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The power of the awakening runes held him frozen in place as the magic sought to complete the pattern, to finish carving the spell of fire and light. The circular rune wrapped around his body grew tighter as the bonding intensified. And then the unthinkable happened: a new fiery rune appeared and wrapped around Anrid’s body. She shrieked as it pulled her in, spacing her between Jael and the book.
Now there were three runes, one around him, one around her, and another around that stone-forsaken book. She gaped at him as the runes drew them in closer until barely an inch of space divided them.
Jael struggled to yank himself free, to break the spell before the magic finished carving the rune. But no matter how hard he strived, no matter how hard he fought to break from the magic constricting around him, he could not escape the magical bonds. It was as if iron chains held him in place.
The three individual runes converged with a hiss, intersecting to create a triune bonding spell.
Jael could do nothing but wait and watch as light and pain and blood and furious magic combined.
His thoughts grew murky as the will to escape faded. The moment became almost comfortable, familiar somehow. The unending light surrounding him and Anrid and the book began to cloud with shadows that took shape and color. Scintillating hues of crimson, aquamarine, amethyst and amber surrounded them on all sides, as if they stood in a place made of pure color and nothing else. There was no pain, there was no fear, only this place in this moment and this feeling of belonging.
They were in the heart of the Bifrost.
He knew he had been binding himself to the Bifrost, but he didn’t expect it to be…like this.
Cold fingers caught hold of his hand and squeezed. “Where are we?” Anrid whispered.
His lips parted, but it took him a moment to summon the words to speak. “I think this is the Bifrost.”
A flicker of aquamarine light caressed the side of his cheek as if it liked his answer. He held himself still although part of him wanted to pull away from the unknowns. This place felt intimate and familiar, as if he were standing not just within the Bifrost but within its very soul.
“Why are we here?” The fool girl had no idea what she had done.
“We are here,” he ground between his teeth, “because you inserted yourself into my binding spell. You are now as much a part of this is I am, and I don’t think I can do anything about it.” But then he became aware of her fingers wrapped around his hand, and his fingers flexed involuntarily before closing around hers. It felt right somehow, as of her hand belonged there, her palm against his, their fates intertwined.
Could she feel it too?
He doubted it. Not after the way she had recoiled from him in the darkened kitchen, as if he repulsed or frightened her. No, this human girl wanted nothing to do with him. She merely wanted him to fulfill his end of their bargain and return her to her people, to her dark elf husband.
He dropped his hand from hers and took a step away.
“I thought you were in trouble.” Her gaze lifted and held his.
This place gave her an ethereal quality. The light toyed with her auburn hair and wafted it around her shoulders as if she were floating underwater. The colors reflecting in her eyes made them brighter and deeper, sharpening the facets in her irises until they resembled gemstones.
He shifted, testing how much control he had over his own body. For now, it appeared, he could move about with ease.
“I am in trouble,” he admitted, “but not in the way you think. I chose this fate for myself. At least I went into it knowing what I was risking. What I was sacrificing.” He stared back at her and willed her to understand the gravity of her situation.
Anrid sucked on her lower lip and appeared more perplexed than enlightened. “What exactly are you risking?” She seemed to be asking more than the words implied.
“What we are risking,” he clarified. “You are now part of this binding. I bound myself to the Bifrost, offering my soul to protect her. The fate of the Bifrost is now bound to me. And to you.”
Her jeweled eyes rounded. “To me?”
He had to give her credit that her voice did not shake. “And you. And I don’t know how to undo it. This is deep magic, and far beyond my understanding.”
“Then why on earth did you attempt this?” Her words grew sharp, almost angry. She raked him with a disapproving look, like the one she might give to the goblinborn when they were misbehaving and yanking at her skirts. Or throwing food at one another in the kitchen.
The Bifrost grumbled around them.
“Because,” he said despite the exhaustion tugging at his bones, “my people needed me to do it. The Bifrost is under attack, the runestones are failing…and I’m trying to buy us time to figure it all out. I bound myself to the Bifrost to offer her my strength. To share my strength with her. To let her use me like…well, like a runestone, I suppose. I had to do this, Anrid, to protect Agmon.”
She flinched and looked away. She, of all people, would understand this, the girl who had left her home to marry a stranger because her people needed her to do it.
A rose ribbon of magic curled around behind him and nudged him forward. He faltered and tried to stand his ground, but the magic pushed him closer to Anrid before spiraling around her with a dramatic flourish. Heat filled his cheeks.
“I don’t think she likes it when we argue,” Anrid murmured as she lifted a hand, and the ribbon danced around it before flitting off into the brightness.
