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“A sweaty bromance?”
“That’s worse.”
“A machomance?”
“Oh god, please stop,” he said with a laugh. “Anyway, now we have an essence bond. A conscious one.” He shook his head. “I realize now I should’ve told you earlier, but I’m still getting used to the concept, and things have been crazy since I got here.”
“Nah, it’s cool,” I said as I tried to shuffle pieces of info into a picture that made sense. Mzatal had what he called an essence bond with the reyza Gestamar, and Turek, an ancient savik, was essence-bound to Szerain. Maybe my bond with Mzatal was the same as that? Except, y’know, with sex.
The rest of Bryce’s words filtered into my brain. “You said that your bond is ‘a conscious one.’ What do you mean?”
“That’s kind of an odd story,” he said. “It didn’t start out conscious.” He ran a hand over his hair, blew out his breath. “After Paul went to Kadir, Mzatal sent me to Seretis’s realm. Considering all the shit I’d gone through with the plantation, Farouche, and everything else, I needed the mental health break and a change of scenery. For most of the first day everyone left me alone, and I wandered around or sat out on the beach. But that evening Seretis came out to talk to me and, well, we clicked.” A smile lit Bryce’s face. “We were damn near inseparable after that—like we’d known each other forever.”
I couldn’t help but echo his smile as his joy in the friendship resonated through his words. And holy shit, did he ever deserve it. Bryce had spent the last fifteen years as a reluctant hitman and muscle for Farouche—a tough and terrible life that had ripped at his essence. Though he’d committed terrible crimes while in Farouche’s service, Bryce was one of the most compassionate and empathetic people I knew. Farouche had turned a kind and caring man—who’d been training to be a veterinarian, for fuck’s sake—into his personal monster. For that alone, I was glad Farouche was dead.
“On the fourth day we were on his veranda,” Bryce continued, “and Seretis initiated a bond—and not in a figure of speech way. Spontaneous. Instinctual. It felt like a linking of minds at that stage. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I didn’t want to stop it either.” He grew serious. “Right in the middle of the process, a chunk of masonry the size of a Volkswagen fell onto the veranda not even a dozen feet behind us.”
I straightened. “To stop you from bonding?”
“That’s what I believe.” Anger and worry darkened his eyes. “Seretis didn’t think it was an accident either, and got pretty shook up.” The worry deepened. “But when he tried to figure out who might want to stop it—and why—he got a killer headache. It wouldn’t go away until he let go of thinking about it.”
“Shit,” I breathed. “When I introduced Mzatal to Jill, he connected with the baby and immediately got slammed with that same kind of headache. He told me it had happened many times before.” I already knew the demonic lords were manipulated to block awareness of their maternal human origins. Clearly there were other secrets they weren’t allowed to know. My mouth twisted as I met Bryce’s eyes. “It’s as if someone doesn’t want the lords to think about certain things.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Yeah, well, I didn’t bring up who might’ve shoved a couple of tons of masonry off the wall.”
“Can’t imagine why,” I said with a disingenuous bat of my eyelashes. “By the way, on a totally unrelated subject, what’s the name of Seretis’s ptarl? I don’t know all of the demahnk yet.”
Bryce snorted and folded his arms over his chest. “That would be Lannist.”
Yeah, he and I were on the same page. A big strong demahnk like Lannist would have no trouble pushing giant chunks of masonry around. And the Demahnk Council—or some faction of it—were my number one suspects as the source of the headaches.
“How did you end up with an essence bond if it was so rudely interrupted?” I asked.
The smile returned to his face. “Helori,” he said, referring to the demahnk who’d confirmed other sensitive info for me. “The next day he took us out to an Ekiri pavilion in the jungle. He told Seretis everything would be clearer for him there.”
That was interesting. The Ekiri race had taught the demons how to use the arcane. Though they’d abandoned the demon realm millennia ago, their stone pavilions continued to radiate potent arcane energy. Perhaps that energy mitigated the effects of the manipulation on the lords or served as a source of information? I filed that tidbit away for future reference.
“Being in the pavilion was like being in low gravity while time stood still,” Bryce continued as his gaze went distant. “I understood the bond—the commitment, and what it all meant. Seretis asked me if I wished to continue.” His smile softened. “It felt right, so I said yes.” He blinked as if coming back to himself. “I can’t begin to describe it, but I think you know what I mean.”
“I do, and I’m insanely happy for you,” I said fervently. Bryce deserved a break, and he looked more at peace than I’d ever seen him.
Idris leaned in, messenger bag slung across his chest. “You almost ready to go?” he asked Bryce.
“One minute,” Bryce said and tossed a set of keys that Idris caught easily. “You can get the AC going if you want.”
Idris departed. Bryce pushed back from the desk and grabbed a knapsack from beside his chair.
“Thanks, Kara,” he said. “Oh, and you don’t really get a weird look in your eyes.”
“Now you’re lying to me.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I am.” And with that he strode out.
I headed out to the nexus, thoughts whirling. Even when Mzatal was open, we never had the depth of communication between the two worlds that Bryce had with Seretis. Ours was a vague sense of presence—certainly not to the point of “checking in.”
Yet I found myself more perplexed than envious. As far as I knew Mzatal hadn’t “consciously” formed our bond. Was it not as complete because he’d acted through instinct? If so, what did that mean about our relationship? Bryce had entered into an essence bond without it being a partnership or sexual relationship. And, if it was the same kind of bond, how and why did Mzatal and I get away with it, yet an attempt was made to stop Seretis and Bryce?
Helori had intervened to help those two. Maybe the same had been done for us, through indirect means.
