Page 97 of Secrets of Avalon

I don’t care. I just need Melinda to be well.

Thalia moves to Melinda's side, brushing past Kellan as if he were no more than a piece of furniture. Her gnarled hands, marked by age yet steady as a surgeon's, reach for Melinda's wrist.

"Now." She fixes us all with a look that brokers no argument. "Someone tell me what has happened to the young woman and why she’s in the prince’s bed chambers surrounded by the Knights of the Round Table."

"She powered the entire shield," Kellan says very abruptly. "Now she can't stand up.”

Healer Thalia eyebrows arch so high they nearly disappear into her hairline. She throws her hands up in exasperation. "And you're all just standing here like slack-jawed gargoyles? She needs magick, not medicine."

She points a finger at me, making me feel like a scolded child despite my royal status. "Prince Stormblood, you look one stiff breeze away from toppling over yourself. Get her to the solarium, now. And don't you dare faint on the way there."

Kellan lunges for Melinda, but I'm faster. I place myself between them, a growl rumbles in my chest, primal and possessive. "You might be her bodyguard, Drakonii, but you're not touching her without my permission." I bare my fangs, leaning over Melinda's prone form. Mine.

Kellan matches my stance, his own fangs flashing. The air crackles with tension. "Then fucking pick her up princeling and let's go."

"Yes." The word comes out as a snarl, my pride warring with desperation. I scoop Melinda back into my arms and rush from the room. I reach out through our bond, clinging to it like a lifeline. It's going to be okay, I project, willing it to be true. I'm taking you to a well. You can get all the magick you need there.

But our bond remains silent. Cold. Empty.

The absence of her presence is a void that threatens to swallow me whole. Fear claws at my insides, each racing heartbeat a reminder of how much I stand to lose. I've only just found her, my fated mate, my other half. The thought of losing her now is unbearable.

With renewed urgency, I race through the palace corridors, my feet barely touching the ground. Hold on, Melinda, I plead silently. Just hold on. The back stairs blur beneath my feet as I take them two at a time, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

We burst into the solarium, the sudden warmth and fragrance of flowers a jarring contrast to the cold dread in my chest. In the center stands a tree, its branches weeping with tiny white blossoms. The sight of it, normally so soothing, now fills me with desperate hope.

Boaz and Wraith part the flowered curtain, and I duck beneath it, settling Melinda against the trunk. As I place my hand on the rough bark, energy surges into me, a rush of power that nearly makes me gasp. For a moment, hope flares in my chest.

But Melinda remains still, her skin ashen. The contrast between the vibrant energy flowing through me and her lifeless form is jarring, like a punch to the gut. Panic rises, threatening to choke me. Why isn’t the tree filling her with magick?

I lean closer, searching desperately for any sign of change. "Melinda," I whisper, my voice raw with fear. "My sweet mate, take the magick. Come back to me."

Kellan kneels at her feet, his face etched with worry. The sight of the usually stoic Drakonii looking so concerned only heightens my own terror.

"Kellan?" My voice cracks, fear clawing at my throat.

He shakes his head, defeat heavy in his words. "I don't know. Siva says she can't detect any magick coming from the World Tree into Melinda."

The bond between us is still silent, a void where her presence should be. "Our bond is quiet. I can't hear her. Sense her. Nothing." Panic rises in my chest, threatening to choke me.

A shout from the doorway cuts through my spiraling thoughts. "Your Highness! Please forgive me, but there is a young man screaming to be admitted to the palace. He says he can help Lady Melinda. The guards are barely holding him back."

Before I can respond, Atlas bursts into the room, his eyes wild. "Fuck off. The guards weren't holding me back at all. I was being polite. And now I am not." He rushes towards us, desperation clear in every movement. "Is she alive?"

Kellan rises, his guardian’s wings burst forth flaring bright and imposing. Atlas pauses, not out of fear, but respect.

"Let him through, Kellan," I growl, every instinct screaming against allowing another man near my mate.

Atlas hurries between the branches, landing at Melinda's feet. His intensity unnerves me.

“How do you know what she needs? Who are you, really?” I ask, forcing myself to allow him this close to my mate. To the woman I know is mine. A woman I barely know, but love with every single breath in me. I will do anything… I will fight the whole of the eight worlds to keep her safe and at my side.

He meets my gaze, unflinching. "Do you want her to live?"

A growl rumbles in my chest. "Why should I trust you when everyone else wants to take her from me?"

His smile is sharp, unsettling. "Do you have another option?"

I bare my fangs, inches from his face, pulling Melinda closer.