Page 45 of A Bond So Deadly

“Fine,” she says softly. “Bind them to me, then.”

“What?” I shake my head. “I can’t do that. You can’t speak to the shadows, and they can be…a lot. No, I have to do this.”

She lets out a frustrated noise.

“Your friend is right you know,” Elgen croaks in my mind, and I snap my gaze to the left, pinpointing where my shadow friends are on the wall. They’re staring straight at us, and I wonder how long they’ve been there. “Binding us to you is a terrible idea, girl.”

“Does that mean you don’t want me to try?” I say.

“Of course not. We’d do anything to be free of this academy,” she replies. “Even if it means being bound to a human.”

I make a face. “Oh, gee thanks,” I say sarcastically.

“Don’t mistake me, girl,” Elgen counters. “I merely meant that it could not compare to having our own body, but if you bind us to you, freeing us from this academy prison, we would be most grateful. To simply be able to see the forest after all these years would be…remarkable.”

There’s something in the way she says it, that has me tearing up. When I’d been trapped as a crow before Blake found me, that was bad enough, but I can’t imagine being trapped inside a building for centuries. I know I have to do this. I just hope I don’t regret it.

“Elgen is correct. We would be truly grateful,” Tarlaz adds.

I nod, sniffling.

“Okay, well according to the text, all I have to do is say the ancient words, direct my thoughts toward the souls I want to bind with, and make sure they’re physically close to me. I take a few steps toward the shadows on the wall.

Kenzie shuffles uncomfortably. “You know if you die, your mates are going to kill me, right?”

“I’m not going to die,” I assure her. “At worst, this isn’t going to work.”

“And at best you’re going to have two of the most crude shadows in the academy hanging off you,” Kenzie counters.

Elgen cackles at that like she’s proud, and I have to admit, I start having second thoughts.

“We will be on our best behavior,” Tarlaz tells me, like he can read the doubt on my face.

I’m pretty sure he’s fibbing, but that doesn’t matter. It feels good to be able to do something, and I had promised to free them from this place. Given our current situation, this seems like the next best thing.

“Okay.” I blow out a breath. “Here goes nothing.”

It takes me three tries before I remember the passage from the journal correctly, and when I say the words out loud, power and shadows fill the air. My body tingles, and there’s a weird humming noise in my head, but then I feel it. Elgen and Tarlaz’s souls bind to mine, and the moment they do, I know I’ve made the right choice.

I’m not sure exactly why I feel that way. It’s just this sense that I’ve done the right thing. Elgen sits on my right shoulder, while Tarlaz dances on my left.

“Centuries, girl. That’s how long we were stuck in those walls,” Elgen says as she marvels at her new position, looking elated even though we’re still in the academy.

“Thank you,” Tarlaz rasps. “Without you, I fear we would have been stuck there forever.”

My lips quirk up. “Please don’t make me regret this,” I beg, but I already know that I won’t. Somehow I can feel their true essence now, and despite Elgen’s humor, at her core she’s kind, just like Tarlaz. They just needed someone to give them a helping hand.

Still, when Elgen cackles wickedly in my head, I can’t help but groan.

“Uh, Shade!” Kenzie’s warning comes too late.

My mates step from the darkness around us, and they don’t look too happy when they spot Elgen and Tarlaz on me.

“Mate,” Thane’s rumbling growl rolls through the hallway. “What have you done?” He frowns at Kenzie like he’s disappointed before looking back at me.

I keep my chin up, because they might be my mates, but this is my body.

“It seems she has acquired some new…pets,” Galen drawls, moving closer and pointing at the shadows. “Very peculiar.”