Even after arguing with Kellan for several minutes, he still hadn't budged a foot past the bathroom door. He was like catnip standing there brooding with his arms crossed. Everything about the room screamed royalty. The walk-in shower was bigger than my entire bathroom back at Gran's house.

"You're sure?" My word echoed off the marble walls. I pouted, hoping he'd change his mind. "You don't want to join me?" Our bond hummed, demanding satisfaction.

"Wren..." His voice cracked. "Believe me, I want to. I'm just not going to." He leaned against the doorframe. "Now, stop torturing me, because I'm not changing my mind."

"Fine, stay there." Innerly, I stomped my foot and wanted to scream at him. I peeled off a sock and chucked it on the white tile floor. "If you can."

I unbuttoned my pants and slid them past my hips, letting them drop to the white tile floor. I kicked them to the slide, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the gilded mirror across from me. I smoothed out my hair, and the bottom of my t-shirt tickled the tops of my thighs with my movement.

He pursed his lips, and the tap turned on full blast, spraying water over the countertop and mirror. The sunlight filtering in through the window above the soaker tub dwindled, and the sky faded into a storm-cloud grey.

"What, am I getting to you?" I giggled, dragging my hand along my side and over my hip, showing off my curves. When I turned around, I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it backward, hoping it would land at his feet. I stepped into the shower and closed the opaque glass door behind me with my foot. After tossing my bra and panties over the shower door, I realized there weren't any knobs to turn the damn thing on. "Of course, there aren't any water controls."

Let me help you with that, he said in my head with an air of sweetness that made me picture him with a big fat smirk plastered on his face.

"Kellan, don't..." I held my hands up in front of my face. "No, no, no. Don't you dare!

A blast of cold water shot from the shower-head. Screaming, I tried to get out of the spray, but the water just redirected toward me. A moment later, the water warmed to just above body temperature. "Kellan! You know I'm getting you back for that."

"It's taking everything in me not to come in there and join you." Kellan's voice echoed off the walls, and a loud crack of thunder punctuated his words. "You need to cool off. I don't want you regretting you picked me."

Our bond pulled taut, strumming a melody so sweet I could smell his sea breeze scent calling me to him like a flower in full bloom called to a honeybee. I gasped and placed my hand against the glass to steady myself. After that cold shower, I'd like to say I already regretted it, but even I knew that was a lie.

He groaned and thumped the wall outside of the shower with his fist. "And to think, each minute closer it gets to your birthday the bond's influence over us only increases." He leaned into the wall with his back and slid down it until his butt landed onto the floor. Through the obscured glass, I could see him drape his arms over his bent knees.

That was hard to believe. The ripples of our bond tugged at every muscle within me and clouded my thoughts. I lathered a handful of shampoo through my hair and over my body, then let the water rinse the tiny bubbles over my skin into the drain. "Okay, I'm clean." I stuck my hand outside of the shower. "Can you pass me a towel?"

"A towel?" He laughed and got to his feet.

The warm water overhead slowed and drizzled to a drip.

"Yeah, you know a rectangular, fuzzy cloth people use to dry themselves off?"

"Wren, this isn't Earth." He wrapped his fingers around mine. "This is the Water Circle, and as members of its people, every molecule of water is connected to us."

Each droplet trailed over my skin and down my arm toward his hand. With his hand overtop of mine, he placed my hand against the shower wall, and the water poured from my body down the tiles and out the drain. Not a single speck of water remained, even my hair was dry.

"You won't find any towels in our private chambers." He released his hold on my hand and placed on the outside of the glass with his fingers spread wide.

"Then how you propose I get out of here?" I folded my arms across my chest. "I can't just traipse around naked."

His hand slid down the glass, leaving a path of five long fingerprints. "Oh, would I like to see that." He let out a long breath and tapped his forehead to the door. "Wait here." His hand pulled from the glass, and he jogged out the door, returning half a minute later. "How about this?" He shoved his arm through the door gripping a long trailing white sheet.

"I'm not walking around wearing something you pulled off your bed."

"It's either I take you with me to get you some clothes or leave you behind to get them myself." He shook the sheet at me. "It's your choice."

"Seriously? You couldn't just loan me one of your shirts?" I snatched the sheet from his grasp before he changed his mind and marched my naked butt through the castle as payback for my little striptease. "'Cause I'm not standing here shaking uncontrollably while you wander the castle in search of something for me to wear."

"My clothes won't fit you, besides where we're going no one will see you anyway."

With the reams of fabric coiled around my body and a few secure knots that my grandfather had taught me in place, I was certain the makeshift toga would stay put. While the sheet crisscrossed my chest and tied around my neck, I'd purposely left my back bare. "How's this?"

Kellan lifted his gaze to me and coughed. "Even a sheet looks sexy on you."

"Why, thank-you, kind sir." I curtsied and held out the silky white fabric. "Not that I don't love this dress, but some real clothes would be great."

"Sure." His lips turned into a grin, and he stepped forward, pulling off the counter he leaned against. "My sister will have something in her closet you can wear."

I padded across the cold tile floor, closing the distance between us. "But isn't that on another floor and a few halls away?"

"Who says we're walking?" he whispered in my ear.

My heart sunk, and my hand went clammy. "I don't know. With my control we'll end up back keep, locked up in the dungeon."

"I just need the right motivation and a little support." He placed his hand in the small of my back. "And since I know you don't want to rescue your dad, wearing nothing but a toga, I do believe you might be sufficiently motivated."

I raised a brow. "And I supposed you're the support part?"

"You chose me, remember?" His eyes sparked a bright, cyan blue. "Besides, being partners is more than a marriage commitment. When our souls connect, our skills amplify, we access each other's talents, and in our case, heal one another."

And if I remembered correctly, soul connections were also an essential part of Acklemarian mating. I looked up under my lashes. "I thought you wanted to wait?"

"So, you do remember some of Acklemarian physiology." He picked me up in his arms and carried down the hall. "We are going to wait. But if we can tap into each other's skills, we will have an advantage when breaking your dad out, so it's worth a try." He put me down and wandered over to his desk and pulled out a skeleton key and put it in the front pocket of his pants.

He grabbed a jacket from the back of the chair, slipped his shoes on, and grabbed my runners from the side of the bed. "Ready?"

"Sure. Why not." I hugged my makeshift dress to my body and scrunched my toes into the carpet. "Let's see if this works."

He folded his arms around me. "What's first."

"Clear your thoughts and think of where we want to go." I wrapped my arms around his neck. "At least that's what I'm supposed to do, but usually my emotions get the best of me, and I end up in places like here."

"Right, picture Elena's room." He bent down and kissed my lips. And mess with your emotions.

Kellan... I shivered with the tingling sensation building inside of me. That's not what—

He feathered his hand over my back and rested it on my rear. Focus Wren. Elena's room. His lips trailed down my neck.

Focus? How am I supposed to do that? He blew lightly on my neck, and I gasped. A brief picture of Elena's room flashed through my thoughts, and I grabbed for the scene, locking onto the place in space. The internal strings of time tightened, and a moment later, I was gasping for air on the floor of her room straddling Kellan.

Elena jolted from her sleep. "Who's there?" She pulled the padded eye mask from her head. "Wren, what are you doing here?" Elena crawled over the covers and peered over the end of the bed. "With my brother?"

"By the circle..." Her gaze rested on the traveler's ring inked on Kellan's bicep, and her mouth dropped open. After a moment of speechlessness, her gaze drifted over to me. "You chose Kellan."

THANKS for reading! More coming this weekend. :)

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