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work; how to hold them captive, and direct them to the Gods’ will.” But they would have to speak with the priests quickly. For every sunrise here, who knew how many days were passing in the mortal world?
    Sade’s fear was easing, if only a little. Aranion found himself also calming.
    With each moment, the soul bond brought them closer and closer together.
    He couldn’t stand the thought of letting Sade go. But he also couldn’t escape the grief and guilt she was feeling about leaving her family.
    The Gods had a cruel sense of humor, that was sure. Why else would they have bonded by soul two people so ill-suited to be together?
     
     

Chapter 7: An Elven Bath
    This was not a strange dream, nor even a nightmare. Sade knew that, because you could wake up from nightmares.
    And, in spite of everything, the warmth of Aranion’s hands around hers was still compelling.
    ‘More fool you, Sade,’ she thought, and raised the cup of soup to her lips, effectively dislodging him.
    Sade gulped down the dregs of her now lukewarm soup as Aranion packed his few meager possessions.
    Sade just couldn’t imagine never seeing her brother again. Mama’s accident had been hard enough, in part because she’d lingered. Even when she and Charles had agreed, together, three weeks later, to turn the respirator off, Sade had been praying the whole time for a miracle that never came.
    The pain had pulled the siblings together, while at the same time pushing them farther apart. It was why Charles had moved away – he had said he needed to “get some space from the whole thing.” But that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t notice when Sade stopped picking up her phone.
    She would never have followed Aranion through that gate if she’d thought that it meant walking away from everything she knew and cared about. Aside from one night of unbelievable sex, what did she know about Aranion, anyway ? That he was an elven prince who had run away from a forced marriage to a sadist?
    And yet… after only this one night and day, she couldn’t imagine life without him. To feel this intense a connection to a man she’d known less than a day was terrifying. She didn’t want this, she thought – the intelligent part of her really didn’t want this. But at the same time, it wasn’t as if she had a choice about what she wanted.
    Buck up, Sade, she told herself. You’ll find a way through this. There’s always a way through.
    Finishing her soup, she handed the empty cup to Aranion, who promptly tossed it onto the ground. “It’ll return to its own form in time,” he said, absently.
    Sade nodded, already turning her thoughts to more significant things.
    It was more important than she had ever imagined that she make a good impression on the Elven King -- and she looked like a mess. She wished she had some way to get herself clean, and do something with her hair, at the very least. But failing that, she simply put it in a rough braid, smoothing down the halo of frizz that always seemed to blossom from her temples no matter how recently she’d had her hair relaxed. She decided she wasn’t even going to think about how terrible she must smell. Meldigur watched her beauty routine with interest. Sade wasn’t sure if that bothered her.
    Aranion had finished gathering his things from the tree hollow that had been, very briefly, their home. Clearly, it was time to leave.
    Sade asked, “How long will it take us to walk to the castle?”
    “Castle?” Meldigur laughed. “Walk! You mortals are so odd.”
    Sade wanted to smack the condescending amusement from Meldigur’s face, but Aranion put a hand on her shoulder.
    “Don’t mind him,” Aranion said. “He’s always had more humor than sense.”
    Meldigur shrugged. “If by that you mean I don’t choose to spend my years in a cloud of earnest despair, then, certainly, yes.”
    Sade looked at Meldigur carefully. He was slightly thinner than Aranion, and half a head taller, too. His body was all