Page 58 of Broken Hearted
“Not so different,” he said and a small swell of panic rose within me. What if we kissed and nothing happened?
I didn’t know when it switched or how, but the thought of Adrien being my mate was no longer as terrifying as him not.
Adrien’s lips were inches from mine, teasing me, waiting for me to make the move.
“I don’t believe in mates,” I whispered, but the words tasted like a lie.
“Prove it.” The taunt barely left his lips when I lost all resolve.
My desires took over my common sense, and I crashed into him, our mouths seeking each other and opening the second they met. Warm tendrils of heat emanated from my chest and ran down my back.
Adrien’s tongue slid against mine, and I moaned at the rightness of this kiss. This was what was lacking with Zane.Passion.
As we continued to kiss, our mouths coming back togetheragain and again like we were each other’s air, the heat in my chest intensified, turning into an icy fire that somehow ramped up my craving for him even more.
I dove my hands into his hair as he wrapped his arms around me and hauled me closer. We were ravenous for each other. He nipped at my bottom lip and then swallowed my gasp on another kiss.
He tasted like mint and sunshine, and I knew I’d never get tired of this.
I kept my eyes shut as he pulled back and moved his mouth to my neck, sucking gently on the tender skin there until a low moan forced itself free. I felt him chuckle at my response as he traced a path with his lips up to my ear and then playfully bit my earlobe, causing a rush of desire to shoot through me.
I felt weak in his grasp as his mouth finally made its way back to mine, and he gave me the best kiss I think anyone had ever received in fae history.
He smiled against my mouth, and my eyelids popped open.
Oh, stars.
He was right. Adrien was my mate.
A fine, rose-gold dust hovered in the empty air around us, dancing on our skin. I stared at it in awe as it slowly faded away.
But Adrien hadn’t just been right about being mates. I sucked in a surprised breath of air as power flared back to life in my chest.
“Adrien, my magic’s back,” I told him, breathless and reeling from our kiss and what it finally revealed.
“Mine too,” he said.
I’d lost track of how much time had passed since we firstentered the cave, but it would be a miracle if ten minutes hadn’t already come and gone. Either way, we needed to hurry.
Adrien picked up on my sudden urgency, and with an arm still anchored around my waist he lifted one hand toward the blue crystal and the Shadow Heart embedded in it.
I followed his lead and gathered my power as I lifted my hand as well.
“Together?” I asked.
Looking into my eyes rather than at the Shadow Heart, Adrien nodded. “Together,” he said, and then we both unleashed our magic.
A wind funnel of black and white magic spun and swirled from our hands. Shadows from Adrien and snow from me. They collided and twisted together, creating a beacon above the Shadow Heart. I watched in anticipation as our magic was sucked inside the black crystal, and then it fissured, cracking in half.
I gasped as shock and sorrow rolled through me. “We broke it.” This was awful. How would we ever stop the curse now?
Adrien leaned forward, picking up one half of the heart and a small vial containing glowing blue fluid dropped out with a tiny, rolled parchment tied with string to the silver stopper.
“No. We unlocked it,” he corrected me.
“What is it?” I breathed.
The entire time the heart held a … potion?
