Page 4 of The Last Aether

My brows flew up at that. “Excuse me?”

He stared down at me with those dark eyes. “Aura…”

Phoenix struggled to find his next words. But it was Riven who spoke. “It doesn’t matter what you want because the choice was stolen from every single one of us. We’re bonded.”

3

“W-what did you say?” I tried to sit up against the pillows, ignoring the pain that pulsed in my chest.

Kai punched Riven in the arm. Hard. “Grow an empathy gene, would you? In the past four days, Aura’s found out she’s an aether, been locked up, and shot.”

“And now she knows she’s bonded to your grumpy ass for all of eternity,” Phoenix muttered. “That’d be enough to send anyone running for the hills.”

Atlas grunted in agreement.

Riven’s knuckles bleached white as he gripped the blanket. “She needs to know the truth. That all of us are at risk because of this.”

I pushed up on the pillows, letting out a hiss of pain.

Atlas’s hands were on my shoulders in an instant. “Careful.”

“I need to sit up.” I needed to be eye to eye with them all and not feel so powerless.

“Here,” Phoenix said, helping Atlas adjust the pillows behind me and lifting me higher.

My breathing was labored by the time we finished, but I felt better, more in control. But the moment I looked at each of the guys, that feeling fled. “I don’t even know what it means that we’re bonded.”

Atlas wove his fingers through mine, his thumb tracing circles on the back of my hand. “It means we’ve always been destined to be one. You’re our aether. We were made to complement each other in a way no one else ever would.”

A new kind of pain pulsed in my chest. One that wanted with everything I had for that to be true.

Kai took my other hand, mirroring Atlas’s soothing touch. “But even with that destiny, more is needed for the bond to take hold.”

“More?”

Phoenix brushed the hair from my face. “Something needs to snap the bond into place. A depth of care. Sometimes it’s emotional.”

“Sometimes physical,” Kai said with a wink.

Atlas squeezed my hand. “We were terrified when you were shot. You were dying, and there was nothing we could do.” Shadows danced in his hazel eyes. “We wanted to save you.”

“So, we did,” Phoenix finished for him.

“You saved me? You mean you found a healer?”

Kai shook his head, the corner of his mouth kicking up. “We’re kind of badasses, if you haven’t figured that out already.”

Riven glared in Kai’s direction. “This isn’t something to joke about.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. “How is that possible?”

Atlas continued his ministrations on my hand. “It’s only possible when an aether is bonded to her mates. It gives us the ability to help each other heal.” His gaze lifted to Riven. “We all had to want the bond for it to snap into place. We had to want it to be able to save you.”

A muscle in Riven’s jaw ticked. “We need to talk about our plan going forward. No one can know about the bond.”

It shouldn’t have surprised me that Riven wanted to hide our connection. He might not have wanted me to die, but he didn’t want to be tied to me either. Still, his words cut. When would that end? At some point, I had to become numb to his callous jabs.

“Riv,” Atlas said softly, sending a meaningful glance in my direction.