“Asha, my name is Faylinn, but you can call me Fay.” The girl stopped shaking a bit, only slight tremors running through her body.
“Y-you’re the Bondsmith everyone keeps talking about,” she spoke reverently, and Faylinn rolled her eyes.
“I’m not the Bondsmith, just a girl who knows about runes.” Her denial did nothing to dash the stars from Asha’s eyes.
“Are you going to kill me? Use my blood for some rune or ritual?” Asha’s question was quiet, but strong.
Faylinn laughed quietly, still stroking the girl’s hair. “No, Asha. Nothing like that.” And the girl visibly relaxed, enough so that Faylinn released her wrist. “I do need your help, though.” And Asha nodded eagerly.
“You see that man there?” She gestured with her head to where Ben slept in the bed. “He’s . . . he’s one of my closest friends. And he has Mage Sickness.” Empathy and sadness swam in Asha’s eyes as she glanced from Faylinn to Ben and back again. “I can save him, but I need an Earth Vessel to do it. Will you help me?”
“You can save people from Mage Sickness?” The reverence was back in full force in Asha’s tone. Faylinn gave a small smile and stopped petting the girl’s hair, turning back to the nightstand, confident the girl would follow.
I was in complete awe watching Faylinn. There was something . . . magnetic about her. She was like a flame and we wereall moths, drawn to her. She could be a spider, waiting in her net for prey, and we’d all willingly jump into her web.
“I think so. It’s something I’ve never done before, but I’m confident it’ll work.”
Asha stood next to Faylinn at the side of Ben’s bed, no longer shaking, completely at ease in Faylinn’s presence. “My brother died from Mage Sickness,” she said softly, and Faylinn cupped the girl’s head.
“I’m so sorry, Asha.” And you could tell that she truly meant those words.
“If I can help, I’d like to. Plus, it would be an honor to say that the Bondsmith needed me.” Asha said the last part with a grin.
“I’m not the Bondsmith,” Faylinn grumbled as she readied her tools. “With any new rune, I’m not fully sure of the side effects if it works, and I’m not sure what’ll happen if it doesn’t work. Are you okay with that?”
Asha simply nodded her head.
“What are you going to do?”
Faylinn gestured for her to crawl into the bed next to Ben as she pulled the covers back from her lover.
“I’m going to Bond you to him,” she said simply.
My blood ran cold.
Chapter 56
Faylinn
Icouldn’t look at Rohak, certain that pain, betrayal, and anger would be clearly written on his face.
He hadjustdivulged secrets that no one else, apart from Lord d’Refan, knew.
And here I was turning around and throwing that back in his face by forcing a Bond between Ben and Asha. An unwilling Bond, something that went completely against his morals and beliefs. And if this truly did work—if this was the answer to Mage Sickness—then a lot more of these Bonds would be performed in the future.
By me.
I gulped at the thought. I don’t think Rohak would have as big of an issue with this occurring if it were someone else performing the ceremony. After all, the majority of his Mages had Forced Bonds with their Vessels.
But because it’s me, because he advocated for me to come here, because we work so closely together, because he told me his secrets, because there issomethingbetween us, I’m certain he’s feeling betrayed.
One quick glance out of the corner of my eye was all it took to confirm my worst fears. Guilt gnawed at my gut, my stomach flopping at the look of torture and disgust that marred Rohak’s beautiful face. He wasn’t even trying to hide it.
My hands shook as I helped Asha climb into the bed next to Ben. I took a deep breath, forcing thoughts of Rohak and his disappointment out before beginning the ritual. If I let those thoughts fester, if that was my focus, I could very easily inscribe the wrong rune or say the wrong phrase, ending in dire consequences for all parties involved.
“What will it feel like?” Asha’s sweet but timid voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I focused my mind and eyes back on the task at hand.
Right. Bonding. Ben and . . . Asha. With runes I’ve never used before and a ritual I’ve never performed.
