Traveling up my sides.
An inferno trailing in their wake.
Oh, for the love of the fae… I loved when he did this, displaying complete control over his power and incinerating my clothes along the way. It showed restraint. It seduced and taunted my fire to come out to play. And it heightened the moment.
Titus’s palms went to my ass as he stood. My legs tightened around his waist, my lips never leaving his. He kissed me back with a fervor, his excitement hot and evident between my thighs.
We’d only just moved to the next level of our relationship, a place where our fiery souls promised each other eternity. There was still a step beyond this one, something about a ritual with words similar to wedding vows. I didn’t know, would reach that stage when we were both ready. But for now, I would delight in the present and learn everything I could about my intended fire mate.
Such a stark contrast to Exos.
And yet, I adored them equally. For entirely different reasons.
By the time my back hit the mattress, my clothes were already gone, thanks to Titus’s precise use of energy. He’d burned away every inch of the fabric from my body. I began to return the favor, when power sliced through my heart, eliciting a sharp cry from my mouth.
Titus pulled back, his gaze full of alarm. “Claire?”
The pain struck again, this time to my mind, cascading my vision in shades of white and black as if someone had slammed a fist into my head.
I pressed my palms to my temples, fighting to understand, but the ache only grew. An emptiness formed a cavern deep inside, creating a black void of nothing.
“Claire!” Titus shouted, his hands on my shoulders. But I couldn’t see him. Could hardly feel him. All I sensed was this immense torment of loss. As if something had been ripped from my very spirit.
Oh God… “Exos!” I sat up abruptly, my head connecting with Titus’s hard chest. I still couldn’t see, the fog behind my eyes a mist my senses refused to navigate. “He’s… Oh… Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong with Exos, Titus. Something’s… I don’t… It hurts!” I clutched my head again, whimpering as fractures of light pierced my pupils. “He’s hurt.”
“Claire…” Titus cradled my face, his familiar presence cascading heat over my quivering form. Exactly what I needed, a call to return to the present, to the bed, to his mostly naked body.
I blinked at him, my cheeks damp from tears I hadn’t realized I’d shed. Somehow I knew time had passed without my knowledge, as if I’d lost consciousness when something hit me—no, Exos—upside the head. I tried to reach out to him, to sense his presence, our link, but I felt empty and alone. My heart raced. “He’s… he’s gone.”
What does that mean?
Did he sever our bond?
No. He wouldn’t do that. I had felt his emotions, strong and vibrant and true.
So what happened?
“Where is he? Where did he go?” Frantic sparks clawed over my skin, scattering goose bumps up and down my body. Coldness unlike any I’d ever experienced solidified in my veins. “He’s… Titus… Where is he? Why can’t I feel him?”
A sob caught in my throat, worry and panic overwhelming whatever he said in reply. Pounding flourished in my ears, and the room began to spin again, my entire existence being swallowed up into a void of confusion and despair.
“Where’s Exos?” I repeated again and again and again. He wouldn’t leave me. Not after everything. Right? Our spirits were bonded, not quite as deep as the one I had with Titus, but still just as powerful.
“Claire.” Titus’s voice finally penetrated the rhythmic beating clogging my ears. “Breathe.”
I inhaled sharply, my lungs weeping with joy from the much-needed air. I swallowed, exhaled, and repeated. It overwhelmed me, sending shudders through my limbs, eased the dark edges of my vision, and grounded me once more in the present.
The torment inside lessened to a dull ache, my connection to Exos wounded and almost completely dissolved. More tears came, the pain of loss destroying my heart.
I couldn’t control it, couldn’t stop it. Like a dam had opened and refused to be sealed off. My limbs were stiff, and my body strained in an anguish my mind hardly comprehended.
Part of me wanted to fight. To go find Exos. To figure out what the hell had happened.
But the other part of me—the one that drove my motivations—just felt broken.
Because my spirit is gone.
My soul.
My other half.
Flames roamed over me, Titus reminding me of his presence, his adoration, his love. I collapsed into him, and his lips went to my hair, his arms a cage of comfort around me.
Seconds, minutes, hours, later, I finally remembered how to think, how to exist again, and I looked at him once more. Concern radiated from his handsome face, his gorgeous eyes flooded with protective energy I longed to bathe in.
“Can you feel him at all?” Titus asked, his deep voice soothing and soft.
I shook my head. “I… I don’t think so.”
He massaged my wrists, considering. “Sometimes those Powerless Champion cuffs can leave a residual essence behind that hinders your ability to connect properly to your elements. It’s one of the downsides. Maybe that has something to do with it?”
“But I took them off right after we left the gym.” I’d only worn them to gym class because we had suspected someone might try to frame me again. And they had. However, this time I’d worn physical proof of my innocence—the cuffs that blocked me from my powers. “They didn’t make me feel weird at all, just human again.” Something I admittedly indulged in, at least temporarily. The elemental fae world was overwhelming, strange, and not at all like the reality I grew up experiencing.
I shook my head, clearing it and focusing. “It’s not the cuffs,” I said, certain. “Something… something has happened.”
Titus considered for a long moment, then nodded. “All right. You said he was going to call his brother, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go to the tower. I doubt he’s still there since it was hours ago, but we can see if you can pick up on his essence. Okay?”
“Hours ago?” I repeated, my eyebrows lifting.
“Yeah… It’s almost midnight, Claire. You lost consciousness for a while, then woke up screaming before passing out again. It’s been, well, an eventful afternoon and evening.”
So I’d been right about time escaping me. I swallowed. “What do you think happened?”
“I’m not speculating. Not until we go to the tower.” He slid off the bed, fully clothed and more than proving that we’d lost several hours. “Vox is here, so he can probably help. He brought an Earth Fae with him—Sol. River is here, too.”
Oh, good. An audience for my breakdown.
I groaned, feeling like hell turned over. Titus must have been worried if he called everyone here. Not that I blamed him. A part of me felt, well, dead. I shivered at the realization, refusing to accept that fate for Exos.
He can’t be… He was too strong. Too otherworldly. No, there had to be another explanation. I just didn’t know what.
“Uh, Titus?” Vox’s familiar tone came through the door. “You need to—”
“Move.” The deep tenor sent a chill down my spine. It reminded me of Exos, but not quite. And the face that appeared in the doorway a second later was a near spitting image of my Spirit Fae, only with lighter blue eyes that glistened with a silvery hue in the light.
Titus immediately fell to his knee, his head bowed. “Your Highness.”
The fae didn’t even look at him, his enigmatic focus entirely on me. “Hello, Claire.”
I pulled the sheets up to cover my bare breasts, my throat working as I attempted to formulate a response. His athletic build, light hair, and aristocratic jaw told me exactly who this was even before Titus knelt.
Cyrus.
King of the Spirit Fae.
Exos’s younger brother.
There w
as only one reason he could be here, and it wasn’t to deliver good news.
About Lexi C. Foss
USA Today Bestselling Author Lexi C. Foss loves to play in dark worlds, especially the ones that bite. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and their furry children. When not writing, she’s busy crossing items off her travel bucket list, or chasing eclipses around the globe. She’s quirky, consumes way too much coffee, and loves to swim.
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Also by Lexi C. Foss
Blood Alliance Series - Dystopian Paranormal
Chastely Bitten
Royally Bitten
Dark Provenance Series - Paranormal Romance
Heiress of Bael (FREE!)
Daughter of Death
Son of Chaos
Elemental Fae Academy - Reverse Harem
Book One
Book Two
Immortal Curse Series - Paranormal Romance
Book One: Blood Laws
Book Two: Forbidden Bonds
Book Three: Blood Heart
Book Four: Elder Bonds
Book Five: Blood Bonds
Book Six: Angel Bonds
Mershano Empire Series - Contemporary Romance
Book One: The Prince’s Game
Book Two: The Charmer’s Gambit
Book Three: The Rebel’s Redemption
Scarlet Mark - Standalone Romantic Suspense
About J.R. Thorn
J.R. Thorn is a Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance Author.
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Addicted to Academy? Read more RH Academy by J.R. Thorn: Fortune Academy
Welcome to Fortune Academy, a school where supernaturals can feel at home—except, I have no idea what the hell I am.
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USA Today Bestselling Author J.R. Thorn
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•Book 2: Siren Sins
•Book 3: Vampire Sins
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•Book 2: Compelled
•Book 3: Consumed
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•Year Two
•Year Three