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Jael winced and wished he could turn around and walk away. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t involve you in this if it wasn’t necessary. I was trying to help, but...I think I made things worse, and now I don’t know what to do.”
Math shifted to reach for the book with one hand, his fingers pale in the flickering light of the runestone above his workbench. “I’m not surprised, if you were meddling with a book like this.”
As soon as the book left his fingers, a sense of relief washed over Jael. A weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying seemed to be bound to that book.
“It’s heavy,” Math commented, surprised as he noticed what Jael had only just now discovered. “The king’s seal.” He let his finger trace over the mark of the Daemon and whistled under his breath.
“My father sent me to collect the book.” It was important to him that his apprentice understood he hadn’t undertaken this without his father’s consent. “It was a desperate move to help restore balance to the Bifrost.”
“Did it work?” Math flicked startled eyes to his face.
Jael hesitated, shoulders tense with uncertainty. “I don’t know. The binding worked. I can sense the Bifrost in ways I couldn’t before. But whether or not it will help…I’m not sure what to expect.”
“I suppose if we continue to experience earthquakes, we’ll know if it worked,” Math said with a wry smile. He sat down at the table and leafed through the tome, his smile fading to a frown as he flipped through the pages faster and faster.
Jael dropped onto the bench beside him and buried his face in his hands. “It worked,” he growled behind the safety of his fingers, not caring how cross he sounded. “But will it be enough?”
Math hummed to himself, as if only half listening.
“There is more.” The necessary words scraped from his throat as he drummed his fingers on the table.
Math’s eyes flickered closed, but then he opened them and paid attention.
“When I was performing the binding, Anrid interfered. She touched the book and...”
To his credit, the apprentice remained calm, although the crease between his eyebrows furrowed more deeply. “Anrid performed the binding with you?”
Jael nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from Math’s. He suspected the answer to what he must ask next. “Is there any way to reverse this? To release her from the binding?”
It was Math who looked away first, a dejected set to his thin shoulders. Jael’s dwindling hopes evaporated.
“None that I’m aware of,” the lad whispered. “Soul bindings are serious business, Jael. I don’t think this can be undone. Had it been any rune spell...but, this? I don’t think it can be reversed.”
He blew a shaky breath between his dry lips. “I suspected as much but needed to be sure. For her sake.”
A pained silence fell between them, charged but somehow companionable. The trust between them saw to that. Neither of them carried this horrible truth alone now. It was a weight they both must bear, regardless of who held the book in his hands.
“Are you going to tell her?” Math wanted to know.
Something inside Jael’s chest tightened, and he had to swallow back the urge to vomit onto the floor right there.
How could he? How would he tell this innocent young woman that her life was over? There was no going back. There was no leaving Agmon, no returning to a land beneath the sky. She was trapped beneath rock and stone.
Forever.
Forever bound to Agmon. To the Bifrost. To this despicable book and all its secrets. Forever bound to him.
How could he tell her that?
But another part of him, the more rational part, countered with a stern whisper.
How can you keep this from her?
Something whispered on the far side of the room. Jael’s head shot up, and he scanned the shadows obscuring the tunnel on the other end of the chamber. His heartbeat quickened as he searched for danger in the lifeless darkness.
He was looking for trouble when it wasn’t to be found. No one was there; it was just him, and Math, and the terrible secret they both carried.
“I’ll tell her.” He breathed out at last as he ran a hand across his face. “But not today. Tomorrow. I’ll tell her tomorrow.”
