“Where is Lynelle?” I asked, assuming she would have been one of the ones to burst through the doorway in excitement.
Zaela let out a small laugh. “She apparently forgot about our dinner plans and is spending the night at Leon’s.” She pursed her lips together as she tried to suppress a smirk.
“That is…that is interesting,” I said as a sound left me that was half sigh, half chuckle.
“Let them have their fun. They both deserve it,” she stated, and I nearly did a double take as the words left her.
As everyone settled into the space, taking their seats on the couches, chairs, and floor, Zaela brought in a few bottles of wine. She handed a poured glass to everyone, and they toasted to us in celebration while Lia sat on my lap in the chair next to the roaring fireplace.
“To the future queenandking of Velyra!” Gage boomed.
King. It sounded so strange when spoken aloud.
“So when is the wedding?!” Avery asked as she sipped her wine, her eyes boring into Lia with a mischievous gleam.
Lia sipped her own as her eyes roamed over each of them. “I’m not sure. We don’t exactly have time for a wedding. We need to leave soon to get our armies beyond the forest. That alone will take weeks.”
“We could do something small here first, though!”
“Avery, it’s notyourwedding. Let Lia and Jace decide,” Finn teased.
She stuck her tongue out at him in response.
“Well, I don’t hate the idea of celebrating with my court of rebels, in the least.” Lia winked at her sister. “However, we still have much to plan. And I don’t ever want to be in another situation where we don’t know what’s happening with one another, and that will be damn near impossible for what lies ahead. The planning of that must come first.”
“There may come a time when we will all be separated and unable to guard each other’s backs,” I announced to them all, and the mood turned somber.
“I refuse to have another situation like with the sirens.” Lia craned her neck to look up at me and then moved her gaze back to her court. “All I could sense was an overwhelming panic, which turned into not being able to distinguish his from my own. And if we had returned even seconds later, the two of you may not have survived.” Her hand moved to gesture to both Gage and me.
“There may be a workaround for that, Elianna.” Veli broke her silence from where she stood in the corner.
Everyone’s attention flew to the witch.
“I’m listening,” Lia announced as she brought her glass of wine to her lips.
“I told you once before that first night in the city that cradles the mountains—mating bonds are capable of expanding beyond emotions and senses, for that is just the very surface of your link to one another. The practice I’m referring to has been lost for centuries, but I remember a time when politics were not so dire, and mating bonds were more apparent throughout the realm.”
“Meaning what exactly?” I asked.
“The use of magic can bring on a further, deeper bond if a mated pair is wed before the gods,” she answered.
My eyes flared, and I peered over Lia’s shoulder to get a better look at her, but her face was unreadable, and a hesitant confusion exuded from her.
“How can there be a deeper bond than what we already possess? Lore states that nothing could be greater, or even comparable than what this holds,” she said.
“Not all knowledge can be passed down between the pages of written books, as texts are often lost.” Veli’s stare lingered on us for a moment before she continued. “Or stolen.” She cleared her throat.
“And what would this entail? I already feel everything she feels,” I stated.
“It would be a connection of your minds,” she answered.
“What?!” Lia gasped with a half laugh. “As in…he would be able tohearmy thoughts?” She glanced up at me over her shoulder and gave me a nervous smile, which I responded to with furrowing brows at her hesitance.
“Only the ones you allow to flow through the connection,” she answered.
“Oh, thank the gods,” Lia said, earning a snort from me.
“It should be as simple as verbally speaking to one another. All it would take is for you to will it into the other’s mind,” the witch stated. “Although, I’m sure you will need to master it so you are not merely shouting everything at each other.”
