HELLOOO, charmer fans, another chapter coming your way. So excited to finally let you know where Kellan has been! Piece by piece his story unfolds. Jaxon fans, there is LOTS more to come, hang on, you'll hear lots of him yet.

This one goes out to all the Kellan fans out there!

Because of me and my headstrong plan to free my mother from the Fire Circle dungeon, Kellan wore the same scars as me. The searing pain of Otis branding my cheek had cut beyond me into his skin. My chest tightened, and I scrunched the scarf in my hands.

"Kellan..." my voice cracked. "I'm so sorry, I..."

"Had no idea?" He stared toward the other side of the pool. "As usual, you just plow forward believing you have all the answers and leave a wake of people trailing behind you."

My mouth hung open in silence. Waves of guilt clung to me in wet sheets—he was right, I had a knack for dragging loved ones into disastrous situations. Jaxon opposing his father was one of them. Even though he claimed everything was fine, Otis had to be planning his retaliation to make examples of us both. My mother wasted away for three years in a cell, all because I decided to ignore the rules like they didn't apply to me. Oh God, Nebula, she paid the ultimate sacrifice for helping me rescue my mom.

Nebula... I couldn't shake the thought of her body draped in Rygar's arms. I had to be the worst human being on this planet, half-human, weaver girl. Talk about identity crisis, I don't even know what to call myself. My feet shuffled forward, and I collapsed on the bank next to Kellan, staring at my hands. No one would have told him about Nebula. How do you tell someone that kind of horrible news?

"I never meant to hurt anyone. And now you're injured and..." I attempted to swallow the truck-sized lump parked in my throat. "Nebula's gone," I blurted.

A wave of emotions washed over me, and I let out a soft sob. Over the past three days, I'd tried to hide how much Nebula's passing had affected me, but I couldn't hold it back any longer.

He licked his lips. "Ah Wren," He ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry to hear that. I really liked Nebula. I'm going to miss her quirky-strange premonitions."

"Me too," my voice squeaked.

He wrapped an arm around me tugging into a sideways hug, and I crumpled into his shoulder. "Well, that explains why you've been so sad for the past few days."

I sniffled and tipped my head up to look up at him. "How do you know that?"

He lowered his voice, "You really want me to tell you?"

I wiped my eyes and nodded.

Kellan brushed his index finger along a portion of the knotted ring below my collarbone. The icy mark swirled and reformed into a new ice crystal pattern trailing behind his touch.

"The easy answer would be to say it was because of the ring connecting us." He kicked his foot through the water, making it churn around his ankle. "But the night that tiny aqua teardrop appeared here..." He rubbed the spot where the tiny mark used to be. "Something linked us together."

"That something is what most people call a kiss."

His face lit up with a smile, making his eyes sparkle with warmth. "Thanks, I remember that part. It's when you're not around, I perceive how you're feeling. But when you're in person? Nothing. It's like the sense goes mute."

"I'm glad you haven't learned all my secrets." I giggled.

"I'm still able to deduce a few." He skipped another stone over the water, and a wave flipped it back our direction.

"You think so?"

Kellan snatched the stone out of the air. "Yup. Like three days ago, late afternoon, something happened. If I had to guess what, my bet is that." He gestured to the spiral ring peeking out around my calf.

My pulse quickened, and my hands went clammy. "It's not what you think..."

"It's not? 'Cause I thought the spiral flames meant Jaxon had made you a saawel promise." His eyes illuminated a bright aqua blue.

Of course, he knew what a spiral ring was. "I wasn't referring to that."

He held the rock tight in his grip. "I'm listening."

"I told him I didn't have feelings for him, but he insisted I did." I gave Kellan a lopsided smile. "I told him more than once too. But he said I was wrong and bet me he could prove it."

"Geez, Wren. This part I don't want to know, isn't it?"

"He said, if I were right, he promised to help me find you. But, if he was right, he'd do everything he could to locate my father for me." I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face in my hands.

"So you kissed him."

I nodded with my hand clasped tight over my eyes, I felt like such a traitor. "I'm still trying to figure out how he won because I know..."

Kellan guided my chin up and peeled my fingers from my cheeks. "You know what, Wren?"

"What does it matter? It's too late. If you felt the same way..."

"What way is that?" He smirked.

I groaned and hit his chest. "You know exactly what way. You're not allowed to ask me that. It's just mean, especially when you left me."

I pummelled a fist against him and he caught my hand, mashing it against his muscular frame. "Let's get one thing straight—I never left you."

"Funny, that's not how I see it."

"The day after you confronted Otis, I lay in and out of consciousness recovering from burns he gave both of us when the Water Circle court received several red envelopes."

My eyes widened. "No..."

"Yes, invitations to a partnering ceremony. I'll give you one guess who's."

Otis and his damn wedding announcements.

"I don't have to guess." I hung my head. "I got one too. Nothing like being invited to your own wedding."

I silently wished Otis' recovery from his last encounter with me left him picking splinters from his wounds for the rest of his miserable life. "I'm still shocked Otis would ever want to see me again after what we did to his leg."

"It must have been bad. He's even assigned the seating for the ceremony. I have a front-row view, right next to him."

"Well, if you count the fire-bolt I hit him with, I'm guessing by the size of the wound and surrounding burns, it will likely take him a few weeks to heal. But I'm sure he's still a little pissed about the injuries from the seed I slammed into his burnt flesh." I cringed recalling Otis' screams and the guards trying to hack him free of the vines. "Especially since Robin encouraged it to spring into life."

"Plant boy? And to think I didn't like him when I first met him. He grows on you, doesn't he?" Kellan laughed and placed his hand on mine giving it a squeeze.

"When we left Otis in the dungeon, he was rooted to the floor with vines spouting from his leg." I kicked a spray of water into the air.

Kellan turned my hand over in his and the tiny droplets I'd launched glided through the air into my open palm reforming into a sphere.

I watched the baseball size globe spin in my hand, glittering in the sunlight. "I can't help thinking, receiving those red envelopes wasn't meant to be a celebratory occasion."

"I hardly call being dragged from my room semi-conscious, and dumped in a cell a reason to celebrate," he said not taking his sight from my palm.

I yanked my hand away, and the watery spectacle burst over my leg soaking the scarf. "You've been locked in a cell?"

"Being here is a pleasant reprieve from my current accommodations." He stood up and plucked a pear-shaped fruit from a low hanging branch. "Food, water and you? This place is magical." Purple juice dripped from his chin as he took a bite.

"Even Cinderella only had to midnight, so don't count on staying here forever." I got to my feet and wiped the juice from his lips with my fingertips.

"What did you do to get yourself locked in a cell?"

"I thought that part was obvious." He smiled and kissed my nose. "I fell in love with you."

My heart warmed when I heard he still loved me. "People don't get thrown in prison for falling in love."

He tossed the fruit pit into a nearby bush, wiped his sticky hands on his trunks and tangled his fingers in my hair. When I took a step backward, he wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me forward, pressing his skin against mine.

His closeness made me dizzy, fogging my thoughts. God, he's hot. I ran my hand over his muscular chest. The watery sweep etched across his shoulder in inky teals and blues, washed under my fingers splashing my hand.

He focused on my lips, his eyes glowing a faint aquamarine color. The pace of his breath quickened. He looked intent on breaking the spell barring him from my thoughts.

With his lips hovering mine, every cell in me ached for his touch, demanding I kiss him and feel his lips crushed on mine. But Jaxon... Jaxon would kill me.

"Kellan, I..."

His lips skimmed mine, cutting off my words and melting my thoughts. He plunging his tongue past my lips delving into our kiss, gently lapping the sides of my mouth. Kellan dragged his fingertips down my back, and I groaned, arching closer to him.

My skin flushed, begging for him to explore every square inch of me. With my heart racing, I threaded my fingers through his hair and dragged him closer to me, exploring his kiss further. Water from his sweep circled my arm and splashed the frosty ring marking my skin.

I panted as he lifted his mouth to caress my neck with tiny kisses, leaving behind a trail of tingling goosebumps in his wake. When reached the knotted ring, he mumbled something then kissed the icy mark. The inky ring crackled and itched, snippets of his thoughts seeped through. Kellan straightened before me, and I glanced up beneath my lashes to see his familiar eyes were now violet.

He tapped the wave sweeping his shoulder and whispered, "Your turn."

I stared at his sweep, and another wave rolled over his shoulder.

"Don't keep me locked out." He guided my chin up with his fingers. "I promise, you and I are meant to be. You just have to trust me."

I licked my lips, knowing I still had to return to the guild and face everyone.

"Do you love me?" he asked.

I brushed the ground with my foot. "You already know the answer to that."

Kellan crossed his arms like he was prepared to wait all day to hear the three little words he wanted to hear. After about a minute had passed, he shifted his weight to his other leg.

"All right, yes, I'm in love with you." I tossed my hands into the air. "You make my life so complicated it hurts."

"The feeling is likewise, but at least now we're getting somewhere." He tapped the sweep on his shoulder another time and leaned forward. "You still need to kiss and make up, or you can go home with those lovely violet eyes of yours. Personally, I think hiding the knotted ring will be easier." He smirked.

"You're not making this any easier."

"I know." He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, then folded his arms around me. "But my charming personality does come with a guarantee to love you forever."

"I love you too." I kissed a spot on his sweep his above his heart.

My lips warmed, and my cheeks flushed. My insides were thawing with my internal thermostat getting hotter with each passing second. Kellan scooped me up into his arms and waded into the cool water, kissing my forehead as I shook in his arms.

Every emotion and thought that had passed between us since I shut him out ran through my head forcing me to process them all at once. His pleas for me to answer him echoed my thoughts. A hollow sense of loneliness and heartache overwhelmed me. My skin was burning up.

"I'm sorry," I cried.

But the images of him lying in the cell with burns covering his face kept coming. He called my name until his voice sounded raspy. Tears poured down the sides of my face and dripped into the water.

"Come on, baby." He hugged me close to him and drizzled water over my hair, trying to cool me off. "I'm right here. I've got you."

Slowly the onslaught of memories and emotions subsided. When I stopped shaking, I threw my arms around him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel so alone."

"I know." He ran his hand down the back of my head, holding me close to him. "Shutting out a knotted partner only forces you to face how you made them feel later."

There was no chance I'd ever close that door on him again. I squeezed him tight.

"We're in this together," he whispered into my ear. "Got it?"

"Together."

"Your brother..." I dipped my head back into the water smoothing out my hair while recalling one of the images I'd just seen. I licked my lips, not sure if I wanted the answer the question I had. "Why did he have you arrested?"

"I told you, for falling in love with you." He kissed the back of my hand. "And if I had to guess, the charges will likely have something to do with interfering with a valid Fire Circle partnering contact."

"What do you mean, charges?"

"You're under contract with Jaxon. If I'm found guilty, the penalty is death."

All right my lovelies! Next chapter update this upcoming SUNDAY, so mark your calendars! Until till then, hit that vote button like it was your job and comment like you're dying for the next update.  (LOL)  Hugs all...  XoXo Amber

LOOKING to read something between now and next week's post?   Check out my latest short story: Life's Nectar! Soon to be published on Amazon.  https://www.wattpad.com/story/125181217-life%27s-nectar