Chapter Seventeen

 

Kayden gasped awake. His hand clenched at the sheet, searching for a sword that wasn’t there. The adrenaline calmed as he took in his bedroom, the early morning light just slanting to paint the silvers with pinks and purples, coming through his window.

He’d slept the whole night. Uninterrupted. The sheer novelty of the idea amused him. With his nighttime love and the stresses of his responsibility, he’d not slept for that many hours at once in a very long time.

Probably years.

The difference lay in his arms. She was here. Not fading with the glittering rays of daylight, but warm, soft, and breathing slow. He knew dreams still cloaked her. Her hair, always a fascination for him, lay in its fat gypsy curls, framing the pale oval of her face. Dark lashes rested on cheeks pink from sleep and her Cupid’s bow mouth slightly parted as she inhaled.

His cock hardened, just watching her sleep, feeling the curve of her leg sprawled across him and the even softer press of her breasts into his side.

My wife. The one thing he’d dreamed of—thought impossible—and it happened. She is here, in daylight, and she’s my wife.

The bond…

She was right. They needed to talk.

He’d realized she was his soul mate a long time ago. The feelings he suppressed for her, the way her laugh affected him, all of it told him she was the lost princess he was meant for. But magic and destiny aside, he just liked her.

She got him, in a way that none other in the kingdom ever had.

The bond was accidental. Since he knew what she was, even before she really did, he reveled in the connection to her, even when she was banished back to the other world. But if they completed the bonding, if they allowed their powers to merge…

No king had completed the soul bond in remembered history. It meant a giving up of personal power that few rulers were willing to risk, even with the great benefits of the bond itself. He would willingly bond with her, but she should know more of it before she committed herself to it.

She stirred, wrapping more tightly around him and burying her face in his shoulder. Kayden embraced her. Her scent enclosed him, surrounding him. Inhaling it, he closed his eyes, face deep in her curls.

“Good morning,” she whispered, voice husky from sleep.

Capturing her face, he tried to turn her toward him for a kiss, but Emily shimmied away, ducking into the bathroom. After a few moments, she emerged to blink owlishly at him, awkwardly trying to hide her nudity. “You could at least close your eyes,” she mumbled, peeking from behind the door.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Come back to bed.” Amused at her shyness, he watched her dart from the other room to the bed, trying to shield herself and not managing to hide her breasts as they jiggled when she ran.

Again safe, under the blankets, she peeked at him. “You totally watched me.”

“I did. I like looking at you naked.”

“That’s not awfully dream prince-like behavior.”

“I’m not a dream, sadly. I’m just a real man who really likes to look at you running around naked. If you suddenly had the urge to jump up and down on the bed, I could be convinced to watch that, too.”

She laughed, a free sound, and rolled to her back. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“Damn.” He again captured her face and this time she came to him, the kiss searing his urge to make her laugh and making him want to have her scream out his name.

Breaking the kiss, she touched his face, cupping it with one hand. “We need to talk. I remembered who I am. I know things now—”

“You’re right. We need to discuss the bond.”

“The…?” She looked confused.

“The soul mate bond.”

“Hmm,” she rolled onto her belly, tucking her face on her hands. “This is going to be like the rushed marriage, no proposal, and more for-the-kingdom kind of chat, isn’t it?”

“Not exactly.” Giving into the temptation of her flesh, Kayden pushed the blanket aside so he could place a kiss at the base of her spine. Her skin broke out in gooseflesh and her breath sped. She made good points, though. He had a lot to make up for…but for now, their safety depended on him staying his course.

“So…?”

She tried to turn but he held her in place, rubbing his fingers into her back in a massage and continuing to lick and trail kisses on her back. “The soul bond can only happen between soul mates.” Speaking between kisses, he couldn’t tame his fascination with the curve of her neck under her hair. When he kissed her, right behind the earlobe, she shivered. Nibbling the lobe, he moved so he straddled her to have better access to her back. The feel of her ass against his cock didn’t help calm his erection any.

“If we bond, we share our power. We share our thoughts. We become, basically, one soul in two bodies. We retain our independence, but our magic becomes enhanced. If, for instance, you were in trouble, you could call upon not only your own magic, but mine.”

Knowing the rush of her power merging with his, Kayden knew she would understand this part. In their partial bond, they were able to touch each other’s powers, like the brush of fingertips and the rush of it was intoxicating. Her head dropped and she went liquid under him, wriggling a little. “You’re listening, right?” he asked, pinching her ass.

She squeaked. “Yes, I’m listening. I’m also enjoying. Back to the rubbing.”

Obeying her command, since he loved touching her, he stroked his hands down her arms before biting her shoulder. “Yes, ma’am. As I was saying, that is what we get from the bond. But it requires trust. You have to know I won’t drain all of your power and vice versa. It’s about being in tune.”

As his hands tracked down her sides, just grazing the tempting curve of her breasts, she shuddered. “I’m feeling pretty in tune.”

“Me too,” he agreed. “But the full bond, we have to agree to it.”

“How do we do it?”

“We merge magic, like we’ve done before. But we merge during sex and give complete control to each other.”

Her head turned, gaze meeting his over her shoulder. “Is this just an excuse for sex? Because, really, Kayden, you don’t need an excuse. You married me, after all. I’m a sure thing.”

He allowed her to roll over. Meeting her lips, he let his tongue dance with hers, the flavor of the kiss exploding through him and making him forget all about the kingdom for a moment. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind having some morning sex. But the bond is more than that.”

She pushed him until he rolled off her and she rose above him. “Well, I vote we do it, if it’s going to give you a measure of comfort. You look tired. I worry. Besides, I also want to have sex.”

He tried to pull her closer and she wiggled her finger at him. “No, princey-poo. My turn to play.”

“I wish you’d find another nickname. Using the one your sister used makes me feel a little dirty.” But then her mouth closed over his nipple and he didn’t care what in the hell she called him.

Just so long as she kept touching him while she did it, he was fine.