Page 26 of Crown of Light and Ashes
The realization is unsettling.
"You know," I observe, breaking the heavy silence, "most brides cry on their wedding night, but you're not like them. You tried to kill me with hairpins, then practically broke my fucking collarbone with your knee. I think we're off to a promising start."
She doesn't respond, but I feel the spike of renewed anger through our bond.
I lean down and start tracing the line of her spine with one finger, watching goosebumps rise in its wake. "Your light magic is... unusual," I continue, trailing my hand to a scratch she left on my arm. "Too aggressive for standard Light Court training. Wonder what Erlik would say if he could see how his son is failing to tame a mere light-bearer's daughter."
"Your father?" she asks, curiosity momentarily overwhelming her hatred.
"The one and only," I reply, letting shadows flicker between my fingers. I detest my own father with every fiber of my magic. "The Lord of Darkness himself. Did your father not tell you who you were marrying? The son of Erlik, the ruler of Karanlik, the Shadow Realm that borders your homeland?"
Her silence is answer enough. I laugh softly. "Seems there's much they didn't tell you."
"You'll never know my secrets," she says, her voice raw.
"I've now seen—and felt—most of your secrets,hatun," I counter, deliberately provocative. "The bond leaves little hidden between us."
She turns to face me then, eyes blazing, a magnificent vision of fury with her dark hair spilling across the black silk. "You know nothing about me."
"I know you respond to shadow magic with remarkable...sensitivity," I reply with a smirk, running a hand possessively down her side. "I know your body contradicts your mind in the most delightful fucking ways. And I know—" I lean closer, my lips nearly brushing her ear, my breath hot against her skin, "—that despite your hatred, you're curious about what else the bond might reveal."
Her scent is intoxicating, light and darkness mingling together, her sweat and mine, the lingering evidence of what just happened between us. I want to bury my face in her neck, breathe her in again, mark her throat with my teeth. The intensity of this desire unsettles me; I'm not accustomed to wanting someone so desperately after having had them once.
"The only thing I'm curious about," she says with quiet venom, breaking into my thoughts, "is how long it will take me to kill you."
I laugh, genuinely delighted by her continued defiance even now. "Hmm, yet another thing we have in common," I muse, shadows coiling lazily around us, sliding across her skin in possessive patterns. "A shared fascination with death. Perhaps this marriage has potential after all."
She attempts to move away, but my shadows hold her in place, wrapping around her wrists and ankles. "Unfortunately for your murderous ambitions, the blood bond makes it rather difficult for either of us to kill the other without suffering consequences. Didn't your father mention that little detail? Or was he too focused on using you as his weapon to bother with inconvenient truths?"
The flash of surprise in her eyes tells me he didn't. How interesting.
"If I die violently," I explain, tracing the curve of her breast with one finger, "you'll feel every moment of my death as if it were your own. And vice versa, of course. The blood bond links our life forces together, it's why such bonds are rarely formed. The magic strengthens both participants, but at a terrible price. A rather effective matrimonial safeguard, don't you think? The pain would be... never-ending."
"You're lying," she whispers, but uncertainty clouds the bond between us.
"The blood bond doesn't permit lies,hatun. Test it if you don'tbelieve me." I lean closer, inhaling the scent of her hair. "Try to kill me if you must, it would be fucking amusing to watch you try, but know that success means your own suffering." I trace the curve of her cheek with one finger, then slide my hand to her throat, feeling her pulse hammer beneath my palm. "We're bound now, for better or worse. Till death do us part... and beyond."
As my shadows begin to dance across her skin once more, I feel her renewed hatred through our bond, pure and perfect in its intensity. But there's something else too, something she's trying desperately to hide from herself as much as from me: a reluctant fascination with the power now flowing between us, the unique magic created when shadow and light merge.
I should be satisfied with what I've taken, but I'm not. Not even close. The sight of her marked by my hands, the memory of her unwilling responses, the taste of her still on my tongue, none of it is enough. I want more. I want everything. The realization hits me with unexpected force: I could become obsessed with this woman.
She turns her head, golden eyes burning into mine. "When I finally figure out how to kill you, Kaan Bey, I won't use poison or magic. I'll use akiliç, and I'll look into your eyes as the light leaves them. Just as you watched Aslan die, the man I loved."
I laugh, both aroused and impressed by her promise. "Now that was almost romantic. Should I be flattered that you're already planning such an intimate death for me? Most wives just fantasize about pushing their husbands down stairs."
By morning, she may still hate me. She will certainly still plot my demise. But she will do so as mine, bound by blood, by magic, and by the knowledge that her body has betrayed her even as her mind rebels.
And for now, that's victory enough. Tomorrow, I'll begin discovering exactly what other secrets she's hiding beneath that diplomat's daughter facade. The hunt for her true self has only just begun, and I find myself looking forward to it with an eagerness I haven't felt in centuries.
Nesilhan of House Solari—my enemy, my partner, my obsession.
Chapter Nine
The Bond
Nesilhan
I WAKE TO sunlight streaming through unfamiliar windows.For one disoriented moment, I forget where I am. Then the weight of a foreign arm across my waist jolts me back to reality.
