Page 110 of Corrupted

Only after I was blissfully seduced did I realize an aura of dark magic filled the room. Caedryn had used the power to lock the door and move the drapes while he kissed me in his arms. How often did he use this?

I stroked his hair as his head lay on my chest. He was sleeping. His pulse, calmed. His fear, subdued. My love reassured him.

His fear over losing me bordered on possession. I knew this. I also knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

But Rapion had inadvertently threatened me, and he paid a price.

I slid away from Caedryn, settling him onto the bed, and pulled my dress on. I glanced around the room, wondering what I should do. What was this dark power? How did its trace still linger? I wished I had thought to talk to Caedryn about his darkness. I remembered something else that carried the same foreboding. It spoke of dark energy.

Feeling unease, I crept over to the desk and slid the drawer open.

I stared at the tome. The gold leaf was in straight lines, slanted lines, and dots. A few circles. I traced my fingers over the symbols and shuddered.

As I lifted the cover and flipped the pages, a heaviness fell over me. Each page I turned spelled out greater distress. I wasn’t sure what I was hunting for.

I came across the word dark energy. I skimmed the paragraph. Channel your dark energy. Feel the pressure build. Call to it. Chant the words to the spell. Allow the words to fill you as the power does. At the height of the pressure, at the apex of your emotion, release it!

The text expounded more, talking about the dark energy and about how to harness its full potential. Caedryn hadn’t chanted, but maybe he didn’t need to. The text’s words made the chanting sound as if it was solely to focus the power.

I didn’t chant with my light even though light required focus. Did darkness work in the same way? After practice, could it be harnessed without the words? What else did Caedryn use his darkness for? Maybe the book was his.

He was always warning me. Always trying to scare me away. I had a distinct feeling, once again, that he intentionally left the book as a way to ward me off. I had paid no attention to the volume and had forgotten about it until the strange aura had unsettled me.

Why couldn’t that man be honest about everything from the beginning? He was exasperating.

I flipped past the how-to chapter to the spells. Lightning, Thunder, Tempest. I passed the weather spells. Next came Levitating and Kinetics. Kinetics explained how Caedryn moved a latch and slid drapes. When I arrived at concealment spells, I stopped. Cloaking glared at me from the page’s top.

Cloaking is spiritual concealment. While an object is physically present, it cannot be spiritually detected. With Concealment, though the object is obscured from sight, the spiritual presence might still be felt. Both require a great degree of practice. To cast both spells at once is a sizable challenge, but not impossible.

Our conversation from weeks earlier in his study came back. How have you kept yourself from crying out before? I asked.

Cloaking. Niawen, you must understand. I use my darkness.

He hid his nightmares. He hid his light. What else did he hide?

He had tried to warn me.

SIXTY-FOUR

Niawen. Niawen.

My eyes shot open. I lay flat on my back, in our bed. Despite our afternoon nap, Caedryn seemed listless, so we’d retired early after supper. He settled next to me, with his head on my shoulder and his arm across my stomach. His steady breathing told me he was in deep slumber. He always slept blissfully when I was with him.

I wished I could have said the same for myself.

Niawen.

I swear the voice was Kenrik’s. He was calling for me.

NIAWEN.

The emotion in his voice made me realize something. We did have a bond. That was why I heard him cry out. An emotional connection was forged the day I left. As he cried for me from the courtyard on his knees, howling my name, he etched those wretched feelings into my very being.

Oh. Curse the way emrys bonded. Curse all of them!

I had no idea bonds could form without consent, without awareness. None.

Master of Light. By the stars in the heavens. This can’t be.

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