Page 35 of Blade of the Nightking

“I want to defend myself,” I shot back. “You look like you want to kill me.”

The words hit him like a blow. He blinked, and the anger receded as swiftly as a wave dragged back out to sea. “I would never,” he said hoarsely.

I exhaled slowly and forced the magic back down, shoving it deep into myself. My mouth had gone dry. “I know.” But still my hands shook.

He pressed his palms over his eyes. I clenched my teeth, trying to think through the chaos in my head. Through everything that had happened. My vision blurred at the edges, my throat tightening as shame burned hot beneath my skin.

“When the Moiraithe freed him…” I said uncertainly.

Aedric peered at me through his fingers.

“I felt something,” I went on weakly. “A… pull.” I pressed my fingers to the soft place beneath my ribcage, where my magic always gathered strongest. “Right here.”

He nodded once. The bond.

We stared at each other across the room. He felt unbearably distant. Miles away. Oceans.

“I don’t want it, Aedric.”

“I know.”

“How do I break it?”

He closed his eyes for a long moment, as though bracing himself. When he opened them again, the sorrow in his blue stare was so raw it made me want to claw my chest open.

“You don’t.”

I sank onto the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands. “This can’t be happening.”

He crossed the room toward me. I heard his footsteps on the plush carpet before I felt the towel settle over my shoulders. I looked up at him, drawing it closed around myself.

He sat beside me. Not too close. A careful distance. His gaze stayed fixed ahead, his posture rigid.

“It’s not your fault,” he said, though bitterness edged every word. “It’s your nature. Eidrae can bond with multiple partners. I knew that.” His shoulders sagged. “I just hoped this time…”

“This time what?” I whispered.

He looked at me again and offered a weak imitation of a smile. “I hoped your magic would think I was enough.”

Something shattered in my chest.

“Oh, Aedric.” Tears burned behind my eyes. “You’re more than enough. You’re everything.”

He nodded slowly but didn’t respond.

“Does…” I hesitated. “Does Rìan know?”

“Undoubtedly.” His brow creased. “If he didn’t before, he would have known the moment you siphoned from him.”

“I… don’t understand siphoning.”

“The bond tethers your magic to your ma—” He stopped himself short, mouth tightening. I knew what he’d been about to say. Mate. “To the other’s magic,” he said instead. “It’s possible to pull on that tether. To draw the other’s magic into yourself and strengthen yours. In your case, you used his to heal. Something that should have been impossible on your own.” He barked a humorless laugh. “I suppose I should thank him. Without it, you would never have survived.”

“Aedric,” Fear slid through me like ice water. “What does that mean for me? For the last Eidra to be tethered to a Dreamwalker?”

Aedric’s head snapped up. For the first time since I'd known him, the unflinching certainty he always carried was gone. In its place was fear.

“No one can know about this.” He reached for my hand, gripping it so tightly it bordered on pain. “If the Full Circle learns you're bonded to Rìan… not even I will be able to protect you. Do you understand?”