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She glimpsed at me and smiled, and back to Clay.
“The chances of that happening are very remote. It would only happen if you find a mate bond,” Clay said, his eyebrows raised high.
“Mate bond?”
“Yes, there are four levels of knights.” He looked around the room at the four guys. “Let’s say you didn’t choose these men. This would make them level one. These are your soldiers.”
Lacey nodded. “And level two is?”
“Level two is your chosen knights. These men are now your personal bodyguards, guardians or however else you’d like to define them. Then a knight who binds to you is a level three knight and you can have many bound knights, if you wish, but it would get tricky. He looked around at each of the four guys. Level three gives you and your bound knight more magic to go into war when the day comes, but level four is when during the bind the knight takes the full bind.”
“And the full bind means what exactly?”
“That is what we expect of Carter. To look at you and take your pain.”
Lacey gasped. “I don’t want anyone to do that. Why would they want to do that?”
“They might not be able to stop themselves,” Clay said, regardless of what you ask. "To protect them, you need to be the one who looks away."
I remembered back to my father saying that I could look at her but not stare into her eyes when we bound. That’s what he meant when he said she could kill me. He didn’t want me to be a fully bound knight; he wanted me to be a knight only.
Lacey lifted her hand in the air as she rubbed her lips together. “Forget children and level five?”
“Level five, I said four levels.” Clay sighed.
“I know there is another level. You said there is a mate bond,” Lacey said. "Is that fated mates?"
He blew out an exasperated breath, which puffed his lips out. He nodded. “It is, but we’ve been searching the kingdom for the signs of any mate bonds, but they haven’t shown,” Clay said glancing a look at Carter. “A mate bond will be strong enough to not only take the pulse, but to match. He can look but feels no pain. You look at him and feel no pain. If he matches you, it would make him a mate bond or as you said fated mates. But as we don’t believe any exist, at least yet, we are only looking at those knights we believe are strong enough to take a full bind and we think Carter or Jack are the most likely.”
And that’s your secret.I stared at Carter. You think you are a fated mate.
“The signs,” Lacey said.
“Mm, you’d know if you saw the sign,” Clay said, shaking his head, his eyes wide. “You are a born queen, Lacey. Taking your pulse and matching it makes your knight... your king, if you wish. But we don’t call him a king.”
“And what would happen if I was to find this man?”
"Or men," Seb whispered.
Clay stared at Seb and then he shrugged. “We doubt it will ever happen with one never mind more. The chances are slim and it’s a conversation we need to have in private, or if it happens. But you can’t make their eyes pulse. It will happen if it is meant to be. But outside of a mate bond, the first bind is the strongest, and we’d prefer that is with Carter.”
And that’s the secret he kept from us and why he wanted to bind first. He thinks not only that he is a fated mate but that once he binds the rest of her knights won't have the opportunity once he has taken it.
“Or Jack?” Lacey said. “Why are you insisting I bind with Carter first and not Jack? Especially when you said Jack was the stronger of the two.” Lacey breathed and Carter grunted beside me.
“Because you have chosen these men as your knights, so I would prefer you to bind to a knight in the knight group you have chosen,” Clay said. “And yes, strong magic skills are a must. Jack’s magic is powerful and Carter’s a close second.”
“And you’d prefer the first bind to be with one of them?” Lacey said.
“You’ve chosen these knights Lacey.” His voice heightened. “We can’t make you do anything. But it is preferable now you choose Carter, but that is still your decision and there is no guarantee either man will be a level four knight, that won’t be known until the time.”
Clay picked up his pen and wrote something on the pad in front of him. His eyes raised back to hers. “How do you know about this, Lacey?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Probably overheard my parents talking about it.” She paused for a beat. “When was the last time there was someone like me born?”
“Your father is the first in hundreds of years to produce a fully royal child. Normally generations are missed.”
“Was,” Lacey said, narrowing her eyes.
