Page 52 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
“Aza stepped onto our lands, and the first thing that happens is that an unnatural snowstorm almost kills her, then a day later she gets chased by werebears,” Endellion looks at me. “If we go by your usual rational approach, I’d say that’s still a bit too much of a coincidence, especially knowing that she is known to be born with a gift.”
“Do we know what that gift is?” I ask and turn towards Ita. She listened to our entire exchange in silence. Now, however, she steps forward.
“I told you what happened when the blizzard hit us. It was like a bubble was all around us and kept us safe.” She shrugs. “I assume her gift is protection.”
“There has to be more to it,” Endellion says quietly.
“Why do you think that?” I want to know.
He shrugs. “It’s a feeling, an instinct. I can’t explain it.”
“She awakens weird feelings,” Caelan says, much to my surprise. “It’s like I feel this overbearing need to protect her and shield her from any harm,” he says. “I’ve only ever felt that with our younger siblings. It’s extremely strong, almost like a bond is forming to her… just not like a mate bond.”
Endellion stares at him. “And for me, it’s an overbearing possessiveness,” he says. “I want to hurt whoever hurt her and hunt the fucking woman in white for having almost killed her.”
“And I feel the urge to make her smile and laugh constantly and to see her happy,” I say quietly. “Caelan is right. It’s like a bond on its own.”
“But, how can it be that we are forming three different bonds with her?” Endellion asks.
“To add to the whole confusion, it started last night,” I frown. Ever since we spent the evening with Azadeh at the frozen lake, I can feel this change inside me. I first thought I was going crazy, but with my brothers encountering the same, it looks more and more like a new reality for me.
“I have felt it since yesterday too,” Caelan says.
“Me too,” Endellion agrees. “Why last night? Why not the day she arrived? What was different last night?”
“She was different,” I point out. When my brothers look at me, I shrug. “Something about her was different. She was vulnerable and open, and let her walls down.” I pause as a new realization settles in. “Was this what Dad meant?” I slap my forehead with my hand. “She was herself last night for the first time, and it immediately affected us. For sure, this is what he was talking about. The whole ‘melt her heart’ was just a metaphor.”
“It’s all because of her,” Endellion agrees, stepping towards us. He reaches out his hand, and Caelan and I follow, resting our hands above his. Closing our eyes, we focus on the bond between us, on the strong, unwavering stream that connects our destinies to each other. The rest of our family is involved in this stream, but the three of us remain the steady constants. For the first time, however, there are minor changes in it, little sub-streams parting from the main. The middle part still remains strong, safely flowing back and forth between the three of us, but there are new parts opening.
“What does this mean?” Caelan asks.
“Dad isn’t the one plotting everything,” Endellion says quietly. “He just set things into motion by inviting Azadeh to us.”
“What makes you so certain?” Caelan asks worriedly.
“Because, these sub-streams,” he says, “aren’t… they’re fates… new bonds if you like.”
I blink at him before turning to Ita. She has been listening quietly, her eyes wide in shock, though. “Ita,” I say. “You have a fate, don’t you?”
“Of course, everyone has several of them,” she says, before blushing. “I didn’t mean-”
“Forget it, I’m not insulted,” I say, harsher than I intended to. My patience is getting thinner, it seems. “We know we have no fate. But how does the mate bond feel to you?”
“It’s like you explained it. When I meditate, I can see a stream, and one powerful stream leads me towards the unknown,” she explains.
I nod. So far, nothing new. We learn how to meditate and how to read our bonds early on. It’s the reason we soon found out how different we are. Instead of a stream leading us to an unknown mate, we are connected to a stream leading us to each other.
“However-” She looks at us. “The stream has sub-streams, some stronger, some weaker. To my friends, family, to my princes, my king. While I can always detect one stream as the one leading me to my mate, it’s not necessarily the thickest. There are lots of sub-streams leading to unknown people.”
“The stream of fate within us is changing?” Caelan asks carefully. He looks at us nervously. “Does this mean that we are developing new and unknown bonds?”
I close my eyes again, feeling my side of the bond now, and like Ita said, while the stream is strong and steady, I can also feel a sub-stream now. It’s small and almost translucent, but it’s there… and leads me to a person I haven’t met yet.
I swallow thickly. “Guys, am I crazy, or are we slowly developing a fate? And I mean an individual one?”
“If you are crazy, I’m crazy, too,” Endellion says. “Because I think the same.”
“Me too,” Caelen concurs.
