AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was silent for a moment and then nodded. “I will not lie to you from this day forward.”
I exhaled loudly. “Just how strange is our binding?”
“In all traditional cases, a couple must agree to exchange a plait of hair. If they are capable of having a complete bond, the bracelets will seamlessly knit close during the binding ceremony. My people usually take many, many years before they attempt it.”
His hand moved from hers and came to rest in the strands cascading from the intricate arrangement Arrein had concocted. “Most want to be as sure as possible and won’t undertake such an endeavor with someone they don’t know or care for. Many hold off for the opposite reason. They know in too many cases a binding, no matter how desired, does not happen. It’s devastating to go through the ceremony with a loved one and not be granted one’s most faithful wish.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “Is it true love in those cases, then?”
“There can be love with or without the binding. Just as there are many types of love, there are many situations in which they occur. A binding is merely a testament to a full bond being possible—that the deepest love can grow.”
Cal thought back to one particular instance. Could that moment by the waterfall have been caused by their binding? Excitement and dread coursed through her. To be connected so intimately was a frightening yet exhilarating idea. She inhaled a deep breath and cocked her head to the side. “That day by the waterfall—what was that?”
Relian glanced up from watching her hair slide through his fingers in the late afternoon sun that shone through the window. “I wondered when you would mention it.”
Cal fidgeted under his penetrating stare. His regard burned right through her. “There never seemed a good time to bring it up.”
“Indeed.” As his fingers tattooed a soothing motion on the nape of her neck, he dropped that line of questioning. “It was a moment brought about by the deepening of our link—our bond, if you will. Such incidents are quite isolated and rare during the binding stage, but not the sharing of emotion we both have felt since then.”
Her mouth went dry, and her heart thumped like the beating of a drum in the silence that followed. “I thought we weren’t bonded.”
His fingers continued their slow discovery. “No, not fully. Keep in mind, though, that anyone with a successful binding bracelet starts the process. Once you reach our stage, only the official ceremony remains, along with the consummation. Our link is as complete as it can be without total fulfillment. Already, I feel and hear you within me. I know you’ve felt it, too.” He took her right hand and rested it against his heart, the beat strong and steady underneath her fingers.
So that was what she’d felt while at the waterfall? And the other times when she just knew what he was feeling? That was an exhilarating thought wrapped up in layers of terror. It made her so vulnerable, and she’d already been pitifully vulnerable in the past.
He offered her an understanding smile. “How else do you think the consequences we’ve discussed come about? There doesn’t have to be a finished bond for us to feel the effects of our link. What happened at the waterfall was a shared experience that transmitted itself through our developing bond. The innumerable futures that played out are not set in stone and only tell an incomplete story. Events within our control—and those that aren’t—can affect them and their various outcomes. But we can choose how we’ll walk the path that lies before us and, indeed, if we’ll walk it together.”
“Uh... Okay.” His explanation kind of made sense, but it still blew her mind.
She latched onto a safer, easier thought. “Why not tell me all this from the beginning?” Cal waved a hand around, encompassing everything they’d been discussing. Why did there have to be so many secrets, ones that pertained to her? They could’ve avoided so much frustration if he and the others had simply put forth the truth. That was a concrete fact to her, one she understood.
“I wanted you to have time before the full implications were placed upon you. Then I truly forgot that you didn’t know how the bracelets arrived on our wrists.”
She scowled. “Sometimes it’s better to be aware of all the implications right from the start.”
“Sometimes,” he agreed, caressing her cheek. “I will endeavor to bring these to light in a timelier manner.”
Leaning into his touch, she sighed. “I know we don’t have to technically accept the binding, all harmful consequences aside. But our choice of free will is far different than those who willingly decide to undergo the ceremony. In our case, there was no such free will. We didn’t have any choice. It just appeared.”
He shot her a rueful smile. “I know. That was why everyone was so surprised, no one more so than me. Besides the fact you’re human, we only attempt bindings amongst the willing. The bracelets are physically placed there by the involved parties. Never before have they appeared by themselves. If a complete bond is to happen, the plait of hair will fuse together during the binding ceremony.”
“This has never happened before?” Cal’s mind struggled with that boggling fact.
“Not to our knowledge, and our memory stretches back very far.”
“So the veil orchestrated this whole situation?”
“Yes and no. The veil formed from the magic that permeates this world, and it’s this magic that makes any type of bonding possible. So while it did bring you here and place the bindings on us, it can’t force a bond where there normally wouldn’t be one.”
Cal frowned. “If magic is what controls a bonding, how do you know if free choice is possible? Maybe it just throws the people it wants together, setting them up.”
He pulled her against him until she sat in his lap, her back resting against his chest. “No, it doesn’t operate that way. It merely looks inside hearts and minds to determine compatibility and the deepness of the bond. Remember, people can bond on some level, but not every couple has a complete bond. The veil can prod but never coerce. At least not until now. I’ll admit it’s now skirting a fine line at coercion this time.”
“Why would the veil care so much in our case? According to what you’re saying, it’s never endeavored to bring a couple together this way. There has to be a reason.” She craned her neck to cast him an accusatory look. “You know, don’t you?”
He gave a grim smile. “Now you’re asking the hard questions. What’s so important that the veil would seek to meddle in our lives?” A strange expression flitted across his face. It was so subtle that if she didn’t know him as well as she did, she would’ve totally missed it.
“You found the prophecy, remember?” he asked softly.
