Page 78 of A Treason of Thorns

“Heartstone?”

Wyn straightens up and when I glance over at him, fear slams through me with a hideous jolt. Because where his expression and his eyes were his own before, now something indefinable in them has changed, and I know, just as I did after he worked House magic, that Wyn has gone from his body. This time, though, he hasn’t left it empty. There’ssomethingin his place.

“Bring us the stone,” a gravelly voice says, and I shudder, hearing it come from Wyn’s mouth. It’s like rock scraping against rock, and sets my teeth on edge. “Lay it on our doorstep and never come back, and because we have loved you, we will let you leave with your life.”

“... Burleigh?” I ask, forcing my fear down, as I’ve grown so used to doing. “Is that you?”

The thing that is no longer Wyn says nothing, just stares at me with opaque grey eyes.

“Burleigh, you know me,” I tell the creature. “I can’t just leave the stone, because if I do, you won’t really be free. The binding hasto be undone with blood and mortar, at your heart, just as it was made.”

“We willneverlet another person set their blood into our mortar again,” the creature says fiercely. “Not after being bound against our will so many times. Neither will we show you our hidden heart. We will take back what is ours for one shining moment, and break our binding, and die in power as we once lived.”

“Think of the West Country,” I beg. “You will ruin it if you stay this course. But I can make you whole, Burleigh, truly whole, and undo the wrong you’ve suffered. I would do that and more for you. Surely you know I would, my love.”

The old endearment comes out forced and unnatural, though, because with Burleigh speaking through Wyn’s body, all I feel is fear, and underneath it, something terribly akin to loathing. I have loved my House long and well, and I loved my father in spite of his stern ways. But to find that both of them have used Wyn as a pawn in this dangerous game is almost more than I can bear, because as much as I loved them, I love him, too.

“Would you, little girl?” Burleigh grates, and Wyn’s cold hand rises to brush a finger against my jaw. I shiver, and try not to pull away. “Would you really? Don’t you think after all these years, all these lives, we can look through those who dwell within our walls and see the truth in their hearts? You are no Caretaker. Your heart is divided. Would you truly unbind us, or use the power in our broken piece to unbindhiminstead? To force us to restore him?”

I take absolute care to ensure my face stays immobile, my hands motionless on my lap. It hadn’t occurred to me that I might use blood and mortar and the heartstone to unbind Wyn, rather than the House.

But Burleigh leans closer to me and lets out a sigh like the rattling of small stones. “We see the war within you. The very blood in your veins is singing to us, and do you know what it says?Treacherous. Treacherous. False.”

I look at the creature before me, at Burleigh House wearing Wyn’s body like an ill-fitting cloak, and all the distaste I feel fades to sorrow.

“Burleigh,” I say. “You are vaster and older and more powerful than I will ever be, but I am still more than the sum of my parts. I contain multitudes, and I can fight for both you and Wyn. Remember that, when I unbind you—that I’ve been faithful, when you thought the worst. And I hope and pray that if Wyn’s fate is tied to yours, freeing you will free him as well.”

“He’s ours,” Burleigh rasps. “His blood willingly given, his bones willingly bound.”

“He’s not yours,” I tell Burleigh. “He doesn’t belong to anyone but his own self. And so long as there’s one bit of him left, I will call him back and he will answer.”

Swallowing the revulsion I feel with Burleigh’s eyes locked on mine, I turn toward what should be Wyn, and take his face in both my hands. Pressing my forehead to his, I shut my eyes.

“Haelwyn of Taunton,” I whisper. “Wherever you’ve gone, come back. I need you.”

For a long time, nothing happens. The smell of cold stone is so strong, I think I might choke, and the ground rumbles beneath me, unsettled by my touch. The creature that is speaking for bitter, broken Burleigh makes an eerie noise, halfway between a hum and an avalanche.

But I don’t let go, and I don’t open my eyes until finally...

“Violet?” Wyn’s voice says.

A small sound of anguish and relief escapes me, and I throw my arms around Wyn.

“I’m sorry, Vi,” he says, and his arms are around me, too. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to go away, or to frighten you. It’s just harder to hold on to myself now.”

“No,” I tell him. “You have no reason to apologize.”

Brushing his untidy hair aside, I press a kiss to his forehead, and where my lips touch Wyn’s skin, it warms, ever so slightly. He raises his head to look at me and our eyes meet, and he’sthere, the boy I know, fully present, with something in his gaze I’ve never seen before. But it must be in my eyes as well, that desperate longing I see in him, because all at once his mouth is on mine, or mine is on his—I don’t know who began it. His lips part and mine eagerly follow, and it is intoxicating, feeling warmth spread through him again beneath my touch. I would give him all my heat, all my fire and determination and will, if it would only banish the mortar from his blood and the magic from his bones.

“I hate this,” I tell Wyn when we stop. “I hate all of it. Why couldn’t we have been born anywhere else? Why couldn’t we have just been ordinary?”

For a moment, I’m afraid Burleigh will take hold of him again, to chastise me for unfaithfulness to my calling.

“This is what we’re for, Violet,” Wyn says, and there’s a note of resignation in his voice that cuts me to the quick. “You’re for the House, and I’m for you. I’ve known it since the first day I came here, though I didn’t know that it would end like this. And maybe I wanted things to be different once, but now Burleigh won’t let mefinish the task I’m meant for andthat’swhat I hate.”

“What if we don’t have to be who we were told to become?” I ask. “What if I don’t want to put the House first always? What if... what if I want to put you first instead?”

I think of what Burleigh told me: that my heart is divided. That I will play my House false. And I’m honestly not sure what I’ll do if I’m finally forced to choose between Burleigh and Wyn. All I do know that is that no one has ever unbound a Great House before, but I think it is my only chance to keep both my home and my heart intact.