The Silver Siren (Iron Butterfly, #3)(29)

“Thalia, you talk too much.” His eyes danced with light, and I could see the heat building behind them as he leaned forward and kissed me again. But my own morals had me balking.

“Kael, you shouldn’t kiss me. Joss is…mmmfff” Kael interrupted me and kissed me again, and I lost all thought of what I was going to say.

“Don’t…talk…so…much.” His lips pressed against my chin, my neck, my shoulder. It felt good—too good—and I didn’t want him to stop.

“I think—” I started.

“You think too much as well,” he challenged, looking at me sternly.

“You shouldn’t kiss me.” I tried to pull away. At first he wasn’t going to let me go, but then he did. I escaped from the intense heat of his body by scooting over closer to the wall.

His eyes turned dark with frustration. “I’m tired of waiting, Thalia. I’m not a patient person. You have to know.”

“What do you mean, Kael? You know I like Joss.” I tried to move away again, but his hands on either side of me pinned me in. Kael’s determination scared me.

“You know what we share is infinitely more powerful than…that. And you feel this between us too,” he growled. “You melt when I kiss you. You watch me when you think I’m unaware. You can’t sleep unless I’m near you. Tell me none of that is true.”

I swallowed nervously and licked my lips. “No. That’s all true.”

“I promised your father I would give you time, but I’m tired of waiting. Tired of watching Joss try and win your heart from me.”

“Kael, I don’t understand. How is Joss keeping you from me, when you and I don’t think of one another that way?”

“Don’t think of—Thalia! You and I are life mates.”





Chapter 13



I shoved away from Kael, banging my head. “Ouch! How can that be? You aren’t making sense, Kael.” I brought my hand up to my head to make sure a knot wasn’t forming.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened with anxiety and something else I couldn’t identify. Fear? Excitement? Hope? In one sentence, my future had been decided for me. The choice was never mine. It was foolish of me to think otherwise, since I was willing to marry the winner of the Kragh Aru. Now the prospect of being with the strong, deadly, passionate SwordBrother for the rest of my life filled me with both panic and elation.

Kael sat up on the edge of the bed, turning his back to me. “It was the only reason your father allowed you to go to Skyfell in the first place, Thalia, because I promised my life for yours. That is not something a SwordBrother does lightly. Yet I would do it again for you.”

All I could do was shake my head at Kael. “How did you get my father to agree to it? You’re not clan.”

Kael shot me a look over his shoulder in disbelief. “I won the Kragh Aru, remember? The final battle was rescheduled to take place the next day between your cousin and me. Instead, our final match was a battle to the death beside a waterfall—a small technicality, but one worth mentioning to your father. And if you remember, it was you who determined the prize for the winner of the Kragh Aru. You were to be his life mate.”

“But you said you weren’t entering the Kragh Aru for the prize. You said you were competing so I would be free to help find a way to break the bond. I remember. You said it was a silly marriage game, and once our bond was broken I could be free to make whatever stupid mistakes I wanted.” I was filled with panic, but I wasn’t sure why.

Maybe I had thought so hard and so long about how a future with Joss might be near impossible, that I never bothered to think of a future with Kael.

“I lied.” Kael turned to face me and his eyes bored into mine. “I don’t want the bond broken between us. It has become quite handy when you get in trouble, which is often.” He reached forward and ran his calloused hand gently over the top of my head and down my cheek.

Closing my eyes, I let his words sink deep within my soul and anchor there.

“Later that night, when your cousin Bvork had kidnapped you, I felt like I lost you. And I realized—bond or no bond—I needed you in my life.”

“But you only came after me because of the bond. If you hadn’t you would’ve died, right? Your feelings are misplaced,” I implored.

“Thalia, I followed you to Haven because of the bond and the fear of death. And I know what I said about following you to Valdyrstal. I did try to stay away from you, but I couldn’t. Not because of the pain but because I didn’t want to be away from you. I can still feel you—here.” Kael touched his chest. “I can still feel the magnetic pull of you. I’m drawn to you, Thalia.”

Kael lowered his head and pressed his forehead to mine.

“You didn’t know this, but since the first day I arrived in the dungeon, every time they drugged you and brought you into the laboratory, I was there too. I was chained to the wall, bound, and forced to watch helplessly as they tortured you in the machine.”

“No,” I whispered, my doubt genuine. “I never saw you.”

“But I saw you, Thalia.” He stood. “I watched as they strapped you in and injected you with a serum. I begged them to stop when they started the machine and you screamed until you would pass out.” Kael’s knuckles clenched in frustration and his voice deepened with hate. “I even offered complete compliance, if they would just quit torturing you.”