The glow of the Green Moon was still burning behind my eyelids as we stepped back underground. The others were busy chattering about the turn of events, about everything Avelora had heard Darek say, but no one approached me yet.
It was like it never happened. Like I wasn't involved.
My finger still pulsed at the tiny wound that his teeth had made while I was distracted with the kiss. I clenched my fist to hide it from myself.
Out of sight, out of mind.
But I knew it would catch up to me soon. Darek had marked me even without an official ceremony. But it didn't matter, because I had failed to reject him on the night of the mating ceremony. Which means he had let the bond shimmering between us to complete in its entirety today.
This was why he wanted to talk to me today, out in the open. He wanted to do it when the moon shone the brightest.
I hated myself for not figuring it out.
"Maeve?" Lesra's voice cut through the fog. "Are you alright? You look a bit out of it."
