of the universe and reached the Veil.

The Veil parted like a mist, a shadowy curtain that opened only for a lorafin.

On the other side, the semelees stirred, sensing my presence as I entered their domain and ventured farther into the plane between planes.

She’s come , one of them crooned.

A large one slithered forward, its cool scaled skin gliding past me. Power surged through me, stronger and sharper than it ever had been before, and deep within me, I felt my mate bond burning bright.

The semelee paused, then dipped down, nearly bowing at my feet. What do you seek, Lorafin?

Where’s Bastian? I called upon Jax’s magic, feeling his hand still wrapped around mine even though eons of time stretched between us. Our mate bond heated and glowed.

An image of Bastian readily appeared in my mind, and I showed it to the shadow creatures.

The one nearest me slid around my legs. Ah, the same one you sought last time.

Yes, tell me where he is and how we can reach him.

The semelee was quiet and twined around my legs. You feel different, Lorafin. Stronger.

Hope surged through me. Tell me where he is and how we can reach him , I repeated.

You and your mate want answers. That’s the added power I feel in you.

Yes.

But that’s not a simple demand, Lorafin. The half-breed you seek is under the power of another who’s commanding him as we speak.

How are they commanding Bastian?

With a gem.

What gem? And who’s commanding him?

The gem in his anklet.

A chill ran through me, but my magic heated more. Tell me about the anklet he wears. And how that came to be on him. And where it comes from. And I need to know why so many half-breeds are in Faewood and how Bastian got caught up in it.

More semelees drifted to me, moving like shadows and ink. Their hold on fate stretched around me. One touch from their all-knowing bodies and the threads of time would shift, bowing before them, altering the essence of the space and time continuum. Altering fate.

A new semelee drifted around me. There are many answers you seek today, Lorafin, but despite that powerful bond within you, you’re still a princess. You are not a lorafin queen. You demand too much.

Annoyance flashed through me, but I held firm and called upon more magic to rise inside me, tethering the semelees’ power to me more forcefully. But just as I was about to demand obedience, my collar stung.

The flash was fleeting and subtle, but my magic twitched, and a wave of horror washed through me that it just activated on its own. It wasn’t quite as loose as it’d been previously. What Guardian Alleron had stated would inevitably occur. The collar would eventually rein me back in, and it had just manifested, if only a little. Who was to say how many more days or weeks I had before it fully suppressed me again.

Nearly panicking, I shouted at the semelees, Tell me!

But the semelees inched back, and my hold on them slipped. You seek too much for a lorafin princess, but we shall grant you two questions today for the male you’re bonded to, but that is all.

One of them tsked . To demand more answers for the same fairy so soon from the last time is not something we normally grant. Choose wisely, Lorafin.

My soul ignited in frustration that I still wasn’t strong enough to make them completely submit and never would be able to because of my damned collar, but I also knew it was fruitless to fight them.

But I had to be smart.

They were allowing me two answers and two answers only.

I knew immediately I had to ask them to explain how we could reach Bastian, but as for the second...

Someone was commanding Bastian with a gem. The semelees had willingly revealed that much, so I could ask who was the culprit, but then my thoughts shifted to what Esopeel had revealed. All of the half-breeds she’d observed wore anklets.

My thoughts whirred, because the semelee had said the gem was in Bastian’s anklet, similar to how my collar held a gem. If so, it was possible the anklets were responsible for the strange behavior the semelees had commented on and Bowan had witnessed.

The anklet might be more important than uncovering the identity of whoever was behind it. Because if the gem in his anklet was controlling Bastian, it was imperative that we remove it.

Forcing myself to calm, I took a deep breath and hoped I was making the right choice. Tell me how to get to Bastian, and then tell me how we can remove that anklet from him.

As you wish, Lorafin.

I slammed back into my body with so much force that I bowed off the bed. Jax’s magic streamed through me, stabbing me and making my teeth grit. Ironcrest magic muffled my senses, and the sounds around me slowed as though coming through water. But as the seconds ticked past, everything began to clear.

Relief barreled through me when I felt my arms, legs, and toes. Excruciating pain never came. I wasn’t burning in Jax’s fire or being stabbed by his psychic Mistvale magic as I had been the first time, when the aftereffects of his calling had scorched me with intensity. And even though soreness plagued me, it was manageable.

I became more aware of my surroundings with every breath I took. The bed I lay on had smooth sheets and a soft mattress. Scents were present too. Pine and spice floated around me. My mate.

“Elowen?” Jax appeared in my line of sight, hovering above me with pinched eyes and tousled hair. Worry strummed out of him like a vibrating instrument’s chord. “Are you okay? Can you see me? Hear me?” His hand held mine gently, but I felt the power he kept in check, his panic like a brewing storm ready to pound the shore.

“She’s not bruised like she was the first time, Jax,” Phillen said from my other side.

“And her eyes are almost fully open,” Lars added in a hopeful tone.

“She’s not moaning like last time either,” Lander said.

“She’s going to be fine, Jax. See? Her fingers are squeezing yours.” Trivan grinned from the end of the bed, arms crossed over his lean chest. “Welcome back.”

I nodded briefly, knowing that I needed to get up and moving. Opening my eyes wider, I gave Jax a small smile. “Hi.”

“Are you all right?” Fear cascaded through him, around him, over me. Stars , over us all.

Each raider winced when Jax’s potent magic hit them, but my lorafin powers and our mate bond rose, cocooning me. Amazingly, my magic wasn’t as weakened as it usually was following a calling. I felt tired, stiff, and sore, but not spent and not entirely depleted. Our bond protected me.

“Where does it hurt?” Jax demanded.

“It’s not that bad.” I forced myself to sitting, and Jax immediately reached out to assist me, but I brushed him away. “I can do it. Truly, I’m fine. It’s not like last time.” Despite the fatigue plaguing me and a dull headache swimming through my mind, I wasn’t lying. I didn’t feel like death, not as I had before. “It’s easier with my collar loosened so much, and I think our bond has helped too.”

Relief flared in his aura, and he didn’t question me, maybe knowing on some level that I wouldn’t lie to him.

“And the semelees?” Lander asked, cocking an eyebrow. He stood beside Phillen, his face a mask of brown stone as he assessed me shrewdly. “What did they reveal?”

“I know how we can get to Bastian and why he disappeared. Someone’s controlling him with a gem in that anklet he’s wearing. That’s probably why you never heard from him, but I know how we can remove it, but we need to venture to the anklet’s origins to do so. It will be an extensive journey.”

Jax’s energy rose like a wave. “But we can save him?”

“I believe so.”

A spike in Jax’s aura filled the room, and his lips pressed into a hard, determined line. “Then let’s find my brother.”