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WITH KADE STARING INTO her eyes so beseechingly, Sorcha was torn between keeping her heart safe from harm and surrendering to him. Madam Quilla had foreseen all this in her crystal ball. Kade Sinclair was the man the gypsy had been talking about, she had no doubts about that. Eden had trusted the warlock and she was now free. Or was she? She’d bonded her soul to Sebastian, which meant she was still chained, only to one person rather than three. The Night Cursed mystic had warned Sorcha that she would exchange one bond for another, but she would gain the freedom she craved.
Sorcha wasn’t quite ready to take the final step yet. She had more questions first. “Exactly what sort of control will you have over me if I agree to let you bind me to you?”
Some of Kade’s tension seeped out when she didn’t reject his offer outright. “I’ll show you the spell, if you like,” he offered. She nodded and he strode over to the cabinet where his most valuable items were stored. He waved his hand over the door to dispel the lock and the illusion, then took the spells out. He locked the door again and crossed to the sorceress to hand a page to her. “The spell isn’t designed to allow me to control you,” he said.
The former assassin took the page, noting the stiff and almost formal handwriting. She read the incantation and realized he was telling the truth. The spell would bind her soul to him and it would boost their power just like he’d said. “What’s on those other pages?” she asked curiously.
“They’re the spells Xiara Evora gave us,” he replied and handed them over.
Sorcha scanned them to see one was to form a triumvirate. Another was to create an impenetrable shield. Notes on how to alter the spell so they could take down their enemies’ shields had been included. The final note had been written in a different hand. She recognized it to be the same writing as the kill orders she’d received, which meant the magic of Nox had written it. They seemed to be instructions on how to activate an object. Her eyebrows rose when she read the ingredients that were needed. “What’s this one for?” she enquired.
“They’re instructions on how to cast a spell that will activate an artifact that will apparently harm Lord Kreaton,” the warlock replied. “My allies don’t know I have it.”
Warmth that he’d trusted her with the knowledge above his two closest allies spread through her. “Why haven’t you told them you have the instructions?” she asked as she handed the pages back.
“I need the heart of an alpha werewolf and I don’t want to have to resort to murder to get it,” he said.
Sorcha’s shoulders hunched and she crossed her arms. “You want to bind me to you so I’ll kill for you,” she said flatly.
Alarm flashed across his face and he shook his head. “Of course not! I freed you from the Immortal Triumvirate so you’ll never have to kill again!”
“Then why did you show that to me?”
“Because you’re a sorceress. You’re just like me. We’re two halves of a whole. I’m hoping you’ll help me figure out a way to use the artifact without needing an alpha’s heart.”
Kade looked so open and honest that she knew he was telling her the truth. While their origins were eerily similar, their lives couldn’t have been more different. Sorcha wanted to shelter the warlock from the horrors that dwelled within Nox. She doubted he’d ever killed another soul in his life. Her gaze went to the spells again and she made her decision. With his help, and the help of his allies, they could take down her former masters. “I’m in,” she said.
“You’re in?” he repeated, tone hopeful, yet not quite ready to believe his good fortune.
“I agree to let you bind my soul to you,” she said with a tiny smile. “I’ll be the partner you need to help boost your powers. I’m joining your rebellion so we can overthrow the Immortal Triumvirate together.” The images she’d blasted onto the walls of her mansion had been a prophecy of her own that was now coming true.
His smile lit up his already incredibly handsome face. “I have everything I need to cast the spell,” he said before she could change her mind. The warlock gathered ingredients and components from the various cupboards. When he had everything he needed, he began adding the items to a mortar, then crushed them with a pestle. “It’s ready, he said after a while. “I just need a few drops of our blood.” He picked up a dagger from the table and held out his hand.
Sorcha moved closer and let him prick her thumb. She squeezed a few drops of her blood into the bowl, then stepped back. Kade pricked his thumb next and added his blood to the mixture. Using the pestle to grind their blood and the other components together, Kade read the incantation in the musical, mesmerizing fae tongue. He added a couple of drops of dragon blood to boost the spell as he chanted. When he was done, the mixture began to glow with a reddish-gold light. “I’ll now bind your soul to me by placing this paste over our hearts,” he said.
He waited for Sorcha to open her shirt, then stared down at her breasts that were encased in a lacy bra. “Can you move your bra a little?” he asked in a husky voice. He’d seen her naked more than once, but a faint blush rose on Sorcha’s cheeks anyway as she half bared her left breast to him. “Brace yourself,” he warned her, then he smeared some of the paste onto her chest.
Burning pain lanced through the sorceress and she doubled over with a gasp. Kade opened his shirt and smeared the paste on himself next. He hissed in agony through clenched teeth. Determined to finish it, he started chanting the spell, but his words sounded muffled and seemed to be coming from someplace far away.
Their pain cut off as soon as Kade stopped chanting and they shared a relieved glance. Sorcha knew the incantation had worked because she could now feel him in her head. He was a strangely comforting presence rather than an imposing one. The bond was nothing like her link to the Immortal Triumvirate. It didn’t feel oppressive or invasive. From the way he was rubbing the back of his head, he could sense her as well. “I can already feel my magic is stronger,” she said. She held her hand out and called up her undine magic. An ice sculpture in the shape of a cloaked man appeared on her palm.
Kade looked at it in wonder. “Is that me?” he asked. “It looks like the image that was etched into your bay window.”
“You saw that?” Sorcha asked as she made the sculpture vanish. “I pulled the drapes shut to hide it from you.”
“I saw it after we made love on your gold sofa,” he said. “I should have known we were destined to be together when I saw my face on your window, but then I learned you were an assassin and I handled it badly.”
“Why should you have known we were destined to be together when you saw the etching?” she asked. Her legs were still slightly shaky from the painful spell, but she was recovering swiftly.
“Come with me and I’ll show you,” he said and held out his hand.
The sorceress took his hand without any hesitation. Their fingers became entwined and she followed him out into the hall. They passed several bedrooms and finally came to his bedroom. She stopped dead when she saw a gold divan in a small sitting area next to a huge window. “You have the exact same sofa that I have,” she said in amazement.
“I think it’s yours,” Kade said with a grin. “It wasn’t there before.” He tugged on her hand and they crossed to the window next to his bed. Instead of one etching, there were now two. His image faced hers and they were so close they were almost kissing. Rain drummed against the window, but the droplets slid away from them like magic.
“That’s me,” Sorcha said in wonder. “And that’s the etching I did of you. What is your image and my sofa doing here?”
Kade turned her to face him and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You belong here with me, Sorcha,” he told her. “The magic of Nox knew it all along and this is the final proof. This is your home now.”
Tears welled in the sorceress’ eyes and he pulled her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and sank into his embrace. Sorcha wasn’t going to have to live alone like a hermit anymore. Instead, she would be spending the rest of her life living with the man of her dreams.
