Page 50 of Fate of the Sun King

What am I going to do?

“Lor?” Rhiannon is asking as I resurface from the quicksand of my inner spiral. “Are you okay?”

I look back at her and brush my hair from my forehead. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

I am definitely not fine, but I’m not sure how to say these words out loud. First of all, what if I’m wrong? Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe it’s something else. What if I give voice to this and look like a complete fool?

“Tell me more about mate bonds,” I croak. “Please.”

“They’re very powerful,” Rhiannon says. “Mate bonds can be the source and amplifier for magic. I’m not sure if Serce knew that part, but there are ways to use the magic of a mate bonding for various purposes.” She keeps talking about the sacredness of the bond and how it’s a mark from Zerra herself as I sit still in my chair, slipping down, down, down.

“Wait, what did you just say?” I ask, snagging on something she just said.

“When two Fae are mates, then they must bond,” she says.

“What happens if they don’t?” I ask, already dreading the answer.

“Then they’ll both die. At first, it’s a sort of slow and painful descent into agony and madness. And then they both just stop existing. No Evanescence. No nothing.”

“I see,” I say.

She falls silent, watching me as though she can sense the turbulence churning inside my head.

“Don’t worry. It’s rarely happened. The pull of one’s true mate is hard to resist.”

I contemplate those words before I frown.

“So fate just decides it for you, then? What if someone doesn’t want to be mated to that person?”

Rhiannon gives me a patient smile and shakes her head.

“It’s not like that. When Zerra bestows a mate bond, it’s because those two people are wholly perfect for each other in every conceivable way. But it goes beyond the surface—it’s far more meaningful and deep.”

My frown deepens. “So what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Are they perfect because they’re mates?”

“No, it’s more cyclical. One begets the other. You’d still likely end up together, barring some drastic course of action altering your paths. It’s about destiny and the purpose of those two lives. It’s no different from any pair who choose the bond, but the mate bond has more powerful consequences.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a choice if they die when they refuse.”

She shrugs and tips her head. “Perhaps. But in the end, it is still your choice. Besides, there are also special advantages for mates.”

“Such as?”

“One of the most notable is the ability to hear each other’s thoughts. It can be very useful. It doesn’t happen in every pairing, though.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never discovered an answer to that. Serce never mentioned it, so I don’t believe your grandparents were capable of it.”

I run a hand down my face, on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem a little off,” Rhiannon asks. “I have some tonics I can administer if you’re unwell. I know this has all been a lot.”

“Yes, I’m just tired,” I say, the lie ringing hollow to my ears.

I am tired, but also, I’ve never been more awake in my entire fucking life.

Mates.