There’s a thick rug, red and gold patterned on the hardwood floor, and the furniture is sumptuous and tasteful. The fireplace is made of marble and I see myself in the massive mirror that hangs over it. The mirror shows me looking disheveled and rumpled, the bed sheets and blankets a tangle around me. It also shows that I’m alone but I wouldn’t need to look at the mirror to know that. Jaak’s absence leaves a vacuum in the room.
I wonder where he’s gone. I start to scoot to the edge of the bed when my eyes catch on the polished dark wood of the headboard. There’s carvings in the dark wood and I lean in and lift a finger to trace one. They look like runes, at least I think they do. Sunday showed me some once but I wasn’t paying a ton of attention. She said they helped enhance her magic. I tap the rune with a sigh.
“Next time take notes,” I tell myself. Past Meadow really didn’t do us any favors, but to be fair who would have thought they’d get transformed into a witch with no say so?
Probably the same people who get sacrificed twice.
“My luck sucks. 10 out of 10 do not recommend.” I shove the blankets off of me, scoot to the end of the bed and hop out. “Jaak?” I call out. There’s no answer. But sometimes no answer is a good answer, right?
Maybe he’s outside with the wards. I pad to the window to look outside and scan the yard but there’s no sign of the big demon anywhere. I raise my hand to shield my eyes from the sunlight to get a better look at the trees when the gold around my wrist flashes.
The bond. I’d forgotten it was there.
I bring my arm down and look at my wrist while I run my fingers over it. It feels warm, steady, it’s not flickering like it was last night which feels like a good sign. If it’s a bond with Jaak, shouldn’t I be able to tell if something is wrong with him through it? I turn that idea over while I go into the bathroom and do my morning routine as best I can. I luck out and manage to find an old tube of toothpaste in a drawer. A small but mighty find. At least I won’t be hitting Jaak with my morning breath first thing.
It’s while I’m chewing on the minty fresh turquoise paste that I have an idea. Last night when Jaak pulled on the bond, I felt it. If I do it now he should feel it too, right?
I pluck the bond and wait a few seconds before I do it again. Nothing happens so I pull again and again while I walk towards the bedroom door, resigned to a morning of wandering around the house looking for Jaak. I had wanted to explore, hadn’t I?
“Looks like I’m finding him the old-fashioned way.”’ Except that when I open the door Jaak is standing there. “Oh my gods!” I scream in surprise and throw myself away from him. Somehow my feet manage to catch in the carpet and I go down hard.
“Meadow!” Jaak rushes towards me and I can hear the worry in his voice.
I wave a hand at him. “I’m fine. I promise.”
“You’re on the ground, witchling. That hardly looks fine.”
I wince when he helps me sit up and gasp when I try to move the arm that I landed on. I must have hit it the wrong way because it aches when I try to move it. “I was just surprised. I startle easily, is all.” I’m not lying. I’ve always been jumpy. My mother always said I was a “nervous child” to explain why I was so skittish to the others. Anything and everything that could make me different she explained away to keep my spot as a Blossom. It makes me sad to think how she worked so hard to send me to my death.
“You arm,” Jaak tuts and runs his hands lightly over it, “you’re hurt.”
“Only a little.” I try to raise my arm to show just how little but my plan goes awry when I yelp and pull my arm back close to me. “I think I might have bruised something, or sprained? Can you sprain an arm?”
Jaak thinks and then shrugs. “I know little about human anatomy but as a species your kind is very delicate. Your arm needs attention. Come with me and I’ll help you.”
“Okay.” I stand with Jaak, careful to keep my arm close to my body. “I-I’m sure that I just need some time for it to rest. I’ll be okay by the time we move out to go look for the head mage.”
“You won’t be,” Jaak tells me. “But that matters little. I intend to amend your delicate nature this morning.” Jaak leads me out of the bedroom and down the hall towards the stairs we took last night.
“What does that mean? Amend what? I’m not a document.”
He chuckles and pats my back. “I enjoy your humor, Meadow.”
“Thanks? I’m not trying to be funny. What do you meanamend?” I ask him. We’re walking down the stairs now and the house is stunning. Last night the moon did it no justice at all. The light pours into the foyer and gleams off the wooden banister of the stairs and the window above the door is stained glass, a red rose set in a blue background. How did I not see that before?
“I mean that having a vulnerable anchor is not ideal, even less when that anchor is my wife who I like very much and intend to keep safe from the nefarious magics in this world. Now, I spent the night and morning thinking over what to do about this situation and remembered that we have a speedy and effective solution to keeping you safe.”
“That sounds perfect. What is it?”
“You will soul-bond with me.”
“Aren’t we already bonded?” I jerk my chin at the gold circle with the chain around the wrist of my injured arm, being careful not to move it. “I pulled on that this morning to see if you would feel it.”
“We are and I did. That’s why I was at the door.”
I perk up despite my injury. “So it worked? You felt it? That’s so neat.”
“It did work, but the bond is still weak from the effort it takes to keep me anchored in this world. A soul-bond will strengthen it and make you invulnerable.”
