Page 20 of Interion

I looked at the calm waters of the lake, and a feeling of emptiness washed over me; it was as if I were an abandoned shell floating adrift. A heavy cold settled in my chest, and I felt dizzy and pathetic with tears welling up in my eyes. What the hell kind of feeling was that?

“I know that look. What’s going on, Kay?”

Embarrassed at being caught in that small display of weakness, I shifted in my chair. I blinked, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall, and attempted a smile capable of fooling a total of zero people.

“Nothing. This place just makes me sentimental, that’s all.”

Ambrose and Lorenzo exchanged glances.

“Are you sure it’s the place, and not a certain handsome general?”

“Obviously not,” I lied, shooting Ambrose a dirty look. “It has nothing to do with that. In fact, we talked this morning and everything went really well.”

“What?” Lorenzo leaned across the table toward me. “How did it go?”

“It was relaxed. I had breakfast while he trained, and we talked about his time here.”

“That’s it? No physical contact? No kiss? Nothing at all?”

Something twisted in my abdomen at the suggestion of that kind of intimacy. Good grief, Lorenzo and his ideas… As if something like that could ever happen between us. I crossed my feet behind the chair, shifting again in an attempt to shake off the sensation.

“Of course not! By the gods, it’s like you don’t even know Zion. What you suggested has nothing to do with our relationship.”

I rested my elbow on the back of the chair, distancing myself, as if I could escape their gazes.

“I don’t understand how this relationship is going to work. You have a bond, Kay. A true and rare compatibility bond.” He looked at his husband. “Tell me, my dear, how can someone have a bond with another person and not want to reduce their entire existence to just screwing their partner?”

My face flushed, and before Ambrose even spoke, I knew it would be the color of my hair. I scratched my forehead to hide it.

“I don’t know—we don’t even have a bond and it’s already hard to keep my hands off you.” Ambrose squeezed Lorenzo’s thighs under the table.

I caught the scent of their pheromones, promising sex later. This was pretty embarrassing when it happened in public.

“Yes, do you remember Thormund? He had a partner, and they were the only ones I knew. He used to tell us that when he met Luna, he had to take her to the altar because the sexual frenzy was unreal,” Lorenzo said, returning Ambrose’s gesture with a mischievous smile. “I remember how embarrassed he’d get when he told us he acted like a savage the first week of marriage, while Luna blushed, giggled, and said it was wonderful.”

“By the gods, can you stop with that?” I threw a crumpled napkin at Lorenzo’s face, making them both turn to me.

While they stared at me smugly, my curiosity about Thormund outweighed my embarrassment, and I found myself asking:

“And what happened to Thormund?”

Maybe there was someone who could better explain the complications of the bond, since the answers in books were vague. Lorenzo exchanged looks with Ambrose, his lighthearted demeanor fading, and I gathered that something bad had happened.

“Luna was a Drutes descendant and disappeared during the old purges. Thormund died of depression a year later, after feeling the bond break,” Ambrose said regretfully. “No one has ever been known to survive very long after a partner dies.”

Lorenzo quickly added:

“Yes, but that’s an old, sad story from 300 years ago. Just because it was sad for them doesn’t mean it’ll be like that for you two.” He leaned toward me. “We have to focus on the future and on the connection you have with him. I bet now that you two are close, things should get pretty interesting.”

They looked at me expectantly and I rolled my eyes. The most interesting thing that could happen between Zion and me, given the mood we were in, was me throwing another knife at him and actually hitting him this time.

“That’s not how the bond works. Honestly, I don’t even know if it works—I don’t feel anything coming from him. The only time I reached out through the bond, I got no response.” I remembered that days later, Zion had sent the lawyer to find me. “Well, maybe I did, but not in the way I expected.”

“Probably because you two haven’t sealed it.” They both squirmed in their chairs with excitement.

“And we’re not going to. Sometimes I wonder if this bond even exists at all.”

“That’s nonsense—of course it exists. You said you got a response when you reached through it, even if it wasn’t what you expected.”