AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But there was still so much lingering trauma I needed to heal.
Could both be true at the same time? Could I truly be so incredibly happy and still suffer from what had happened to me?
Liliana held me at arm's length as I sniffed and blinked rapidly to dispel the tears that threatened to fall. “You deserve it too,” she told me.
As Domi wormed her way in, the three workers excused themselves, offering us a moment of privacy. Queen Viktoria embraced me next, followed by Queen Immonen, the other mated female in our group.
“Izidora, being mated is the most incredible gift anyone could be given. I wish Airre and I hadn’t fought our bond for so long. I am so glad you made your choice…” The queen of the Crystal Realm blinked rapidly, platinum lashes fluttering violently before her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
“Immonen?” I whispered, heart pounding in my chest as something unearthly settled over me. The sound that the queen made next was something between a gasp and a choke, and as she collapsed, Liliana and I reached for her, our reflexes kicking in just in time to lower her gently to the ground.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, attention flitting everywhere as I searched for the source of her distress.
“She’s having a vision,” Queen Viktoria stated, hands hovering protectively over her belly.
Immonen’s body twitched again, arching off the ground, and Liliana cradled the queen’s head in her lap so it didn’t smack against the floor. “She’s been having them often lately,” she said quietly, glancing around us to ensure we were alone. The dressmakers’ absence was a relief. I didn’t think Queen Immonen would want anyone to see her in this state, let alone strangers.
With my empath magic, I reached for her, sending soothing emotions her way in an attempt to ease the tension lining her brow and the frown pulling down the corners of her mouth. But as I opened myself to her, I was hit with a wave of pure terror, so powerful that it turned my stomach over and inside out, and I immediately wanted to heave. I must have reacted in some way, because in the next moment, Liliana hissed, “Put your mental barrier up!”
Nodding, I did just that, and the emotions of the queens, Domi, and Liliana melted away, leaving me firmly in my own mental space. As I returned to myself, so too did Immonen. Witha shudder, and then a few long, slow blinks, her eyes refocused, and she gulped down air.
“Shh, just lie still for a moment,” Liliana soothed.
But Queen Immonen had a wild, crazed look in her eye, and I didn’t need my empath magic to read the fear rolling off of her. Her attention landed on me, and she grasped at my shirt, yanking me close to her with the desperation of a female possessed. “He can’t know, he can’t know, you can’t tell Kazimir that you accepted the bond.”
I stiffened, her proximity and the force with which she gripped me sending ice skittering down my spine.
“Please, Izidora! You can’t tell him!” Immonen’s voice reached a fevered pitch, and both Domi and Liliana placed reassuring hands on her in an attempt to get her to release me.
“Why not?” I asked warily, air lodging in my lungs as I waited for Immonen’s response. I knew from the level of distress she displayed that whatever she’d seen in the vision could not be good.
She swallowed, twin sets of tears spilling over and tracking down her cheeks. “Once he knows… everything goes dark.”
“What do you mean, everything goes dark?” Frustration speared through me, and I gritted my teeth against the rising tide of rage. “I thought choosing a mate was supposed to fix all of this!” My words came out harsher than I intended, but none of the females paid it any attention.
Some of the fervency lifted from Immonen, and she allowed Domi and Liliana to uncurl her fingers and sit her upright. With a sniff, she wiped her eyes and smoothed her hair before responding. “I don’t know… the visions aren’t always clear. I get flashes and impressions more than anything lately. And they shift so much… one day, I’ll be certain of an outcome, and the next, the Goddess shows me something completely different.” She paused, closing her eyes briefly as if she were trying to createthe vision again. “But this, thiswillcome to pass once Kazimir knows.”
Goddess damn everything.
“Fucking Fates,” Liliana swore, glancing at the heavens, then at the ground. “We can’t exactly go around telling everyone about this vision either, because that would mean we know about Izidora and Ruslan’s mating bond. Which we don’t.” She shot a pointed look at the gathered members of our group.
“Agreed,” Queen Viktoria hummed, glancing over her shoulder in the direction the others had disappeared. “We must also swear the females to secrecy. The knowledge should not leave this room.”
Another secret in the Iron Realm.
“You won’t even tell your husbands?” I asked the two queens. Domi, I was already certain, would not tell Kaztar.
“I am the only queen in a continent of proud, arrogant kings. We females must stick together,” Queen Viktoria stated firmly.
“As much as I love him, my husband is one of them,” Queen Immonen sighed. “I will try my best to keep this from him, but as you know, Izidora, the mating bond gives us access to each other’s minds. He’s already in there asking if I’m alright after my vision.”
I grasped her hands in mine. “Thank you, Immonen. Tell him we’ve got you.”
“You can’t tell Ruslan either, Izidora. He’d immediately kill Kazimir for the perceived threat against you. Your mating bond is super fresh, and he’s already kind of volatile as it is.” Liliana shrugged as if her statement was obvious. Which, I guessed, in a way it was. Ruslan didn’t show his vulnerable side to anyone but me.
“More unstable than Kazimir?” I quipped, quirking a brow.
She huffed a laugh. “No, but Ruslan would burn the world down for you. Kazimir would… burn the world down for you, but in a different way.”
