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I moved to flee, but then, like a lost child, Rei clutched my sleeve, refusing to allow me to leave.
“What if you don’t return? I need some assurance you’ll come back for me.”
I gritted my teeth, unsure how to get Rei to trust me since he didn’t seem aware of my royal blood. Even if he was aware and playing the part of a fool, he still didn’t trust that my word was my bond, which irked me more than I let on. After all, my lineage rested on me following through on my promises to our subjects. Even backward country bumpkins like Reimund Gardiner.
“I don’t have what I’m after, and you’re not free, so I’ll return,” I said, attempting to reassure Rei.
But it was worthless to him, my words, I realized, as he glared up at me again, looking like he wanted to jam his horn through my jaw. Finally, I came up with an idea.
“Close your eyes and open your hand,” I instructed, and for once, Rei did as he was told without a fight.
Sighing, I allowed my hand to hover over his—a purple crystal formed between our matching mate bonds.
“Take my soul as ransom, Rei,” I whispered, the spell complete.
His eyes flew open, mouth gaped in shock as I removed my hand.
“Gotham has kept you alive for a long time for your hair to have concentrated so much prism magic. But if he comes to slay you tonight, I’ll die an early death. So know I’ll return for the other half of my soul, even if you doubt my loyalty to you.”
“Half of your… soul?” Rei whispered, startled as the shard of my spirit buried itself inside his outstretched palm. “Why would you hand it over so easily?”
I shrugged, “I wouldn’t, but you own half of mine already as my mate, so take it literally, as a token. I will come back. After all, I don’t want to die young. I’m only five hundred-twenty-seven years old. I have a lot more life left to live, and would prefer to take the throne.”
Rei blinked slowly before flashing another brilliant smile, which took me aback. Still clutching my sleeve, his hand moved to my vest. Then, to my surprise, Rei went up on his tippy toes and kissed me on the lips. It was more of a childish peck than a proper kiss, but it still stole my breath away. Shocked, I squeezed his shoulders and pushed him away.
“What was that for?” I asked, baffled by the sudden shift in his personality. I was beginning to fear I had thrown his common sense out the window during our mock battle.
However, I had to consider that I must have appeared like a burglar to him before, and now we are fated mates. The whiplash we were both experiencing was immense.
“True love’s first kiss will seal the bond. I can’t do soul magic, so this is my way of sealing our deal,” he said innocently, so innocently, in fact, that I had to laugh.
I wiped tears from my eyes with my knuckle, taken aback for a second time. Only children believed in fairytales as pure as that. Only raw sex and claiming bites could seal a fate bond, binding an omega to their alpha forevermore. Well, between the shapeshifting Kindred. For us, sex reinforced the spell, so a mere kiss wouldn’t bring our souls in harmony as mating would.
But when I stared into his eyes, I realized Reimund was deadly serious.
“Rei…” I whispered, not trusting myself to explain, panic rising within me.
He was far too naive. How long ago was the root stolen? Well over a hundred years, if my memory rang true. For a quarterblood, that could be a lifetime.
Has Rei been trapped in this tower since he was a babe?
It seemed impossible, but the more I observed him, the more it seemed true. Now that his defenses were down, Rei seemed overly fascinated, defenseless in front of a man he claimed was a thief, spewing nonsense about true love’s first kiss. And, more importantly, Rei was unabashedly naked before an older, more powerful alpha without a care in the world. Even between mates, he was shameless in a situation that called for a bit of shame.
“And… ah…” he trailed off, blushing, “It’s a form of payment, too. I’ll give you more when you return.”
“Huh?” I asked, squeezing him a little too tightly as I reached out to take his hand. “Who taught you kisses act as tokens? Kisses are not a form of payment.”
Reimund gritted his teeth, his eyes staring through me, not at me. “I promise I’ll be good. I’ll give you a great reward. So leave now before you’re caught and the wizard kills us. I’ll be waiting for you, Ziran. Now go.”
With those cryptic words, the quarterblood boy pushed me until my back and head were outside the windowsill. And then I felt him, the terrifying tremor in the air as something ancient and demonic moved through the woodlands of Yurel below.
“I will return. Wait for me, Rei. There is no need for your braided ladder. I will move with the wind.”
We stared at each other, Rei lifting up part of his enormous braid, before he finally released me. I dissolved into mist as I allowed the shadows to carry me back to my encampment before Gotham could catch me.
But even when I returned, again and again in the form of a bird, watching, waiting for an opportunity to strike, the boy trapped in the tower with rainbow hair remained a problem that I couldn’t figure out a way to resolve, forced to watch my mate’s imprisonment, caught between my duty to my crown and the other half of my soul.
CHAPTER THREE
