Page 57

Kian exhales slowly. ‘The bond forms when blood is shared in extremis. Life for life. Death close enough to taste.’ His gaze sharpens on me. ‘Did he feed you?’

Theo says nothing. A memory flashes, his wrist at my mouth, the copper heat of him flooding my tongue, his voice in my head telling me to drink. I sway slightly. Theo’s hand comes to my thigh automatically.

Instinctive. Protective. Possessive.

‘You said it was to save me,’ I whisper.

‘It was,’ he says immediately.

‘But that’s not all it was.’

Kian studies us like we’re an equation he’s already solved.

‘If the bond has taken,’ he says carefully, ‘you will feel each other. The other’s pain, fear or any strong emotion. It deepens with time and with proximity.’

‘With feeding,’ Theo mutters.

My eyes snap to his. ‘With feeding?’

His expression shifts, to regret, maybe.

‘The bond strengthens if I feed from you,’ he says. ‘Or you from me, but since you’re my only life source right now, that’s bound to happen.’

The thread inside me tightens, like it’s listening.

‘How convenient.’

His hand drops from my waist as though it burns. ‘Tara—’

‘So, what we feel for each other isn’t real?’ I whisper, realisation trickling through, spreading through me. ‘It’s magic.’

‘It’s both,’ he says quietly. ‘The bond can’t form if there wasn’t some sort of interest from both sides. We both captured each other’s attention and the bond latched onto that, but trust me, everything I’ve learnt about you has made me genuinely like you, Tara. I promise it is real.’

I want to believe him. God, I want to, but I was raised by witches who told me vampires twist truth like silk around a blade. Who told me they enthral, manipulate, bind.

Bind. Which is what he has done to me.

‘You didn’t tell me when it was happening,’ I say.

‘I tried to.’

Exhaling, I let myself process this. I sort of understood what was going on, but perhaps not the extent and depth of it. There’s that pull inside me again. It’s unmistakable this time. There is something tying us together. Something beyond logical comprehension.

‘You feel that, too,’ I whisper, placing a hand over my chest. ‘The thread between us.’

His eyes darken. ‘Yes.’

Kian leans back. ‘If the bond has rooted, it cannot be undone. Not without death.’

‘Whose?’ I ask.

‘Either.’

The word detonates inside me. I look at Theo. The strain he tries to hide. The way he keeps his body angled toward me like a shield. If this is manipulation, it’s flawless. If it’s real … my God, I hope it is real.

‘Did you know?’ I ask him softly. ‘When you gave me your blood, did you know this would happen?’

‘I suspected it could.’