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I lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not going to update you every time I use the toilet, Kierden.”
“Pity.” He slipped out, and I snorted.
Bright stepped back inside as he left, and he gave her a friendly pat on the head in passing.
She jumped onto the bed and snuggled up next to me. I scratched her behind the ears absentmindedly, not in any hurry to get up.
“It seems like you worked things out,”she said to me, eyes gleaming with interest.
“Seems like it.”
I wouldn’t really know how much the night had meant to Kierden until we had interacted in front of his people again—and even then, I didn’t know how sure I could be, because he had to put on an act of some kind for them.
“Are we supposed to pretend we don’t like each other in front of everyone else again?”I asked him mentally. The connection seemed to come much easier than it had the last time I used it, which was nice.
“No. I’ve been aiming for neutrality,”he said.
“Damn. If that’s your definition of neutrality, you must’ve been a miserable bastard to be around for the past century or three.”
He laughed into my mind—loudly.“I never claimed to be cheerful or polite, Nissa. My people are not the kind who obey calm, measured words. If you want them to get their asses in line, you bark, yell, or snarl at them. They’re used to it; it doesn’t offend them.”
“So you’re going to bark at me?”I checked.
“No. I’m done pretending not to have feelings for you. There are a few couples in the kingdom who have been lovers very openly for hundreds of years. The murderer hasn’t touched them because they haven’t created a bond. He or she only cares about a permanent connection—it seems to be the only thing that inspires them to kill.”
“Are there people in the other kingdoms with mate bonds?”I asked curiously.
“I don’t know. If there are, they won’t dare come here. To do so would be a death sentence.”
“Have the mated couples tried leaving the city?”
“Yes. We find their bodies buried with our other fallen, identified by their ice gravestones.”
“Well, that’s terrifying.”
“When you and I decide to seal our bond, there will be nothing that can peel me from your side until the killer is dead,”Kierden vowed.
Surprisingly enough, I didn’t hate the sound of that.
Even though I wasn’t quite sure whether to be excited or alarmed by his use of the word“when”where I would’ve put an“if”.
“Alright. Good luck,”I told him.
I sort offeltit when his mind disconnected from mine, and the feeling was an unpleasant one that made me shiver a bit. There was no pain in my wrist, at least. Just a slight ache.
I stayed in bed for a little while, lounging around while I convinced Bright to give me the details about her night with Death. As it turned out, he had propositioned her, she had refused again, and then they’d spent hours running through the trees together, fighting and playing. He had tried to convince her to be his mate once more at the end of the night, and she’d turned him down yet again.
“What are you waiting for?”I asked her curiously.
She flashed me a wickedly sharp grin.“Eventually, he’ll grow certain enough to tell me that I belong to him and will no longer accept my refusal. That will be my guarantee that he won’t change his mind.”
A laugh escaped me.
Shedidhave a point.
We spent an hour or two walking around in the fields, when we finally got out of bed. They were among the most peaceful hours I’d ever lived.
Though my stomach rumbled a few times, I was enjoying it so much that I only headed back when Kierden’s mind touched mine.“You’d better not be trying to skip a meal, little human.”
