The Elven King by Lexi Johnson

Aran, do you have any idea what your father is going to do to you when he finds out you’ve formed a soul-bond with a mortal? And three days before your wedding?”
    “Wedding?!” Sade sat up, dislodging Aranion’s hand from her hip and thus breaking the physical connection between them. “You’re engaged?”
    “It’s not my choice!” Aranion tried to explain. “You have to understand—“
    “I don’t have to understand anything. Hand me my shirt,” Sade ordered, pointing to the haphazard pile of clothes near the inner wall of the hollowed out tree in which they’d taken shelter. She glared at Meldigur. “And I’m not going to try and figure this out butt-naked in front of your friend.”
    “Oh, it’s no trouble for me,” Meldigur said.
    “Turn around,” Aranion said, putting venom into his voice -- his fury, not at his friend, but at the situation in which they were all now trapped. “I mean it, Mel.”
    “If you try to escape," Meldigur said, "I will have to hurt you,” Meldigur said. "I’m taking liberties already, simply by talking with you.”
    “I know,” Aranion said. 
    For all of his games, Meldigur, truly was taking a risk by not bringing Aranion back immediately. He must not even have alerted anyone else, considering that none of the other rangers had yet arrived to his aid. 
    “Just give us a chance to get clothed,” he requested. “I know we aren’t much for modesty, but it makes mortals uncomfortable.”
    Meldigur hesitated. “I’ll do it, this once,” he said. “But if you run, I won’t make things so simple for you when I capture you again.”
    “I won’t run.”
    Meldigur nodded and turned his back.
    Aranion wished he’d had the time to explain this entire thing thoroughly, and in the proper order. It was bad enough to have to shock Sade not only by informing her about their soul bond, but also immediately after the engagement. An engagement that, now, surely could not become marriage -- not with Aranion’s soul bound to another. 
    As awful as it was to have been caught by Meldigur, to have dragged Sade into this mess, the bond they had formed might also be their way out. If Aranion was bonded to another, even if it was a mortal, he wasn’t free to wed Princess Lairelithoniel. How could she want a husband whose loyalties lay with someone else? 
    Surely, all he would have to do was explain this and make them all understand. But first, he had to make Sade understand.
    Aranion leaned over and grabbed Sade’s mortal clothing. The memories of the previous night seemed to cling to their alien textures, and Aranion felt himself stirring to shameful life as he handed her her things. He averted his gaze, and tried to distract himself by looking around for his trousers. Sade was right about not having this kind of discussion with his bond brother while naked.
    When they had dressed, Aranion said to Meldigur, “You can turn around now." A thought occurred to him, and he added, "We have some soup. It will still be warm. Unless you’re going to drag us back now, before you’ve heard the whole story.”
    Meldigur shook his head. “An hour or two won’t make any difference, so long as you give me your word that you’ll come back with me. Your word that you won’t run again until we speak to your father.”
    Aranion took a deep, considering breath. Once he gave his word, he would be physically unable to go back on it. But what choice did he have? Meldigur had found them, and, with Sade to take care of, Aranion would hardly be able to throw off his bond brother. The only way he’d managed it the first time was because he’d gotten Meldigur drunk on moonflower wine and waited until his bond brother had fallen asleep before making his escape.
    “You have my word,” Aranion said. 
    The geis of his promise settled on him, and Aranion knew he’d lost his chance at escape. 
    At least until he reached his father’s court. Until he spoke with his father... 
    A man with whom