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Hugo laughed. “I know you won’t believe it, but it was actually Lyric who first bested him. No magic involved, just a wooden training weapon. You should have been there. It was glorious.”
My inner witch sneered, foaming at the mouth with jealousy. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples.Get control of yourself, witch.
Father laughed outright, ignorant to my internal struggle. “Good for her. Now the pompous ass has been bested by not one buttwonon-Shadows, both young and female, I might add. Glorious, indeed.”
While the healer and my father laughed and made jokes I didn’t understand about the male on the ground, I paid close attention to the drawing force between us. Calling upon my witch’s eye, I explored his form, only partially hidden by Hugo.
Casimir was a large male. Even lying down I could tell he was extremely tall. Dark clothing stretched over defined muscles. A hint of a tattoo peeked out from the neck of his shirt. His short silver hair was dark, much darker than Hugo’s.
When I noticed the fine ethereal thread connecting us, I didn’t react. I merely stared at the flaxen string, watching the glimmering light travel rhythmically back and forth from my chest to his.
I felt no surprise in what I was seeing. Some part of me, the deepest core of my spirit, must have been whispering the truth and I was too messed up to consciously process the message.
On the other hand, it was also possible my lack of reaction was because I had been made insane courtesy of prolonged torture. I didn’t believe so, but I doubted those who’d gone mad ever thought of themselves as anything but sane.
Breathe, Raven.
The temptation to tug on that thread, to test and reinforce the fledgling bond, was too great. The last thing I needed was to start emitting pheromones in front of my father and Hugo. I might have preferred being whipped.
Oddly, I wasn’t at all tempted to sever it. Aside from my father, no one knew I had this ability, one I’d discovered by accident. I’d always thought I’d use it when necessary, but over the years I’d found that many soulbonded couples simply didn’t want to live without their mate.
Fate or destiny or some tricky god or goddess had deemed it a good idea for me to have a few strange abilities—abilities I’d often wished I could return. Severing a mating bond wouldn’t kill anyone, but it would save a mate if the other died.
I wasn’t in a rational frame of mind to make such a life-altering decision, to disconnect myself from my fated mate. I needed a little time to think. As subtly as I could, I coated the fibers in a spell, subduing the link. Then, out of habit, I reinforced the spell I used to hide my magic from others.
My father’s shoulders stiffened and he turned to inspect my face. He wasn’t a witch, so he couldn’t see the strands that connected beings to others, but he likely sensed I’d done something with my powers.
I shut down that part of me, putting my witch’s eye to sleep. The golden strand disappeared from sight. I wasn’t ready to deal with the implications of that link. Not yet.
Father looked at me questioningly. Unprepared to answer his silent inquiry, I closed my eyes. I needed a minute, which was probably more than he’d give.
‡ ‡ ‡
“Out with it,” Father ordered.
So much for our happy little family reunion. I cleared my throat, glancing at Kol from my seat on the bed.
Father, who stood leaning against the wall, shook his head. “Oh, no. Too late, Raven. Kol’s knee deep in it already and I won’t insult him by treating him like a child. I’d never have gotten you out of there without his help.”
Anyone else might have laughed at the absurdity of treating a child as anything other than a child. Kol was only twelve, afterall. But Brokk Ulrik had rarely treated us like children.
Even when Kol was an infant and Mother was long gone, he spoke to us like adults. It was a running joke amongst his coterie of maverick mariners that Kol and I were The Navita’s hired crew members, not his offspring.
Not that he wasn’t ever affectionate. He was. He was just different in his parenting than what I’d seen from other fae. Never babying us. Never coddling or soft—and we were more than okay with that.
Kol shifted, crossing his arms with an annoyed harrumph. His chair was right next to my spot on the small bed, so close I could feel his disapproval. This private room above the infirmary where I’d been treated was too small for my liking.
“Is it safe to speak freely here?” I asked.
“It is.”
I knew Father had strong ties to Draven and a handful of other Shadow demons. I didn’t know all the sordid details of their history, but he’d more than once told me Embour was a safe place and if I ever ran into serious trouble and he wasn’t around, I could seek help from the Shadow Lord.
Trouble?my inner witch laughed.Ha! Such a tame word for the shitstorm you’ve created.
“And start from the beginning. From the day you left Terek and decided to deviate from the plan.”
“Very well,” I ceded, explaining quickly and succinctly.
