Page 91 of Between Soul and Vessel
But in place of fear, all I felt was need.
Need to carve myself into her bones, to ink my markings into her skin, to hear my name on her lips. I needed to consume her just as she had consumed me.
And most importantly, I needed to lay a claim—mine.
At the time, I had no idea why thatfeeling had been so strong, but as the years passed by, the cosmos revealed the truth—
She was my bonded. My mate.
We were two halves of the same star. Destined for each other, long before the Creator plucked us from the sky and broke us apart. Ever since then, we had been clawing at the fabric of fate, desperately trying to be together but always brutally torn apart.
There wasnothingI wouldn’t do to be reunited with her.
I sat on the forest floor, leaning against a tree. One of my knees was bent, my healed arm draped over top of it. Tattoos reborn. Silver rings in place. Good as new. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, resting it against the trunk.
My thoughts were adrift, lost in the ocean of her.
Soren had contacted Sage three days ago. Three. Long. Fucking. Days. Ago.
She said she would come to us, giving us a location to travel to. And so, for the past three days, we had worked our way here, to the lake full of purple shimmering waters. How she knew of its whereabouts, I didn’t know, but I suspected she had someone helping her.
I didn’t know if it would take Sage days or weeks to get to us. I didn’t know how she was traveling or who she was traveling with. I didn’t knowanything.
Sage had refused to hand out any information regarding her whereabouts. And although not knowing where she was aggravated me, considering Soren’s involvement, I understood why. She didn’t trust him.
A smile twisted my lips.Clever, infuriating goddess.
Wings flapped, followed by the scrape of claws against the ground.
“No sign of her yet,” Kaleb said as he landed beside me.
I opened my eyes, peering down at his raven form. “Thanks for checking.”
He nodded. “I’ll go do another round.”
“Alright,” I answered.
His wings flared out beside him, and he flew through the trees, out over the top of the lake, and then shot up toward the sky, his caw piercing the night. Fallon, who was seated with the others around a fire Ryker controlled, looked over her shoulder, peering in the direction Kaleb had gone. She sat like that for a while, her proud shoulders caving in. When she turned back around, she drew her legs to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and lowered her chin to her knees. The reflection of Ryker’s fire danced in her weary, sad eyes.
Ryker, who was seated directly across from her, noticed her reaction. And for a brief second, he looked as if he were going to get up and go to her, but Harper gently placed her hand on his arm and shook her head. Fallon had asked Ryker to give her space to sort things out, and so he was trying to be respectful of that, but I could tell how hard it was on him.
How hard all of this was on all of them.
Especially Kaleb.
Folkoln stood and started toward me, a spit with a fire-roasted fish in one hand and a half-eaten fish in the other.Apart from the fact that I was a miserable, grumpy fucker,whatthey were eating was part of the reason why I was sitting by myself—it didn’t matter if fish were cooked or uncooked, I couldn’t stand it.
So naturally, my shit brother waved the spit in front of my face.
I curled my upper lip and let out a low growl.
“Oh, come on now, princess, try a bite,” he said, trying to torment me further.
“This—” I grabbed the stick. “Is low, even for you, you emotion-sucking leech.” I shoved it away.
Folkoln chuckled, but the sound was cut off. His expression turned stern as his eyes darted past me. Searching.
Swiftly, I was on my feet. “What is it?” I asked.
