Page 69 of The Soulbond and Her Beloved

"Who would have thought that I, Vladya Theriozydovkar Skyvakto, the male with the highest failed bonding record, the most cursed in Urai, would have aSoulbond?"

"How could you call yourself such things?"

"Because those were the names the people gave me, little bird." His lips curved, even as he blinked hard, clearing the sheen in his eyes. "Over the centuries, they found their way to my ears."

Aekeira’s heart ached for him.

“Now, who would have thought?” he mused, stroking her hair with the lightest touch.

She pressed closer, until their noses brushed, until his breath mingled with hers. "I love being yours.” Drowning in this enigmatic male who had become everything to her. “My heart feels so full."As full as my body.

"Who would have thought," his voice almost lost to the quiet, "that I would begin to experience true happiness after giving up all hope of ever feeling even the slightest joy?" His thumb brushed over her lips. “For the first time in five centuries… I believe her.”

"Who?" Aekeira asked softly.

"Tiara. My dead bondmate."

"Oh..."

"I watched her die, you know." Sadness edged in his tone. "She was cut down by a human right before my eyes. After I recited theHav’zie de Baah, and nothing happened, the cold crept in. It dawned on me that I would truly lose her. A female who had only officially become mine a week before, after millennia of failed bondings."

"I'm sorry." Aekeira wished she could take away his pain.

"I was devastated. Shouting, begging her not to leave. And as she lay dying in my arms, she cupped my cheeks and said, ‘It will be alright.’"

Aekeira’s heart squeezedpainfully, and pressed a hand to it, trying to quell the ache.

"I told her it would never be alright again if she died." His voice grew hoarse. "I told her, ‘If you dare leave me, you are the most wicked being to ever exist. Not the gods, not the humans—you, Tiara.’"

Tears slipped down Aekeira’s cheeks.

A single tear traced down his cheek. "Those were my exact words as I pressed my hands against her bleeding stomach, desperate to stop the flow."

Aekeira felt his agony, as if she had lived it herself. Why did it hurt so much? Why did it feel...familiar?

“Tiara smiled amidst the tears, and told me, ‘This is not the end.’”

Aekeira shivered.

“For five hundred years, I did not believe a single word of it. How could I? My world crumbled that night?" The shadow of the past lifted from his eyes, and the present—she—filled his vision instead. “But tonight, for the first time in so long… I remember her words again. And now, they finally make sense to me."

"It will be alright?” Aekeira whispered.

“It's alright now.”Another tear rolled down his cheek. “Everything is alright now, Aekeira.”

***

Grand King Daemonikai waited. But nothing happened.

No resistance. No rejection.

Emeriel’s quivering sheath remained wrapped around him like a warm, silken vise, pleasure licking up his spine like fire. Pulling back, he withdrew just enough before sliding in again.

Emeriel moaned. A sound of pure bliss, not the pain that had marred her delicate features earlier when he'd tried to get inside her.

She had accepted him. Her body recognized him once more—as him. Their Beloved. TheirSoulbond.

Daemonikai’s throat went tight. The tension tormenting him all nightreleasedlike a coiled serpent finally slithering free. He could breathe again.

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