Page 8 of The Song of the Void

Nobody had ever called me that before. It was surprisingly respectful, coming from a Human. This kid’s oddly proper, country bumpkin way of speaking had me almost too stunned to remember my name. I blinked at him slowly. “It’s Zephra.”

His face was painfully bright when he grinned, so I had to darken my expression to contrast.

“Don’t tell me you’re this asshole’s boss.”

He froze, comically wide-eyed, while Rei snickered and strode past, pausing only to ruffle Ash’s hair. “Oh, he’s more than that. Introduce yourself properly, kid.”

Ash’s youthful face pulled into a grimace, and he half-heartedly swiped at Rei’s arm. The exchange between them was so relaxed and habitual, like Rei always messed with his hair, and Ash made that same attempt to swat him away every day of their lives. My eyes darted between them, trying to put together their relationship as Ash complained, “But I hate my title.”

“Well, you’re stuck with it, great and powerful one.” Rei meandered over to the worktable and dug through the unkempt piles of things there.

Ash straightened up as best he could, like a child that had gotten in trouble for slouching. “I-I’m the Timebreaker. Ashkade Synnex. Nice to meetcha.”

The room went perfectly still and almost silent, save for Rei’s laughter. The explosions at the banquet must have damaged my ears. I must have heard him wrong.

The Timebreaker was a genius, a damn war hero to the Humans. According to recent legend, he had somehow cracked the code to time magic without needing the god of time. He used it to single-handedly end the war that arose between the Druinns and Humans. The Circle of Gold kept his identity a secret, but I refused to believe that this child was the one who had shattered time across Terrakor, allowing the Humans to overrun their land while they were frozen in time. It simply wasn’t possible.

“I—no! You can’t be the Timebreaker. You’re just a kid. The war ended two years ago. You would have been, what, fifteen?”

“Fourteen.” He grimaced, then nodded back at Rei. “Since he probably didn’t introduce himself properly either, that’s Reiven Miyasagi, my, er, bodyguard.”

Why would the Timebreaker need a bodyguard?

The man in question gave us a mocking bow, and I couldn’t help but imagine a haughty raven perching on his shoulder, watching me with empty eyes. Surely there was a way to insult his stupid name. I just had to find it.

While I fumbled for the precise scathing words to hurl at him, Reiven retrieved a battle-worn cutlass—not the weapon of a noble bodyguard, I thought—from the pile of tools and flourished it as if we were boring him. He had changed his gloves while Ash and I were talking. Now he wore fingerless gloves made of sturdy, dark leather that didn’t come with Siren bite marks. “It’s hilarious to watch him try to tell people who he is. Not much to look at, is he?”

Ashkade gave a mellow nod, like he didn't want to let Reiven egg him into some kind of brotherly verbal boxing match when he should be focused on me. “I-I know I'm not all that impressive, but…” His eyes sparkled with intelligence, reflecting the sheen of gold from my choker. “I aim to help people however I can, and that includes you, ma’am. May I?” Ash gestured at the necklace. I leaned forward to let him inspect it, and it was far too strange to be close to such a young Human. Nightwhisper Lounge was for adults only, after all. Spirits, his seaglass-green eyes were so innocent when he looked back up at me after a few seconds of examining it. “Ah… Wait, I think I read about something like this.”

He whirled and shooed Reiven away from his worktable so he could dig through the various stacks of books. Muttering to himself, the younger boy seized one notebook, scrawled with terribly handwritten notes, and ran his finger down the page. A tower of books beside him toppled when he gasped and slammed his hand on the table. “This ain’t good.”

“Wh-what?” I asked.

“It’s an enchantment meant for bindin’, I think. The Druinn that put it on you intended to chain you to him…” He grimaced and hesitated, like the words burned his tongue. “It’s like a magical collar and leash of sorts.”

The boy’s words sunk in slowly, like a coin dropped in the ocean to fall all the way to the Abyssal Deep. Worse than being held behind glass walls, Shaddan intended to drag me around like a pet. Heat flushed through my body.

His pale brows knit together. “If completed properly, the enchantment shoulda forced you to stay within a certain distance from him. But you’re here.”

“I interrupted him while he was chanting, so like I told you, I think it’s fine,” Reiven said.

“You…interrupted?”

Oh, I did not like the way it seemed Ashkade was performing long division in his head as his eyes darted between us.

He pursed his lips. “Uh, I dunno how to tell y’all this…” Rather than just explaining himself outright, he reached for the collar around my neck. After waiting for me to give him a reluctant nod, Ashkade brushed his fingers against it—and that glowing golden chain once again appeared between Reiven and I, connecting the collar to the translucent shackle that materialized around his wrist. “I don’t think you just interrupted him, Rei. I think when you interfered, the enchantment redirected itself and…bound her to you.”

Silence spread as wide and deep as the ocean itself. That pull towards him I felt at the banquet returned with a frustrating insistence I refused to heed. Once the chain and shackle faded away, we finally found words and spoke in unison, glaring at Ashkade.

“Remove it!”

“I dunno if I can,” Ash said, paling when his bodyguard seized the front of his collar and shook him roughly, like a killer whale thrashing its prey to death.

“Then you’d better figure out how to. I didn’t agree to have a fucking Siren bound to me!”

I wrapped my arms around myself, scowling at the back of his head. As if I asked for any of this, to be chained to anyone. All I wanted was a quick escape and a helping of revenge. The thought of being helplessly bound to this infuriating man made the walls loom higher and closer. I raised a shaking finger and pointed at Ashkade, twisting the fear taking hold of me into a desperate accusation that probably wouldn’t help my situation at all. “This was planned, wasn’t it? Somehow you—you meant for this to happen!”

While Reiven threw a glower at me over his shoulder, I blinked and Ashkade disappeared right out of his grip. I didn’t see him move, he just…appeared on the other side of the worktable, holding a different book than he had been when I closed my eyes. My lips parted in surprise, then he disappeared for a split second and materialized right beside me, examining the Druinnic collar again.