He was burning up. His skin was so hot it hurt to touch, but there was no wound, no blood. Just the fever that had been eating him alive. “Definitely bonding sickness,” Gus said, his voice tight.
We’d only just dragged Riven into the cottage, half-carrying him through the forest after I’d felt something in my chest snap. I’d been sitting by the fire, hand resting on my stomach, when suddenly a pull had seized me. Weak, stuttering. Like a candle about to go out.
I’d run. And I’d tripped over him in the dark, unconscious. The crown prince. The father of my unborn child.
The man I’d told to leave not two days before. “But we’re not bonded,” I said, my voice breaking. “We can’t be. We never—”
“That’s the problem.
” Gus pointed at the dark veins crawling up Riven’s neck. “Look at these. I’ve never seen a case this bad. He must have been holding this back for years.
”
Years. He’d known for years that we were mates. And he’d never said a word. I thought back to the beginning.
To the night I’d been fourteen, shivering under a bridge with nothing but a threadbare blanket and half a loaf of stale bread. I’d found an old woman stumbling through the rain, lost and muttering. Everyone else had stepped around her. I’d wrapped my blanket around her shoulders and pressed my bread into her hands because she was cold and alone, and I knew exactly what that felt like.
I hadn’t known she was the queen mother. I hadn’t known the royal guard would find her. And I definitely hadn’t known that the king himself would come, take one look at me, and declare me his new ward. That was the night I met Riven.
The crown prince. The boy with eyes like midnight who’d stared at me like he’d been struck the moment I walked into the throne room. And then called me a street rat in front of the entire court. He’d made my life miserable from that day forward.
Picking at me, needling me, calling me sister as an insult. But I’d given as good as I got. I had to. If I gave him an inch, he took a mile.
So I met every insult with one of my own, and the court found it hilarious. The king forced us together as punishment. Dance lessons. Dinners.
Constant proximity. It never softened anything between us. It only made things worse. He’d step on my dress, I’d trip him.
He’d sneer, I’d snap back. And underneath all that bickering, there was something neither of us would name. I knew I was in trouble the moment I saw him shift. The massive black wolf with eyes like fire.
I’d felt small. Lesser. And I couldn’t stop staring. Years passed.
I learned to curtsy, to dance, to navigate the treacherous waters of court. I became useful to the king, gathering information, listening at doors. I told myself I had a place here. But Riven never let me forget that I didn’t truly belong.
And then the engagement was announced. Princess Celestine of Valeris. The joining of two kingdoms. I’d watched Riven stand beside her, his face a mask, and I’d felt my chest cave in.
I’d fled to the gardens that night. The forest. And he’d followed me. “I don’t care about her,” he’d said, his voice rough.
“I only want you. ”
I hadn’t believed him. I’d reminded him of the princess, of his duty, of everything standing between us. And then he’d kissed me.
Hard. Desperate. And I’d kissed him back like I’d been drowning and he was air. I’ll spare the details.
What matters is that I gave myself to him that night, body and soul, and I’d never felt anything like it. He carried me to a clearing, laid me down on the moss, and made me feel whole for the first time in my life. When he woke me the next morning, I was alone. I told myself he’d left early to avoid being seen.
I bathed, scrubbing his scent from my skin. I floated down to breakfast, giddy with hope, ready for him to tell his father about us. Instead, the king asked me to dinner. With Princess Celestine.
And Riven sat beside her the entire night, not looking at me, not once. When she asked about a winter wedding, he said “Sure. ”
My heart cracked into a thousand pieces. I left the palace that night.
Sir Gus, my only real friend, took me to his family’s cottage in the woods. I told him not to tell anyone where I was. And then I slept for days. The nausea started soon after.
The doctor’s words echoed in my head: “You’re with child. ”
Riven’s child. A bastard heir conceived while he was engaged to another woman. I wanted to tell him.
Gods, I wanted to tell him. But he’d chosen someone else. He’d made that devastatingly clear. So I stayed hidden.
And I grew stronger. And I started talking to my baby, promising to protect them, no matter what. Then Riven found me. He showed up at the cottage, wild-eyed and fevered.
He kissed me before I could stop him, and for one weak second, I kissed him back. Then I pushed him away. He dropped to his knees. He saw the curve of my stomach.
“Are you with child? ” he’d asked, his voice full of awe. I told him to leave. He told me he loved me.
He said he’d renounced his claim to the throne, that we could run away together, that nothing mattered but me and our baby. I didn’t believe him. I couldn’t. He’d hurt me too many times.
So I slammed the door in his face. And now he was dying. Bonding sickness, Gus called it. I thought back to Arwin, the queen mother, the night I’d found her in the rain.
She’d just lost her mate, and she’d been delirious, lost, murmuring “He’s gone” over and over. This was the same thing. The same agony. Only Riven’s bond hadn’t been broken.
It had never been completed. And it was killing him. “What do I do? ” I begged Gus.
“How do I save him? ”
“Nothing can help apart from completing the bond. ” He hesitated, grimacing. “Look, I’m not a healer.
But I don’t think he’ll survive this. ”
I turned back to Riven. His skin burned beneath my hands. His breathing was shallow, labored.
I took his face in my hands and sobbed. “Please wake up. Please. Please don’t leave me.
”
Nothing. He was slipping away. Gus told me I didn’t have to claim him. I was human.
I’d survive the broken bond. But I knew I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t let him die. I asked Gus to leave.
When the door clicked shut, I leaned down and pressed my forehead to Riven’s. “I love you,” I whispered. “Of course I’m yours. I’ve always been yours.
”
I kissed him, soft and gentle, pouring everything I felt into it. And I felt a flutter against my chest. His arms wrapped around me weakly. “Say you love me again,” he murmured, his eyes barely open.
I laughed through my tears. “Always so bossy. ”
His emotions flooded through me. Relief.
Joy. Love so overwhelming it stole my breath. He pulled me into a kiss, desperate and claiming. We came together with a hunger that felt like starvation finally being sated.
And through it all, I felt him. His love pouring through the bond in waves. When it was over, we lay tangled together in the dark. I traced patterns on his skin.
“Why hold back all these years? ” I asked. “Why not tell me we were mates? ”
He tensed.
“Because of my father. ”
The words didn’t make sense at first. Then they did. “He already knows,” Riven said quietly.
“The second I saw you, I knew you were mine. But it was clear my father had brought you to court with some plan in mind. At first, I thought it was to pit me against you. So I acted how I thought he expected me to act.
For your protection. And for mine. ”
I hugged him tighter, my throat burning. “It was only later I realized the truth.
He planned to use my attachment to you as leverage. If I ever refused him, he threatened to send you away. ”
My mind spun. The king had never cared for me.
He’d used me as a tool to manipulate his son. “The night of the engagement,” I said, my voice shaking. “What happened? ”
“I went to my father.
I felt our bond snap into place that night, and I thought he wouldn’t separate me from my mate. So I told him we were as good as bonded. ” His shame and fear pulsed through the bond. “I’ve never seen him so angry.
He told me I had to marry Celestine. And if I didn’t…” He swallowed. “For the first time, he threatened to hurt you. ”
I felt his fear, raw and terrible.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to agree, but I was afraid for you. So I agreed. To buy us time.
”
“You’ve done nothing wrong,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “Nothing. ”
“I’ve done everything wrong,” he said, his voice cracking. “When you left, he had nothing to threaten me with.
So I left too. I’ve been searching for you ever since. ”
He took my face in his hands. “I’ve already renounced my claim to the throne.
None of it matters. You’re what matters. You and our child. ”
Tears streamed down my face.
But for the first time in months, they were happy tears. I looked at him and spoke the words I’d been holding back for years. “I want you to do it. Complete the bond.
”
Something dark and possessive sparked in his eyes. “There’s no going back if I do. ”
“I know. ”
He took my wrist gently, reverently, and brought it to his mouth.
His eyes held mine as he bit down, hard enough to break the skin. I gasped at the sharp pain, then at the pleasure that flooded through the bond as he licked away the blood. The marks remained on my wrist, already beginning to scar. “Your turn,” Riven said, his voice rough with emotion.
I leaned forward and bit down hard on his shoulder. He groaned, pulling me closer. When I pulled back, the imprint of my teeth remained on his skin, stark and perfect. “He can’t reach us now,” Riven said softly, pulling me into his arms.
“We only belong to each other. ”
I nestled into him, feeling the bond pulse between us with warmth and light and love. The next few days passed like a dream. Gus returned to find Riven on his feet, the terrible fever finally broken.
He promised not to tell the king where we were. And so we stayed, hidden away in the cottage. Riven was different now. Warm.
Open. He smiled easily and laughed easily and took every opportunity to whisper how much he loved me against my skin. It was like he was finally himself, free from his father’s manipulation. But as the weeks passed, troubling news began to filter in through Gus’s visits.
The palace was in disarray. With Riven’s renunciation, the line of succession was broken. The king was furious. Foreign delegations were demanding answers.
The kingdom was falling apart. We began making plans to leave, to move somewhere far from Edris’s reach. And then Arwin arrived. The queen mother stood on the doorstep, her eyes twinkling.
She stepped inside without waiting for an invitation and took Riven’s face in her hands. “There you are, my boy,” she said. “Finally, the light has returned to your eyes. ”
We sat by the fire, tea cooling in cups no one touched.
“Edris is going out of his mind,” Arwin said bluntly. “But the king has no one to blame but himself. ” Her gaze turned sharp, dropping to my stomach, where a small but unmistakable curve had begun to show. “You carry the future of the kingdom.
”
My hand moved instinctively to my belly. “Nothing is more important than the succession,” she continued. “Even Edris cannot deny that. And you, my boy, are still the rightful heir.
”
“I renounced my claim,” Riven said. “Under duress,” Arwin said firmly. “Everyone knows it. The nobles will support you.
The people will support you. I propose you return. ”
Riven shook his head. “I won’t risk Leora or the baby.
”
“Your father is a politician. A manipulator. ” Arwin leaned forward. “When my mate died and I became numb with grief, it was he who made sure I wandered off and got lost.
He thinks I don’t know, but I do. He was hoping I wouldn’t come back. I’d been making the crown look weak. ” She looked at me.
“And you found me, protected me, and thwarted his plans. He’s had a thing against you ever since. ”
I stared at her. All these years, I’d thought the king had been grateful.
I’d thought he liked me well enough. I’d been wrong. And it had almost cost me my mate. I reached for Riven’s hand, threading my fingers through his.
I’d seen the kind of man he was now, free from his father’s shadow. He would make a great king. But mostly, he would be free. And that’s what I wanted for him.
“I think we should do it,” I said softly. Riven turned to me, his eyes searching my face. “I’m not afraid of your father,” I said. “And the kingdom needs you.
Needs the kind of king you’ll be. ”
Something shifted in his expression. The doubt faded, replaced by determination. “All right,” he said.
“We’ll go back. ”
Whatever battles lay ahead, whatever storms we would have to weather, we would face them together. And that was all that mattered.
