He watched her. “You’ve met him before.”
She had met Henry a handful of times, and each had been uninspiring. Conversation did not come easily. He was far more interested in his books – to be expected, she supposed, of a Caldris.
“I remember. He’s kind.”
“Then you’ve no reason to object,” Alaric said.
“I didn’t say I objected. I said he was kind.” Her father made to speak, but Kara cut across him. “Is this necessary, Father? Really?”
His expression didn’t shift. “Yes.”
That one word landed like a sword above her head. “But whythismatch? Why won’t you let me choose for myself?”
Alaric frowned. “Because you are to stand with a House that shares our values. Caldris will preserve our legacy, and quiet any who may doubt your readiness for Hale’s seat when the time comes.”
“There’s still time. It doesn’t have to benow,I could–”
“You are entering your twenty-fifth year, Karalynna. And the only heir to our House. It is expected. Hale must endure.”
His words were cool and certain. Fact, not cruelty. The only heir. She’d heard this many times. Her parents had tried for years to conceive a child, and had suffered many losses. No magic could help them. Kara had been their only babe carried to term.
“I’ve trained for seven years. I’ve poured myself into healing, into service. And now you want me to smile and link arms with a man I barely know, a man whom I don’t love–”
“Yes. I do.” His voice rang with finality.
Kara exhaled sharply. That was it. Her life decided.
“You will do your duty. As we do ours,” he commanded.
“What if I want more than duty, Father? Someone who loves me for me, not my title? Something that’sreal.”
He didn’t answer straight away, but busied himself lighting candles against the fading light. Their flames illuminated her father’s lined face, his cropped, greying dark hair. He looked older than she had ever seen him.
At last, he said, “Your duty is more important than what you want. Henry will treat you well. He is Lord Galen’s son. Trustworthy. Respectful. That is enough.”
She stared at him, and saw the truth of it. How simple it was to her father. He actually thought he was being kind to her.
“And what of Soulbonding?” she blurted. “Love has to be real for that.”
He whipped his head towards her. “Only lovesick fools choose to Soulbond,” he snapped. “Those who believe the ridiculous ballads. They end in ruin. Since the War, they’re rarer than emberstone. Most people have more sense than to–”
“I would like the chance to decide for myself.”
Anger flashed over her father’s face. “People speak of Soulbonding as if it’s romantic. It is not. You don’t share your life – you surrender it. And if they die... you spend the rest of your days with half a soul, ruined. A wound no healer can reach.” He hesitated a moment before saying, “You don’t survive it.”
Kara stood. “How exactly would you know?”
Something raw crossed her father’s face, and his fists clenched at his sides. Without warning, Alaric crossed the room and seized Kara’s arms, his fingers digging into her skin hard enough to bruise. She gasped, tried to pull away. His grip tightened like Durent iron.
“Foolish girl. I have seen what it does to a person,” he hissed, shaking her, his face inches from hers. “I won’t lose you the way I lost–”
He cut himself off mid-sentence, looking stricken – clearly wishing he could swallow the words down.
Who? Who did he lose?
She didn’t dare ask, not when he looked like that. Through her Lyran magic she felt his rage, burning red-hot and wild. There was an undercurrent of fear too, and something older, something buried – grief.
She had pushed too far.
