Then she raises her hands, glaring angrily at Jessetra and Kainz.
The two chaos fae have only a moment to stare in shock before a blast of freezing shards flies at them, knocking them back.
I bolt for Eva. Behind her, two chaos soldiers are on her tail, ready to pounce, and I fire my wand at them, obliterating them both just as we reach each other.
I wrap my arms around her, ducking her beneath a shot from someone’s wand, and with another wave of her hand, a piercing wall of ice flashes out from her feet, connecting with several more soldiers.
“Get them! Glory and riches for whoever brings me that beacon!” Jessetra shouts furiously.
“Your powers,” I can’t help but exclaim in wonder. “How are you—”
“I don’t know,” she says, looking at the blue glow surrounding her hands and then back up at me. “I just knew I wanted to protect you.”
I don’t even have time to react to how sweet that is because more soldiers are already rallying, charging toward us.
I draw more of my energy into my wand, but it flickers, my very soul almost sapped by the suppressor.
My body almost gives out, and I slump to one knee.
Eva’s eyes go wide with concern, but I wave her away.
“I’m fine,” I exclaim.
“You’re not fine!” Eva makes a fist, then extends her fingers out with a flick. A dozen icicles shoot out like flying knives, impaling and maiming several more chaos fae. There’s one left, and I point and fire, decimating the last.
“You’re not fine, Tanner,” she says, sending another wave of ice to keep them back as she talks to me. “You’re stressed. You’re tired. You’re clearly hobbled by that thing on your hand. But it’s okay. I’m here to support you. We’ll handle this together. Handle everything together from now on.”
She wraps an arm around me, helping me to my feet. Just her touch fills my soul, strengthens our bond.
“Eva, I’m so sorry for everything,” I say. “I shouldn’t have done that to Bill, and I—”
“I was an ass too,” she says. “Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” I say, confused.
“Yes, there is. I should have been more patient. I would have been, but—” She pauses to take out another wave of men. “Can you guys just chill for a second?”
They all stop, completely frozen, and Eva grins at me.
“I think I like this fae thing,” she says. She raises her hand, and a giant wall of ice shoots up from the ground and into the ceiling, completely enclosing us in a circle of ice.
Some of the men, frozen in it, are struggling to break free, while the others waiting beyond it are just watching in confusion.
“Are you okay?” she asks, supporting me around the waist.
“I am,” I say. “Eva. We can stay here. Whatever you want.”
“Or go to your world, whatever you want,” she says. “I missed you. Dammit, it wasn’t half a day and I missed you.”
I let out a sigh. “I missed you so much too.”
I can see her bond in my mind’s eyes, powerful and ice blue, entwined with my black bonds, woven together so intricately I can barely tell where they begin and end.
We are stubborn people. And independent. But when we bond, when we love, we don’t know how to hold back.
“What should we do now?” She looks at me. “There are so many of them.”
“Yes, and a full-power chaos princess is hard enough to deal with, let alone when she’s paired with a prince and a lot of other soldiers.”
She nods, worried. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
I let out a breath of resignation. “You should fight your way out of here. Save yourself.”
She glares at me. “Tanner. I’m your soul bond. I’ll die fighting before I leave you here alone.” Her gaze is fierce. “You’re not the only one who can do stupid things when you want to protect someone.”
I laugh because what else can I do? Suddenly, I feel just a bit stronger, enough to stand more on my own, and I pull her into my arms.
No matter what happens, I want to hold her.
“I love you so much, soul bond.”
“Me too,” she says. “Wherever we are. Wherever we go. Whatever happens, I’m lucky to have met you.”
Around us, I can hear cracking sounds as the ice is starting to slowly give way. Chaos is coming for us.
We’ll fight them together, but I don’t know if we’ll win.
I’m suppressed, and she isn’t at full power.
So as I feel the ice wall begin to fall around us, I lean in to cup her face and give her one last kiss.
A blast of blue and black energy shoots out from us, and I hear screams of chaos and the sounds of many bodies being thrown back.
Suddenly, we’re rising into the air, still kissing, and I realize Eva’s wings are out and mine as well.
Her lips go cool as her entire body becomes decorated with crystalline ice, appearing as beautiful sky-blue armor.
The energy around is still pulsing, warning everyone to stay away from us with every beat of our hearts.
I wrap my hand in her hair and kiss her more deeply, and her hand comes up to cover my wrist. Something ice cold stings for a moment before the bracelet falls off, useless.
Slowly, she lowers us back to the ground, then turns with me to face our opponents.
Most of the lesser chaos agents are on the ground, frozen to ice chunks or knocked out by darkness.
I’m still not sure exactly what happened, but I know that with Eva by my side and that suppressor gone, I have never felt stronger.
“A perfect bond,” Jessetra spits. “You didn’t tell me their bond was perfect.”
“It wasn’t,” Kainz says, looking as panicked as Jessetra is furious. “They were fighting. I swear. Besides, a perfect bond is supposed to be impossible.”
I suppose it’s simply that Eva and I were willing to die for each other rather than leave our love. And that kind of love makes us powerful.
But I’m not going to tell the chaos fae that.
“I’m not sure quite how to do this, but you tried to kill my soul bond so I’m definitely going to end you.” Eva raises her hand, and her wand appears immediately.
It’s blue and glowing, shaped like a scepter with a bright white orb of glowing ice at the end.
“Wait, please.” Kainz steps forward, attempting a placating smile. As a lower-level fae, I’m sure he’s done plenty of sniveling before.
It won’t save him now.
“This is all a big misunderstanding,” he says, looking so reasonable now that he’s staring death in the face. “I promise. If you let me—”
I raise my wand, and a beam of pure dark energy shoots through him, turning him instantly into a shadow and then nothing at all.
Just a wisp of black smoke and the echo of a scream indicate that he ever existed.
I wanted to save Eva the trouble of killing him.
Jessetra scoffs in disgust. “Pathetic fool. Couldn’t even die without sniveling for his life first.” Her eyes go wide, her free hand tensing, and her wings grow larger and larger. “No matter. I can still take you two stupid lovebirds, with or without him.”