Page 57 of Broken Hearted
“What is it?” I asked.
“Right here,” Adrien said, pointing to a spot in the middle of the crystal I hadn’t noticed before. It looked like there was a chunk of stone missing. “Try to put the Shadow Heart there,” he explained. “It looks like it might fit.”
Lifting my hand, I placed the Shadow Heart in the spot, and it fit perfectly. But then nothing happened.
“What now?” I asked, looking at Adrien for direction.
“Didn’t you say we needed to combine our magic to unlock it?”
“Yes, that’s what the Wise Ones said. But how do we even do that?” I’d never tried combining my magic with another fae before.
Adrien shrugged. “Maybe we just need to both blast it with our magic, your ice and my shadow, at the same time.”
I nodded. “It’s worth a try, but can we use our magic again?”
Adrien shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”
Stepping back, we both lifted our hands, ready to unleash our powers, but when I pulled on my magic, it still wasn’t there.
Terror ripped through me, and I glanced over at Adrien. The look on his face told me he was experiencing the same thing I was.
“My magic isn’t back,” I said.
“Mine neither.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. How could we possibly combine our powers if we couldn’t use them? It didn’t make sense.
Frustration and anger hit me like a wave, stealing my breath.
We’d come all this way and now nothing could be done?
I couldn’t accept that. Wouldn’t. We’d almost died. Some of Adrien’s menhaddied, and Kira and the other merfolk were at this very moment risking their lives. Giving up now wasn’t an option, but what else could be done?
“You need to kiss me,” Adrien said, and when I jerked my gaze to him, I could see that his face was as serious as ever.
“What? I can’t,” I said, shaking my head even as my body screamed at me for denying it what it truly wanted. But my mind was stronger than my body, overriding my urges. The cold truth of it was that my fear of Adrien actually being my mate and what that would mean was fiercer than my desire.
Adrien took a step toward me, and I was so at odds with myself that I froze. Half of me yelled to move away and the other half demanded I close the remaining distance, but I couldn’t force my body in either direction.
“I won’t push you into this,” he said, moving even closer. “I want you to know that I respect that you’re hesitant about what might be growing between us. This isn’t how I wanted this to play out, to pressure you. I’d planned to wait until you were ready. To wait forever if need be. You’re worth that.”
My heart stuttered at that. Was that true? Would he really wait forever for me?
Despite the internal battle I was waging, I couldn’t help but soften.
“But if we are mates,” Adrien went on. “Then there’s a chance the magic of our mate bond could bring our power to the surface. That might be the key to unlocking this crystal.”
“It could?” I asked and then licked my lips.
As Adrien nodded, his gaze dipped to my moistened mouth. His pupils flared, and my desire roared in response, demanding to match what I saw igniting in his eyes.
Adrien moved even closer until not much more than a sliver of space remained between us. “It’s your call,” he said, his voice soft as he gazed down at me. “It’s just one kiss, and then we will know.”
I shot him a look. “It’snotjust a kiss, and you know it.”
He shrugged and moved even closer, dipping his head now. “Well, you did kiss my brother to find out if you were mates. It would just be like that.”
“That … was different,” I huffed instinctively, knowing that kissing Adrien would be vastly different than kissing Zane.
