It felt like a cool splash of water on his face the moment his Highness entered the ballroom.

Something…soothing. Something that made his heart slow and light. Something…familiar.

“He’s over here.” Aden was saying, voice pitched low. 

How could Rey hear across the banquet hall? How had the King gotten here so fast? 

His Highness’ voice didn’t wear on his nerves the way it usually did. He didn’t feel like a predator anymore. He felt like an ally. “We should’ve known he was somehow related to him.”

Sophia gestured the two over, Rey dropping his eyes back down to the dark pool beneath his trousers. The blood trickling down his chin slowed, some of the color returning to his waxy skin.

His Highness’ boots were distinctive enough to pick out on approach. His voice was gentle. “Rey, please look at me.”

Rey took a measured breath, raising his sagging head. Their eyes collided, and it was like someone pounded a slender metal pick into the thinnest part his skull.

Everything in his vision tripled, a sharp snap ricocheting loud and punishing in his ears.

“Ow—” he breathed, a fresh rush of blood surging past his teeth and into his cupped hand. “You’re making my head hurt.”

“It’s because the link is incomplete,” the King said. His expression was inscrutable. “I need to know if you want me to complete it. It will ease the pain, but it’s difficult to break.”

The link? 

Wasn’t that…a bond? Rey thought he remembered reading about them. He'd heard stories from the soldiers when they sparred. They were extinct, now, in this era of unequal mana.

What was it they did again?

It was getting harder to think.

“Do it,” he hissed, when the pain surged again. “Do it, please.”

Like a dam had been broken, the King dropped reverently to his knees, lurching forward to sink his teeth into the supple skin of Rey’s tan neck.

If Rey thought what he’d experienced before was overwhelming, it paled in comparison to the ecstasy of the hot, slick fangs in the most vital place on his neck. 

Rey’s hands gripped his highness’ sumptuous cloak desperately, the muted colors of his vision fading into a full field of the brightest white.

“Oh,” he gasped, and he felt Sophia place a gentle hand on the King’s shoulder. 

“Don’t drink too deeply, Leo,” she cautioned. “He’s lost a lot of blood, given the awakening.”

The growl into the crook of his jaw felt primal. Aden cleared his throat from somewhere behind of the King.

“Your Highness, I beg you to see reason,” he said cautiously. “I know the allure of a bonding bite is strong, but we could lose him.”

Rey felt the loss almost immediately as the King drew back, a hollowness in his chest where his Highness’ teeth once were. He scrabbled to hold onto the King’s arm, vision fading back to focus on those molten silver eyes.

Reality came to him in fits, the stickiness of his blood beneath his fingers, the torn collar of his opulent velvet jacket.

Rey’s lips parted. Something under his skin itched and clawed.

“Congratulations, you Highness,” Aden said, but he was looking at Rey with an unreadable expression. “I am honored to be in your esteemed service.”