(Jayden’s POV)
The pull of the mate bond.
Truth be told, he hadn’t, not in time to do something about it. Unlike with Rio, when he’d known right away that he’d met the one, Jayden was blissfully unaware of the second chance mate bond with Alys until that evening in the garden, when her scent had hit him like a wrecking ball, so sudden and out of nowhere.
The Moon Goddess must have known that letting him be aware prior to the Princess’s eighteenth birthday would be a disadvantage, not that Jayden would have been able to do anything about it but leave. Which he did as soon as he could—a d*ck move, for sure, but it was a basic reflex out of sheer panic—only to have no choice but to return, summoned by the Queen and a very reluctant King.
Jayden considers his answer for a very long time.
