Page 87 of How Does It Feel?

He was the only one I would hurt.

“Enough!” shouted my mother as she walked closer to us.

She grabbed Callie and pulled her away from the Seelie. Even her grabbing Callie sent a bolt of protectiveness through me.

“We have every right to take her home Queen Tenebris,” he stated, staring at the human before he turned his attention to me. His wings strained as they were now spread so wide. “You have killed the crown prince of Seelie. Over a human. You have just started a war you will not win. You don’t even have a king,” he threatened, breathing heavily.

He was right, and I knew it.

I was going against the Fae laws in keeping her captive. He had every right to take her and return her to the human realm.

I saw the lust in his eyes though. Humans were like an exotic prize to most male Fae, and this was no different. He was taking her for himself.

“We are bonded,” I stammered quickly.

“What?” the queen and Callie gasped in unison.

“We are bonded. NOW mother! Do it now!” I urgently demanded as I spared a glance at my shocked mother.

She was quick, though, and didn’t hesitate for a second to grab both of our hands. She closed her eyes as the entire room darkened.

“No! Please! Stop!” Callie fought desperately to free herself from the queen’s grip as she looked between me and the Seelie.

I didn’t care.

Even if only for a few hours of my life, she would be mine in every way.

My heart squeezed unfamiliarly at the thought of her being tied to me for the rest of her short life.

The room swirled and darkened as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled inside the room. The crowd screamed as smoke, thick and heavy, swirled like a squall surrounding everyone.

Energy crackled. I felt something swell in my chest with a shock. It felt like lightning shot through my system and straight into Callie’s as it left us both struggling for air.

The smoke cleared, and the darkness in the room receded.

“We are bonded,” I panted, freeing my hand. “She is my future wife now, Aurelius, and I can and will do anything to her I like,” I said, stepping chest to chest with the Seelie prince with a deeply satisfied grin.

Something inside me felt filled, no longer hollow. It felt like an amber moon glowed through my skin.

“No! Please,” Callie pleaded. She ran to where I stood and grabbed my arm, shaking it frantically. “Please! You can’t do this to me! I want to go back! I don’t want to stay with you!” she cried harshly, and something newly built inside me broke with her words.

Of course she wouldn’t return whatever brainless feelings I had formed. She had been conditioned to kill me as an assassin.

The Seelie had been right. I had just created a war over a human, and that realization finally unraveled me. Her poison had completely invaded me.

I felt unhinged with fury at the realization that I was falling in love with her.

I looked to my mother in a panic needing her gone more now than ever. “Start the trial now. If she completes them, she will be returned unharmed to the humans, bonded or not.”

“But then ho—” the queen argued.

“Now!” The walls rattled as the room shook with my intensity.

Everyone flinched and hid except for the queen and Callie. Aurelius had already disappeared red-faced.

The human stared at me disbelieving, but I saw it. Hidden behind her tears and pleas, her angry fire fought to emerge. Fought to unleash itself upon me.

I knew in that very moment I was so deeply in love with her, and she would be the one thing capable of my demise. The weak point in my unbreakable armor. I stared at her, and it scared me to death. It scared me to death what I wouldn’t do for her.