Over the next several minutes, Miriam's heart chilled into a block of ice and sank low in her abdomen. As terrible as the village around Fort Fillmore suffered the effects of the phantom animals, its damages paled as King Riquero detailed the destruction of entire cities, the starvation of thousands, and the daily terror overshadowing every element of life in his kingdom.

The only ray of hope he'd discovered in his search for ways to defeat the noble's council and their magic weavers came from an ancient tome Seer Murial uncovered in her family archives, which detailed the magic only those of royal blood can access, their personal magic, and its unique properties. Among its discussions of the variability of each royal's personal reserve of such magic lay a section detailing extreme measures to defeat any challengers to the throne, especially magic weavers, who had no personal magic of their own but possessed the ability to gather natural magic into themselves to use for their own purposes.

"There is a particular spell which only a young king and his mate together may cast, a spell which banishes all forms of natural magic for a full decade. It removes all spells and their effects cast with natural magic, as well as any magic unclaimed or bound to a magic weaver but as yet unused. However, the caster and his mate pay dearly for the spell; it may drain him of his entire reserve of personal magic, never to be refilled, and he and his mate may be weakened to the edge of death. Both would be vulnerable for an unknown period of time, which an enemy might take advantage of. If I did not believe the danger now present did not outweigh the personal risk to you, my son, I would not mention it. Now that I have, will you attempt the spell, though it may mean both your deaths?"

Silence filled the room in the wake of the king's grim question, and Miriam's knees trembled with the weight of responsibility now pressing down on her, doubled by the mixed feelings of dread and determination seeping from Jonatham.

Wait, how do I know what he's feeling?

Jonatham's arm tightened around her waist. "Father, I require a few minutes alone with my mate to discuss this. We will be in my private apartment, and I promise we will not delay long. However, I will not speak for Lady Miriam in this matter; as her life is as much at risk as my own, she must give her own consent."

He waved his free hand in Jim's direction. "In our absence, please feel free to converse with Jim here. He is responsible for the functionality of this portal frame, a gifted tinker indeed. Now, please excuse us."

The prince bent slightly at the hips toward the bemused king, his firm grip on Miriam's middle bending her body as well. Without further ceremony, he bent and swept his free hand behind her knees, scooping her up into his arms even as his legs carried them toward the deep shadows on the opposite side of the portal from the two silent men staring after them, skirting the group of snoozing animals piled on each other, brought in from the Jeep by Jonatham just after he'd set Jim to work on the not-mirror.

Jonatham shoved through an ajar door Miriam hadn't noticed before and kicked it shut with a bang. His elbow scraped the wall twice before a small lamp illuminated a couch, side tables, and a wall of books. Jonatham strode to the dark green couch and sat, shifting Miriam so she again perched on his lap. I could get used to this...

"What happened out there?" His voice was a low murmur that bordered on a growl.

Thinking he must be upset with her about how she had not immediately pledged her willingness to sacrifice herself for a whole world of people she had never met, in the hope of saving them, and by proxy her own mother and coworkers and friends, who were in no danger whatsoever the last time she laid eyes on them, she lashed out.

"Excuse me if I didn't jump at the chance to die for a bunch of strangers with the prince who claims to be my mate, who I only just met a few hours ago, though he's known of me his entire life! I've barely had a chance to catch my breath in days, let alone actually taken the time by myself to process everything that's happened. Heck, I've not even taken the time to properly celebrate my own birthday! I -"

His lips crashed into hers, the flames of the contact burning her words off her tongue like a match incinerates a dry scrap of newspaper. He lingered only a few seconds, but when he pulled back a finger's-breadth to press his forehead to hers, both their chests heaved at an alarming pace.

"I apologize," he muttered. "I was not referring to your silence in answer to my father's query, and I was unaware you already felt so overwhelmed. I interrupted your requested quiet time earlier, for which I also apologize. I will give you a few minutes alone to process and consider, right now, once I clarify my own question."

He leaned away, tipping her chin up with one long finger so her eyes met his. "I was more curious about your thoughts. You sensed my emotions?"

Relief washed away the last traces of her indignation, and she smiled at him. "They flowed from you to me as though through a pipe, soaking into my skin. It was...like they were part of me, like you were part of me." The enormity of what she'd just spoken shocked her, and she swayed toward Jonatham. His embrace wrapped her in soothing heat and pressed her cheek to his sternum; his racing heart pounded in her ear.

His voice a deep rumble under her ear, he asked, "And now?"

At first, Miriam felt nothing from him. Rather than say that, she allowed her eyelids to drop closed and focus on his heartbeat and breathing. And there he was. Right under her skin, just beneath her easy self-awareness: Jonatham. A trickle came to her mind: concern, affection, hope.

"Why are you hopeful?" she blurted, twisting and popping her eyes open to sink into his galaxies.

He swallowed hard. "I'm hopeful that you can believe me, now that you have a gift from the soulmate connection, as well. Something that cannot be explained without it. Do you?"

Miriam ducked her head to think, sorting through all he'd said in the hours of their acquaintance and her own whirlwind of sentiments and experiences in that time. She must have lingered longer than a minute or two, for Jonatham began to radiate hurt and sadness; his embrace relaxed, and he released a heavy sigh as he pressed his hands to her waist. When he shifted her forward as though removing her from his lap, she snapped out of her reverie and flung her arms around his neck; she tried to meet his gaze, but he fixed his stare over her head. Miriam didn't hesitate any longer.

"Jonatham, the past few days turned my world on its head, and every time I think I am in familiar territory, another new piece of information shakes everything up again. I'm not really sure of much right now, but I am sure of one thing: whatever is between us, while I don't understand it, this is real. I don't know how, but we are meant for each other. I believe you-"

His soft lips met her puckered mouth, and the tip of his tongue grazed hers. Where their other kisses had burned her with their heat, this reminded her of coming home in the middle of a snowstorm to a warm house. The heart she didn't realize was frozen began to thaw, and a tear slipped down her cheek.

Jonatham shifted to kiss the tear away and asked, "What's this?"

She caged his face in her hands and kissed the tip of his nose. "You, this; it's so beautiful, so perfect. I'm overwhelmed."

"Do you need that processing time I promised you?"

"No, Jonatham. Not right now. Don't we have two worlds to save?"

His dark irises morphed into storm clouds sparkling with silver rain drops. "What my father has proposed is dangerous, incredibly so. I would not even consider including you in this plan, except that it would be impossible for me to cast this spell alone. Are you certain you want to be part of this?"

Maintaining her touch on his cheeks, she said, "What if we don't do this thing, and we die eventually anyway, only then we have to watch so many others suffer, when we could have tried, might even have succeeded in preventing their awful fates? I couldn't live with myself if that happened, and neither could you. I'm not sure how I can help you cast a spell; I didn't know about real magic until I got here. What use am I in this?"

His lips tightened, pulling his mouth into a thin line. "As my soulmate, you have the power to amplify my own inborn magic as a side effect of our connection. As such, I will be able to draw a much greater amount of magical energy than by myself, thus enabling me to cast and control such a powerful spell. But in order for that to be possible, we need to complete the bond. Once complete, it is unbreakable, in life or in death, and not to be entered light-"

"What do we need to do?"

His mouth fell open and he stared at her, dumbfounded. She giggled at his expression. "Don't look so surprised. I already know it wouldn't be a hardship to be stuck with you for the rest of my life, however long or short that is, so what needs to be done? Time's wasting, and your dad and Jim are probably already wondering what we're really doing in here," she winked.

He tossed his head back and laughed before saying, "I'm glad you don't think life with me would be a burden, and thankfully whatever naughty thoughts you are putting into the others' heads are not necessary to seal the soulmate bond. Just mirror me and repeat what I say, and we complete it by breathing the same air while touching foreheads and noses together. Anything that would inspire naughty thoughts will have to wait until after we dispel the natural magic of Dyza and defeat the council of nobles." This time he winked as his irises returned to their nearly-black blue, and Miriam could not control the hot blush that she knew turned her cheeks bright pink.

Choosing to ignore her flaming face, Miriam slid to her feet and held out her hand to Jonatham. "We better get on with it, then. I suddenly have a burning desire to be naughty."