Chapter 28
Chapter 28
SERAPHINA
I’ve been lying here for hours since Kieran left, staring at the ceiling, trying to sleep.
The strange, restless feeling from earlier has gotten worse. Much worse.
I press my palms flat against my thighs, trying to stop the trembling. The sheets beneath me are soaked with sweat despite the freezing air streaming through the window I threw open an hour ago.
My skin burns.
Not the pleasant warmth I feel around Cassius. This is different—deeper, more insistent. Like fire racing through my veins, pooling low in my belly until I want to claw out of my own skin.
Luna paces frantically in my mind, whining and circling, unable to settle. “Heat. We’re going into heat.”
“No.” I shake my head even though she can’t see it. “That’s not possible. Not now.”
“You can feel it. Stop denying it.”
My breasts feel heavy and sensitive, nipples hardening against the thin fabric of my nightgown. The ache between my thighs is becoming impossible to ignore.
She’s right. I know she’s right.
Heat.
My first heat cycle in years. The last one was right after Azriel was born, and it passed quickly since I was still healing from childbirth. Before that was with Kieran.
This can’t be happening. Not in Winterhold. Not when Kieran is just a few corridors away.
I slide my hand down my stomach, beneath the waistband of my underwear. Maybe if I just—if I can take the edge off, make it bearable—
My fingers find that sensitive bundle of nerves, and pleasure shoots through me. I bite my lip to keep from crying out, my hips arching off the bed.
I try to picture Cassius. His warm amber eyes, his gentle smile, the safety I feel when he’s near. But the moment I close my eyes, all I see is ice-blue.
Kieran’s eyes. His hands. His body.
The memory of that one night five years ago crashes over me with devastating force. His mouth on my skin, his hands gripping my hips, the way he looked at me like I was something he wanted to devour.
“Yes,” Luna moans. “Our mate. Need our mate.”
“No.” I pull my hand away, panting. “No, that’s not—we don’t want him.”
But my body doesn’t care what my mind wants. The ache intensifies, becoming painful. I curl onto my side, pressing my thighs together so hard it hurts.
“It’s the second-chance bond with Cassius,” I whisper into the darkness. “That’s why the heat came. It’s triggering because of the new bond.”
“That’s not what this is.” Luna’s voice is sharp, desperate. “You know that’s not what this is.”
“Then what?” I sit up, my hands shaking. “Why now?”
“Because we’re around him again. Our true mate. The bond is trying to heal, and being near him is making our body respond.”
“I refuse to believe that.” I stand on trembling legs, my nightgown clinging to my sweat-soaked skin.
“Then why can you feel him right now? Why do you know exactly where he is in this fortress?”
I freeze because she’s right. I can feel him—that constant awareness of his presence, like a compass always pointing north. He’s awake. Somewhere in the eastern tower, probably in his chambers.
The ache between my legs intensifies at the thought, and I bite back a whimper.
“I need Cassius.” I move toward my wardrobe, pulling out a robe. “He’s my second mate. He can help.”
“He’s not our mate,” Luna insists, but I ignore her.
I shrug into the robe over my nightgown, my hands fumbling with the tie. Everything feels wrong—the fabric against my overheated skin, the emptiness inside me, the desperate need clawing at my insides.
I need relief. I need—
I wrench open my chamber door and step into the corridor.
The cool stone should help, but it doesn’t. If anything, the contrast makes my burning skin feel worse. I lean against the wall for a moment, trying to catch my breath.
A servant rounds the corner and freezes when she sees me. Her eyes widen, and I watch her nostrils flare slightly.
She can smell it. The heat.
“Princess?” Her voice is uncertain. “Are you—do you need—”
“I’m fine.” I push off the wall, forcing myself to stand straight. “I just need some air.”
I don’t wait for her response, just start walking. My bare feet are silent on the cold stone as I make my way through the corridors. Cassius’s chambers are in the western wing. I remember Mira mentioning it once when delivering messages.
Every step feels like moving through honey. My body is working against me, wanting to turn around, to go east instead of west. Luna fights me the entire way, pulling in the opposite direction.
“Wrong way. Wrong way. Our mate is the other direction.”
“Cassius is our mate,” I grit out under my breath.
Two more servants pass me, their expressions shifting from surprise to concern to something else when they catch my scent. By tomorrow, everyone will know. The gossip will spread like wildfire—the Eastern princess in heat, wandering the halls half-dressed.
I don’t care. I just need to reach Cassius.
The ache is getting worse, waves of need rolling through me with increasing frequency. My thighs are slick now, my breathing shallow. Every movement makes the fabric of my nightgown drag across my sensitive nipples, sending jolts of pleasure-pain straight to my core.
I finally reach Cassius’s door and knock, the sound echoing in the quiet corridor.
Nothing.
I knock again, harder. “Cassius? Please, I need—”
Still nothing.
My hand finds the door handle, and I turn it. Unlocked. I push inside, desperate, but the chambers are empty.
His bed is made. No fire in the hearth. No sign he’s been here all evening.
“No.” The word comes out as a whimper. “No, no, no. Where are you?”
Luna is practically howling now, throwing herself against my consciousness. “He’s not coming. He can’t help us. We need our real mate.”
“He’s our real mate,” I insist, but even I can hear how weak it sounds.
Another wave of heat crashes over me, so intense I have to grab the doorframe to stay upright. My vision blurs at the edges, and for a moment, all I can do is breathe through the pain.
The warmth I feel around Cassius is completely absent. There’s no comfort, no safety. Just this burning, desperate need that’s consuming me from the inside out.
I stumble back into the corridor, my robe coming loose. I should go back to my chambers, lock myself in until this passes. But my body has other ideas.
Luna guides me, pulling me through corridors I don’t recognize. Maybe toward the library. Or the solar. Places where I might find him.
But everywhere I go is empty.
My fever is spiking now. I can feel sweat trickling down my spine, between my breasts. My hair is plastered to my neck, and I’m trembling so hard my teeth chatter despite the fire in my veins.
I need to get outside. Need cold air, space to breathe.
I push through a door and find myself in one of the courtyards. Snow covers everything, and the frigid air hits me like a shock to the system.
For a moment, it helps. The cold against my burning skin provides a brief reprieve.
I lean against the stone wall, pressing my overheated cheek against the frozen surface. My breath comes out in visible puffs, and I watch them dissipate into the night air.
Then I smell it.
Pine and snow.
My entire body goes rigid.
No. Not him. Anyone but him.
I turn slowly, and there he is.
Kieran stands at the edge of the courtyard, dressed in simple black trousers and an untucked white shirt. His silver-streaked hair is loose, falling around his shoulders. He must have been walking the grounds, unable to sleep.
His ice-blue eyes lock onto mine, and he goes completely still.
For one long moment, we just stare at each other. Then his nostrils flare slightly, and I watch his expression shift from surprise to something darker.
“Seraphina.” His voice is rough, strained. “You’re in heat.”
It’s not a question.
I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. My body has taken over completely now, responding to his presence with a force that terrifies me.
Luna screams in my mind: “MATE! Our mate is here! Finally, finally, finally!”
“I need to find Cassius,” I think desperately, even as my body betrays me, leaning into Kieran’s touch. “He’s my—”
Another wave hits me, stronger than all the others. My knees buckle, and I start to fall.
Kieran moves.
He crosses the courtyard in three strides, catching me before I hit the ground. His arms wrap around me, and the moment his skin touches mine, everything explodes.
The bond flares between us with devastating force—that golden thread that’s supposed to be dead suddenly blazing to life. Heat, need, and desperate hunger crash over me like a tidal wave.
My robe has slipped off one shoulder, and his bare hand is against my arm. The contact sends electricity racing through my entire body.
I look up at him, and his eyes are dark, pupils blown wide. I can see him fighting for control, see the war raging behind that icy exterior.
“Please,” I whisper, and I don’t even know what I’m begging for. Make it stop. Make it better. Touch me. Don’t touch me.
My vision blurs, darkness creeping in at the edges. The heat, the confusion, the overwhelming presence of him this close, it’s too much.
“Kieran,” His name on my lips is the last thing I manage before everything goes black.
