Page 71 of The Serpent Prince

“Did you remove all the glamour from yourself last night, even the one over your red shadow magic brand?”

She nodded and held out her arms.

“Good. I’ll replace it.”

He grabbed both her wrists so gently she wanted to lean into the soothing touch. For a few seconds, he studied the markings, free from glamour.

The large, red trinity symbol dominated all the others, and her heartmate’s matching stag sigil remained next to her identical one. Kiran traced his thumb around it. He blinked, and for a second, the beast stared out from inside him. His hands tightened around her wrists. With another blink, it was gone, and his wand was out in his hand.

Tapping her wrist three times, he muttered a spell in Elvish. The red lines for her heartmate swirled into the intricate, blue leaf symbol with a triangle around it. His Drow elf sigil—the letter X, also with a triangle around it—also appeared.

A warm hand curled around her neck as he pulled her closer and waved his wand over his own wrist. Where there was nothing on his skin for his heartmate, suddenly the High-Norn elf sigil was there. That familiar blue leaf instantly appeared in the spot next to his Drow elf one. Winding and bleeding further together, they both entwined themselves—a symbol that they had completed the three heartmate rituals—and stopped moving.

She liked the way they looked together. This was an improvement from the mysterious and unsettling red stags. Even if Kiran was an irritating, prickly princeling, she would much rather these marks stay on her skin.

Maybe she’d ask him to keep the illusion just so she didn’t have to look at those red monstrosities anymore.

“Is that it?”

“No, there’s one more part.” He pulled her closer until their foreheads were touching. He placed his wand over her heart and said another Elvish incantation. His hand trembled slightly. Was Kiran nervous?

Air was sucked from her lungs with such force that she whimpered a little. The end of Kiran’s wand was glowing and sparkling with a white light. He touched the tip to his chest, and the light disappeared.

“What was that?” Imani rubbed her chest, feeling a hole there.

“A piece of your soul. Now take out your wand.”

She blinked in surprise. “What? I didn’t agree to this.”

He shrugged. “This is what will fool the heartmate defensive spells they have in place.”

Imani looked around then sighed. She let her wand slip from her inner sleeve into her hand.

“Repeat the same spell on me,” he said, his voice slightly hoarse.

Imani moved closer and placed the tip of her Draswood over his heart. She could feel it pounding through the wand.

Recalling the incantation, she repeated it much slower, in stuttered Elvish. The same glow appeared, and Kiran gasped, nuzzling his nose against hers. He squeezed his eyes shut as Imani slowly moved the light to her own heart. With a few more words, the light slipped inside to fill the gaping hole.

A wholeness she’d never felt settled inside her chest.

This was different from feeding but similar. It connected them in a way she’d only felt with feeding.

Close as they were, their breaths mingled. Imani felt him ghost his lips over hers, and a hunger like she’d never felt slammed into her. She deepened the kiss.

A groan escaped his throat, but he pulled away. “Later,” he panted. “Later, darling, I promise.”

“Why? We’re alone in this private compartment,” Imani asked, bewildered at being called darling by Kiran in such a loving way.

He still held her close, tracing small circles on the delicate skin beneath her ear with his thumb as he dropped kisses into her hair. “Because someone could easily enter, and I don’t want to risk anyone seeing your true feeding draw. Because I would have to kill them.”

Chest still heaving, Imani pulled out of his grasp and sat back heavily, frustration coursing through her. All he cared about was appearances. How did he lock down his emotions so easily? Hers were about to boil over.

She rubbed her chest, where warmth spread outward from her heart. Such a strange yet lovely sensation.

She needed a distraction.

“Do you ever wonder when you’ll meet your heartmate? Or what she’s like?” she murmured, touching her finger to his sigil on her arm.