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And then everything seemed to slow down.
Bron stood in a barn, her hands brushing her favorite horse. Shim. Shim was satisfied. Satisfied with life. He missed his mother, but things were finally going well again.
And he’d found her. He’d found the girl from his dreams. Shim smiled and patted his horse, thinking of Bronwyn all the while. It had been fun at first. She’d been a playmate who knew all sorts of games. And over the years, he’d known he was in love with her. Since the moment he’d realized what love was.
And now he was going to marry her. Gillian had gone to arrange a marriage. She was the only one who believed the princess in his dreams was real. He and Lach had tried to tell father, but he didn’t want to listen to them and he’d forbade them to talk about it to anyone else, but Gillian believed.
He was going to marry his Bron. She was real and his heart was so full.
And then it hurt.
Shim hit his knees. His whole body ached, and he could have sworn there was a hole in his gut. What was happening to him? Fear took over, but then he heard the hum. He heard it each night in his dreams, and when he concentrated very hard, he could sometimes hear it during the day. It was a soft noise, usually, but now it was a roar in his head that drowned out everything else.
Except his brother. He could feel his brother’s panic. How could he hear his brother? Lach was on the other side of the palace, but Shim knew he was running.
And he knew something else, too. Bron was in trouble.
Bonded. Somehow, she’d reached across the planes and made that connection that tied them to each other outside of their dreams. She’d grasped some invisible thread and she was pulling him to her.
And it hurt. The agony. As though his being was yanked somewhere it shouldn’t go.
He felt the fire building in his belly. He heard her panic. Despite the horrible pain, he forced himself to listen—to himself and his body. The fire was his power, given to him by the bond, pulled from him by an intensely strong bondmate.
She was in danger, and he had the power to save her.
Get me close, love. Get me close. Can you feel me? I am with you always. Always, love.
She had to listen. He could do this. He could control it. It was right there on the surface. Fire would save her, save them all.
And then his power died.
Too weak. She was too weak. Gods. Shim screamed. He could feel her fading, dying. Not now. Not when they hadn’t kissed, hadn’t loved, hadn’t melded into one another’s souls.
Rage threatened to take over. He’d been promised. He and Lachlan. She’d been promised to them. More than any crown or kingdom, she was their birthright and he wouldn’t be denied.
He heard his brother shout as he did the only thing he could. He reached across the cord that connected them and sent his life to her.
As he felt her breath, he took his final gasp, and the world became fire.
Feet pounding. Panic was flooding his system. Shim. Something was wrong with Shim. Something had changed, in his head, in his soul, in the whole fucking world. He’d been standing there talking to Duffy and suddenly he’d known where Shim was, been able to feel what he felt, sense what he was thinking. He’d always been able to feel his other half, but not like this. This was overpowering, overwhelming.
And then it was over. Lach felt the connection cut and silence reigned. Nothingness. He couldn’t feel Shim at all, as though he didn’t exist.
Lach ran. He knew where his brother had been. The stables. And now he saw something that terrified him.
Fire blazed, engulfing every wall of the small stables where the best horses were kept. The family’s private stock. And it looked like nothing would be saved.
But Shim was in there and if he couldn’t be saved, then Lach had nothing left at all.
Shim was the smart one. Shim was the one who could love. Shim was the beautiful part of his soul. Without Shim, there was only Lach and Lach was violence and dominance and cold power.
Lach didn’t wish to live without the best part of his soul.
He heard Duffy screaming at him to stop, but he couldn’t. If Shim was gone, then the fire could take him.
Heat assailed him so strong that for a moment he couldn’t move, couldn’
t breathe. The smoke was so thick he almost couldn’t focus. His eyes watered and his lungs burned. Something large knocked him down, and he watched in horror as Shim’s horse fled, its entire body on fire.
