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Chapter30
Ember
The world around us is quiet save for the cracking fire between us. Heelean and Fin left hours ago in search of food, something they told us would take quite a while since they had to re-route multiple times like we did to keep from being followed.
Rafferty hasn’t spoken a single word since they left, not that I’ve been overly chatty. Mainly because I fear what he will say when he does finally speak. Is it possible that my disease is back? That it’s simply chosen a different way to kill me?
Or something else entirely?
“Why didn’t you tell them about the ceremony?”
His gaze rapidly meets mine. “You cannot mention that.”
“Why?”
Rafferty doesn’t reply, just stares back down at the twig in his hands.
“Rafferty. Raffe.”
He looks at me now. “You are dying.”
“No shit, Sherlock. Tell me something I don’t know.”
My Sherlock joke doesn’t land, and his expression darkens. “You cannot talk about yourself so callously. I’m not speaking of your disease, Ember.”
“Then what?”
Rafferty stands and crosses the space between us. He reaches down. “Come with me.”
I do without hesitation, letting him lead me farther into the trees and farther away from the fire. “Are you planning on killing me? Is that what this is about?”
“Never.”
“Then what the hell are you doing?” I stop and rip my arm from his grasp. “Tell me what’s going on.”
His gaze drops down. Then he swallows hard before meeting my gaze again. “That ceremony with Taranus bound you to him.”
“What?” I choke out the word, really hoping like hell it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Because it sounds pretty fucking terrible.
“I had hoped that since you weren’t speaking the words yourself—that Lloren had forced you—it meant the binding didn’t work.”
“What the hell do you mean, Raffe!” I yell, rushing toward him.
“You cannot tell anyone about it because, should you do so, you will be hunted by every single fae in this world.”
I step back—shock, fear, anger—all the emotions crash into me. “But I’m not his mate—not really.”
“You are not fae,” he explains. “Typically, when a fae marries a human, they turn them into a fae that same night to avoid their magic pulling from an empty vat.”
I shut my eyes and shake my head, rejecting everything he’s saying. “No. It’s my disease. That’s what’s happening.”
“Taranus is draining you, though not on purpose. Unless you complete the union and seal with another blood exchange, you will die.”
“You said only a mate will die if their mate is gone.”
“For fae, yes. But you, Ember, are not fae.”
