Page 5 of His Stolen Queen
That angered me.
As my Queen, she would hold her head high. Heads would bow to her.Iwould bow to her.
A movement stole her attention, causing her head to turn slightly, showcasing her side profile. The delicate curve of her jaw was an arresting sight. Her hair blew around her shoulders, briefly obscuring her features from view. Her slender hand lifted, moving the curtain of silk away from her face. Her body turned toward me…
And then nothing.
The vision faded just as suddenly as it arrived.
"Everything around her was muted." As if someone scrubbed the scenery with a blurred filter. "There was no way for me to track where she is orwhoshe is."
The only certainty I had was how strong our bond felt. I could sense her emotions through my vision, her character piercing our invisible cord.
Strength.
Resilience.
Kindness.
Courage.
Loneliness.
Sadness.
Displacement.
I desperately tried to hold on to our link, but the band stretched and snapped once the vision faded. All semblance of attachment I had with her disappeared along with it.
"She needs me." I clenched my fists, my heart heavy with the deep despondency I sensed from her. "Ineed her."
She calmed my soul. My brief moment with her soothed my restlessness like a balm over my wounds.
I had been undead for almost four hundred years, yet I had never felt like I was missing something. I could choose a mate if I wished; plenty of my kind did. The likelihood of having a bond-mate was extremely rare, so it wasn't uncommon for us to eventually settle down after a few centuries.
I saw no reason to. I had power, money, and an unlimited supply of beings to pleasure me at my whim. I had access to the sweetest blood, both Vampire and the rare, willing human.
But now that I knewshewas out there, my soul was restless only for her. It ached to have her in my arms. No one else would do. Nothing else would satisfy.
"The fact that she has not revealed herself…we have to consider that she is an Other Being," Hammon delicately suggested.
I curled my lip in distaste. Yes, unfortunately, I had started to suspect that, perhaps, my bond-mate was not part of my species. That certainly made things complicated, but it answered the question as to why we could not mind-link to find each other.
Other Beings tended to stick to their own kind. There was a small handful we tolerated and then there were others who had been our sworn enemies for centuries.
Werewolves, we detested. They also smelled like wet dogs half the time. Faes…there was still some bad blood there—literally. They tasted like ash; a deterrent they used against us. And Witches…forget about it.
Of course, if she were any one of those creatures or something else entirely, I would not care. I'd grit my teeth and smile at the High Witch of her Coven while trying not to sneeze at theoverpowering stench of potion. As long as I had my Queen by my side, I would be more than satisfied.
Styro stepped forward. "Forgive us, my King. The circumstances are unprecedented. We haven't had a bonded royal pairing since King Artemis and Queen Sarai, and a lot of their records were destroyed with their deaths."
I breathed deeply as my heart started a steady, fast beat. It took me a while to get used to the organ. I could feel every drum, every sound vibrate through my body. When the elation of finding out that I had a bond-mate faded, my mood quickly soured at needing to control the extra sensory input of a beating heart.
Now, it soothed me. When I had quiet moments to myself, I would lay my hand across the beating organ, marveling at its existence—atherexistence. It beat for her. Only for her.
I must find her.
And Styro touched on another reason why.
