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I turned toward her frantically, panicking, not sure what to do. My one true love was near, and I was about to meet her. How the hell was I supposed to handle this?
“Just keep yourself together,” Allera instructed, trying to talk me through my anxiety from the side of her mouth as she kept looking straight ahead. “Whenever you see her, don’t react. I’m serious. Whatever you do… Do not react. Do you understand me? Not even the twitch of a muscle. We’ll figure this out after our meeting with the king and his brother. Everything will be fine.”
I gaped at her as if she were insane, because fine? How the hell was this fine? I was about to meet my soul mate. But the paleness of Allera’s features caused me to remember she was also about to meet a complete stranger she was going to marry and share a bed with and have children with, and kiss and… Well, partake in many intimacies with. And she didn’t even have her mark any longer to assure her it would be a good match. Her mark had faded when her one true love had died nearly a year before.
I suddenly wished maybe my one true love was this sister of the king after all—Nicolette or whatever her name was—so I could spare Allera from her sacrifice. I mean, shit, if I were going to be bound to a Donnellean, it might as well be for a good cause, right?
Ah fuck, I was bound to a fucking Donnellean. How was this happening? I wasn’t ready.
Actually, I wasn’t prepared to tie myself to any woman, no matter where she lived. I knew I was supposed to put faith in the mark and who it paired me to, but… Why now? There were too many changes happening at once. Why would fate fuck me over like this? I needed a moment to breathe and just… Deal with it all.
I liked being a bachelor: flirting with whomever I wanted, bedding beautiful willing women who only wanted me to pleasure them for a short while before we both went our separate ways. I didn’t want to settle down and tie myself to just one person. I knew nothing about relationships and commitment and all that muck.
Reaching out, I took Allera’s hand and squeezed, because we were in the same boat now, doomed to fates with foreign strangers.
She squeezed back and refused to let go.
I shifted closer and murmured, “Have I told you you’re the bravest sister I ever had?”
I had no idea how she was facing this. I wanted to run and never look back.
She snorted, but a smile wavered on her lips, and she seemed to relax a small measure.
In front of us, Short Bangs reached the end of the grand hall where he opened the doors to the great Throne Room. As he stepped to the right and called our names, Allera and I entered side by side.
Here is where I normally would’ve rolled my eyes at all the unnecessary extravagances that decorated the enormous marble room. But yeah, was I still inside? I didn’t know, couldn’t care. My surroundings no longer mattered to me. The only thing my body could register was the unceasing buzz of awareness my mark kept emitting.
Abruptly letting go of my hand to stride forward, Allera left me behind to follow her, her chin up and head held regally high.
I kept two steps behind, like a good bodyguard, proud to be her brother.
Yet all the while, the sensation in my mark heightened, nearly making me wince and double over. My one true love was definitely among the royal court. As a servant or noble-born, I had no clue, but she was here, in this very room. My mark was nearly screaming over her vicinity.
And then the sensation changed. Like sunshine blasting out the darkness, or immediate pleasure soothing away pain, fear morphing into comfort, the mark stopped feeling bothersome and terrifying, and it started feeling…good.
Reassuring and warm.
So damn warm.
And lovely.
The awareness of her spiraled through my nervous system, sparking unexpected spurts of electrical tingling here and there until, fuck… It seemed to throb hot and heavy straight out the end of my cock. I swallowed back a moan, and my eyes momentarily crossed.
But what the hell?
I swear, I was a split second from coming in my damn trousers.
Forgetting all anxiety about this unexpected turn of events and how much I wanted to resist the draw, I started to grow impatient. Needy. And I needed… I just needed to… This made no sense, but I swear I only needed…her.
She alone could abate this restless heat climbing from my soul and escaping through my pores.
I told myself not to eagerly scan the room like a randy fool, but the urges inside me were strong and insistent, and they just kept growing. I had to see her.
Maybe turning away from a chance to bed many partners in order to belong only to my one true love wouldn’t be so bad after all, because the high I was experiencing was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I was ready to throw her over my shoulder and whisk her away to the first private room we found. My cock was so painfully hard, I swear the mere way it brushed against the inside of my britches was making it pulse.
My blood surged in my veins and my heart pounded incessantly.
I wanted her. Now.
