“Fallen asleep?” The gnome put away his butter knife dagger and drew himself up to his full height. “Fallen asleep? How dare you level such base accusations? Why, I’ll have you know that not a single uninvited entrant has passed through this door under my watch in more than a century. Nowhere will you find a more accomplished servant of this fine institution. I … I … I…”

  “No one doubts your loyalty to this academy, Fizzlebink.”

  To say the voice that met Tara’s ears was deep was like saying the sun was hot. If an earthquake could speak, Tara was sure it would sound like the person who had just spoken to the gnome. She felt the sound more than she heard it. It wasn’t unpleasant. It was just really, really deep … and dangerous. The man walking toward her gave her a surreal feeling, like standing on top of a waterfall. He was beautiful, yes, but Tara could sense the man could turn dangerous in an instant. He walked next to quite possibly the most beautiful woman Tara had ever seen. As the pair approached, the woman spoke.

  “I trust we can overlook a simple mistake by our resident doorman, can’t we, Zuri,” said the woman.

  The woman’s voice had a musical quality. She was tall and thin, like Shelly. She had hair the color of autumn leaves, as in all of them. The gold, brown, and red strands fell in waves to the woman’s waist and practically glimmered in the light of the torches. Her skin was tan with gold undertones. Her face was heart shaped and delicate, with an aristocratic nose, almond-shaped, honest-to-goodness gold eyes, and thin, pursed lips.

  She wore a simple full-length dress with a floral pattern. Tara shook her head and examined the dress closer. No, the flowers weren’t a pattern at all. They were real. The entire dress was made of flowers that appeared woven together to fit the woman’s form perfectly. I think I’m going nuts. None of this is real. Carol is going to be shaking me awake at any minute. It has to be almost time for school by now.

  “Dereliction of duty is no light matter, Headmistress,” said Zuri.

  “I tell you what, Zuri…” he said.

  Tara’s gaze shifted to the man, and she noticed he was significantly taller than the woman. She was at least five foot nine or ten, so he had to easily be six foot five. He was broad shouldered and looked like he could pick up one of the surrounding trees and throw it just for kicks. The man’s hair was a deep, rich brown and long enough to run fingers through it. His face was chiseled, lips full, and eyes the color of moss. He wore brown pants that didn’t seem to be any material but looked like they might be suede and a fitted white shirt that reminded her of a Henley style. And she only knew what that was because Shelly loved those kind of shirts on guys and frequently pointed them out when anyone at school wore them and wore them well. Her words. Tara didn’t miss the sword at his waist or the sheathed knife on his opposite thigh.

  “The next time you come through the front door and find Fizzlebink asleep at his post, you have my permission to use him as target practice in your first-year stone levitation class.”

  The gnome gulped.

  “Deal,” said Zuri, grinning at the gnome.

  “Zuri,” the woman said, “I was beginning to worry.”

  “I apologize, Headmistress. I got held up,” Zuri explained.

  “Is this her, then?” The woman turned her gold eyes on Tara, and the intensity of her gaze made Tara want to drop her eyes. But she forced herself to look right back. This seemed to amuse the woman because her thin lips turned up ever so slightly.

  “This is Tara Thompson. Jax’s Mark and, apparently, Elias’s soul bonded.”

  Tara’s head snapped around so fast it was a miracle it didn’t roll right off her shoulders. “Elias’s what now?” The man and woman suddenly forgotten, Tara only had eyes for Zuri.

  “We need to take her to him, right away,” said the man. “Elias is not doing well. Miss Thompson, I apologize for this reception. Trust that we normally don’t greet every student in this manner. Most are brought in with their sponsors through the gateroom.”

  “Student?” Tara muttered.

  “He’s here?” Zuri asked

  Tara swore she heard concern in the woman’s voice. In the very short time she’d known Zuri, Tara had gotten the impression the woman wasn’t fazed by anything.

  “He knew something was wrong with his soul bonded. Elias said all of a sudden something hit him in the chest, and there she was. He could feel her alarm and fear. Jax brought him straight here before Elias could go to her. Jax was worried that Elias would do something reckless.”

  “I think that was a reasonable fear considering the state he was in when we forced him to leave her,” Zuri said. “I’ve never seen him like that.”

  “Wait, you did what?” asked Tara.

  “Then prepare yourself,” said the Headmistress, ignoring Tara’s words. “Because the Elias we have locked in a cell is not the one you know.”

  “You locked him in a cell?” Tara practically yelled. One second, she was trying to keep up with what they were saying and the next she was charging forward at the Headmaster and Headmistress, to do what, she had no clue. Why the hell would they put him in a cell?

  Just before Tara was a foot from the couple, the ground began to shake so hard she stumbled and would have fallen if the Headmaster hadn’t caught her arm and steadied her.

  “Was that you?” Zuri asked the Headmistress.

  The woman shook her head. “He must know she’s here.”

  “That was Elias?” Zuri asked, her voice rising in shock.

  “Tara,” said the Headmistress, “I apologize that we’ve been talking around you. I know you are confused and rightfully so. I am Itterra, headmistress of Terra Academy.”

  “And I am Terrick,” the man said. “Headmaster of the academy and mate of Itterra.”

  The ground shook again, even harder. “I don’t feel that I can say it’s nice to meet you just yet,” Tara said honestly. “Your sword-wielding chick here battled my friend and left him bleeding. Well, I don’t know that I can really call him a friend. It’s complicated. Anyway, she battled him and then snatched me away and took me through a portal to a mountain that she called an academy despite the fact that it looks like a freaking mountain and only a mountain. And now I’m standing talking to two people who are so pretty they don’t look like they are even human. Oh, and did I mention there’s also a freaking GNOME here? And now I’m being told that the guy that I … well … I … hell, I’m not getting into that. I’m being told Elias is causing earthquakes strong enough to shake a damn mountain. So, royalty or not, I don’t trust you.” She turned to Zuri. “Or you.”

  “You’d be stupid to trust us right away,” Zuri said. “It would suck if you turned out to be stupid. So, continue to not trust us. I don’t like having stupid friends.”

  “We understand,” Terrick said. “How about we take you to someone you do trust?”

  She didn’t know if she trusted Elias at the moment, but Tara knew she needed to see him. Knowing he was close by, it took all of her strength not to bolt down the dark stone corridor screaming his name to find him.

  “Please, follow us,” Itterra said.

  Tara didn’t hesitate. She felt a tug in her chest as if a rope had been tied to her ribs, and it was being pulled away from her. She didn’t think she could stop her feet from moving forward even if she had wanted to.

  They walked down the corridor for what seemed like a quarter of a mile. Every so often, Tara saw other lighted stone tunnels branching off from the one they were in. Then the tunnel opened up into a large chamber. Tara sucked in a sharp breath as she looked at the gold, brown, and black marbled walls that traveled up at least a hundred feet to a ceiling covered in lush, green vines.

  There was a huge chandelier hanging down, but it wasn’t like any light fixture she’d ever seen before. It hung from a thick braid of various colored vines bearing beautiful blooming flowers. The chandelier itself looked like twisted tree limbs that had been turned and manipulated until they formed a circle with upturned ends containing glowing orbs instead of lightbulbs. There were at least thirty of them, maybe more, and they bathed the chamber in light.

  Tara scarcely had time to take in the contents of the room because they quickly passed through it and took another tunnel leading away from it. This tunnel was better lit and bore a polished marble floor rather than the rough stone she’d seen in entrance tunnel. Tara heard running water. Well, not exactly running water. It sounded more like… Her thoughts froze as the group crossed under a tall archway and entered a circular room that didn’t appear to have a ceiling. All Tara could see above her was open air. And on the far side, running down the marble wall from somewhere farther up than she could see, was a cascading waterfall. The noise wasn’t so deafening that she couldn’t hear anything else, rather, it sounded like a muted applause. More of the glowing orbs filled the room, but they weren’t attached to anything. They were suspended in midair and went up and up until she could only see what looked like glowing dots the size of stars millions of miles away in space.

  “This way,” Itterra said as she turned toward another archway in the marble wall. That was when Tara realized that there were archways all around the circular interior, and they weren’t just around the base of the massive room. They were also going up the walls as though there were other levels to the mountain. Her eyes narrowed, and she saw that there were steps built into the marble walls that blended seamlessly. If Tara looked straight at the wall, she couldn’t see them, but if she shifted to the right or left, she could see them traveling up to the various floors like a massive circular staircase. She also noticed a walkway on each level that circled all the way around the mountain.

  Tara felt the pull in her chest again and realized her feet had slowed down considerably as she took in the interior of what she’d earlier assumed was only a mountain. She turned back toward Itterra and saw the Headmaster and Zuri standing beside the Headmistress, waiting on Tara to follow. She picked up the pace, and they all started off again.

  She didn’t allow her eyes to stray from the path in front of her, despite being curious because the mountain had started shaking again, and this time it didn’t stop.

  “Is he throwing a tantrum?” Zuri asked.

  Terrick chuckled, his deep voice filling up the arched corridor. “The knowledge of the soul bonded has been lost to us for a very long time. I am beginning to remember how very possessive and protective they are of one another.”

  There was that term again, soul bonded. And they were using it in regard to her and Elias. When they reached the end of the corridor, a hallway ran left and right. Tara turned left without thinking about whether she knew where she was going. Somehow, she was certain Elias was this way. She pushed past Zuri and then both Terrick and Itterra. The tugging in her chest was becoming insistent, demanding her attention. She reached a set of stone stairs and began descending them without hesitation. The glowing orbs lined the walls here as well, illuminating the stairwell. Fifty steps later—yes, she counted—she reached the bottom. Her ears immediately picked up Jax’s voice.

  “You’ve got to calm down. They aren’t going to let you out of here until you do. You’re dangerous like this, Elias,” Jax growled.

  Tara jumped when she heard an enraged roar reverberating off the stone walls.

  “That’s mature,” Jax snapped. “Keep acting like a four-year-old who isn’t getting the candy he wants and see what Terrick does with you.”

  Tara’s head snapped to Terrick, who lifted his hands innocently as if to say, “Who me?”

  Tara didn’t buy it for a second. Terrick look controlled and civilized, but something about the man told her he was dangerous.

  “She’s here, Jax,” Elias’s voice was rough as though he’d been yelling loudly for a long period of time. “I can feel her. She needs me and I need her. Why don’t you understand that? I am only a danger to anyone who keeps her from me.”

  The deadly tone sent chills running down her spine. Tara kept moving forward, allowing the pull inside of her to direct her. There were three hallways to the left of the stairs they’d just descended. She reached the last one and turned to walk down it. Her gaze immediately found Jax. He was at the very end of the corridor. Iron-barred cells lined the hallway.

  Jax’s head turned at the sound of her footsteps, and he let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the Mother,” he breathed out. Tara saw hands reach out and grab the bars, only to instantly release them with a snarl of pain. She gasped as she looked down at her own hands. She’d felt something the instant Elias’s had touched the cell bars. It wasn’t full-blown pain, but it was uncomfortable.

  “Tara!” His voice was a demand and a plea at the same time.

  She nearly ran the last twenty feet and stopped inches from the bars. Elias was in front of her, so close to the bars his face nearly touched them.

  “Open the door,” he rumbled without taking his eyes off of her.

  “Elias,” Terrick’s voice was filled with warning. “I understand what you are feeling, because I would feel the same if I was separated from Itterra. But I am still your Headmaster, and you will respect that.”

  “Open the door,” Elias said again and then added through clenched teeth, “please, Professor.”

  Jax swore under his breath.

  “Tara,” Itterra said. Tara turned and looked at Headmistress.

  Elias growled, like an honest-to-goodness growl. It nearly made Tara laugh because he didn’t seem to want her attention on anyone but him.

  “Do you feel safe with him?” the Headmistress asked.

  “Tucker said a lot of things to you,” Zuri added. “Stuff that probably made you doubt Elias and Jax. I heard most of it. If you don’t feel safe, we won’t let you in there with him. He can talk to your through the bars.”

  Tara gasped when her hands throbbed and didn’t stop. She turned and saw that Elias had his hands wrapped around the bars, and there was smoke coming from underneath his palms.

  “What are you doing?” she shrieked. “Stop! You’re hurting yourself.” He didn’t stop. The bars started to shake, as did the ground. She stepped forward and looked straight in his unusual sea green eyes. “It hurts me, too,” she whispered and looked down at her hands. They were becoming red.

  Elias immediately released the bars and reached through them. She noticed he was very careful not to let his arm brush up against them.

  He gently took one of her hands and held it. “Keep it there,” he said softly. When he released it, he ran his finger slowly across her palm, and warmth enveloped her hand. A second later, the throbbing was gone. Tara’s heart sped up as he did the same thing to the other hand. He’d healed her. Somehow, some way, Elias had healed the pain he had caused.

  “I’m sorry, luv,” he said in a much different tone than he’d used when he’d spoken to Jax or Terrick. “I would never hurt you. Not intentionally.”

  He was holding her now-uninjured hand in his. His thumb rubbed absently over the pulse in her wrist. “Will you please come in here? I just—” He bit his bottom lip as he seemed to try and gain control of his emotions, but Tara could feel his rage and fear and need inside of her as if she were feeling the emotions herself. “I just need to hold you,” he finished.

  And she needed to be held by him, though she didn’t say it out loud. He must have felt it because his eyes bored into hers, and she felt the tug in her chest again, much more insistent this time.

  “I feel safe with him,” Tara finally said.

  Terrick stepped forward and raised his hand toward the bars. The first four bars swung open as one, a door disguised to appear like a seamless front. Elias released her hand, and Tara walked over to the opening, though she didn’t step into the cell. Instead, she turned and looked at the people watching them.

  “Could you all please give us some privacy?” she asked, trying to sound respectful and not tell them that she and Elias weren’t a damn circus side show to be gawked at.

  Jax started to speak, but Itterra held up a hand to stop him. His mouth immediately snapped closed.

  “Of course,” the Headmistress said. “Someone will be back in a little while to check on you both. We can move forward from there.” Tara knew she meant they would decide if it was safe to let Elias out of the cell.

  The door closed behind her with a quiet click, and in the next breath, her back was pressed to the stone wall and Elias’s lips were on hers.

  Elias pressed his hands to the stone wall on either side of Tara’s head as he pressed his lips to hers. An inner voice told him to back off. It said he was coming on way too strong. But no amount of telling himself that was having an effect. Elias pressed even closer as he felt the magic inside of him reaching for her. He’d told her that he needed to hold her, but now that she was within his reach, he didn’t trust himself not to be too rough or push too far. So, he forced himself to keep his hands on the stone wall and off of her.

  He tilted his head and sank his teeth into her bottom lip. As soon as her mouth opened in a small gasp, he slipped his tongue inside. Tara’s own moan was drowned out by Elias’s guttural growl. He ran his tongue along her own and across the roof of her mouth. She tasted like the sweetest nectar, and he drank her down as if he had every right to. Something inside of him whispered that he did. She was his. Her soul needed to be joined with his, was meant to be joined with his.

  As those thoughts wrapped around him like a comfortable blanket, he slowed the urgent kiss and savored her. The long, deep kiss turned into short kisses, gentle bites, and tentative touches of her tongue against his.

  “I didn’t know what was wrong,” Elias said in between kisses. “I could feel your fear.” His lips left hers only to leave a trail of kisses from her chin to her cheek and down to her neck. “I could feel your confusion,” he said against her ear. “And then I felt your doubt. You doubted me.” Elias bit her neck hard enough to leave a mark.

  “Bloody hell,” she snapped and pulled back to look at him. Her lips were swollen from his kiss, and something primal inside of him wanted to beat his chest at having left his mark on her.