Chapter 7 #2
I exhaled slowly and forced the magic back down, shoving it deep into myself. My mouth had gone dry. “I know.” But still my hands shook.
He pressed his palms over his eyes. I clenched my teeth, trying to think through the chaos in my head. Through everything that had happened. My vision blurred at the edges, my throat tightening as shame burned hot beneath my skin.
“When the Moiraithe freed him…” I said uncertainly.
Aedric peered at me through his fingers.
“I felt something,” I went on weakly. “A… pull.” I pressed my fingers to the soft place beneath my ribcage, where my magic always gathered strongest. “Right here.”
He nodded once. The bond.
We stared at each other across the room. He felt unbearably distant. Miles away. Oceans.
“I don’t want it, Aedric.”
“I know.”
“How do I break it?”
He closed his eyes for a long moment, as though bracing himself. When he opened them again, the sorrow in his blue stare was so raw it made me want to claw my chest open.
“You don’t.”
I sank onto the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands. “This can’t be happening.”
He crossed the room toward me. I heard his footsteps on the plush carpet before I felt the towel settle over my shoulders. I looked up at him, drawing it closed around myself.
He sat beside me. Not too close. A careful distance. His gaze stayed fixed ahead, his posture rigid.
“It’s not your fault,” he said, though bitterness edged every word. “It’s your nature. Eidrae can bond with multiple partners. I knew that.” His shoulders sagged. “I just hoped this time…”
“This time what?” I whispered.
He looked at me again and offered a weak imitation of a smile. “I hoped your magic would think I was enough.”
Something shattered in my chest.
“Oh, Aedric.” Tears burned behind my eyes. “You’re more than enough. You’re everything.”
He nodded slowly but didn’t respond.
“Does…” I hesitated. “Does Rìan know?”
“Undoubtedly.” His brow creased. “If he didn’t before, he would have known the moment you siphoned from him.”
“I… don’t understand siphoning.”
“The bond tethers your magic to your ma—” He stopped himself short, mouth tightening.
I knew what he’d been about to say. Mate.
“To the other’s magic,” he said instead.
“It’s possible to pull on that tether. To draw the other’s magic into yourself and strengthen yours.
In your case, you used his to heal. Something that should have been impossible on your own.
” He barked a humorless laugh. “I suppose I should thank him. Without it, you would never have survived.”
“Aedric,” Fear slid through me like ice water. “What does that mean for me? For the last Eidra to be tethered to a Dreamwalker?”
Aedric’s head snapped up. For the first time since I'd known him, the unflinching certainty he always carried was gone. In its place was fear.
“No one can know about this.” He reached for my hand, gripping it so tightly it bordered on pain. “If the Full Circle learns you're bonded to Rìan… not even I will be able to protect you. Do you understand?”
I nodded, my heart sinking. Just when it had seemed things might somehow work themselves out between us, that we might find our way back to what we'd been, the worst possible thing had happened.
“Aedric,” I whispered. “What are we going to do?”
He stiffened. “The last time my mate bonded another, I killed him.” His lip curled into a feral sneer. “I'd be more than happy to do it again.”
I pulled the towel tighter around me.
“He won't dare enter your mind again. Your magic knows the shape of his now. It’s siphoned from him once already. It won't forget.”
“He can’t… dreamwalk with me anymore?”
Aedric gave a grim nod. “Not without risking another siphoning. He won't make that mistake twice. But he may still seek you out.”
Or summon me, I thought, a chill running through me.
That was what he'd said in the in-between realm of the Moiraithe, when he'd tricked me into that bargain.
He'd promised to call on me when it suited his vengeance against Elantis.
My life in exchange for his help fighting the enemy.
I'd thought he'd meant Tharnyx, not his enemy—the Fae.
This was far worse than Aedric could ever know.
Not only had I sold myself to a monster, but my magic had bound itself to his. Siphoning or not, the Dark Prince was likely gleeful wherever he was. I was the most dangerous weapon in the world. And I belonged to him.
“Are you all right?” Aedric asked. The gentleness in his voice caught me off guard. It was careful, restrained, but closer to the warmth he usually gave me freely.
“I’m sorry,” I said, the words tumbling out. “I should have told you.”
He exhaled slowly. “No more secrets.”
“No more secrets,” I echoed.
He turned to Hamish, who still stood motionless by the door.
“What do you need, my Lord?” Hamish asked, his deep voice steady as he sensed a command coming.
“Two things.” Aedric raised a finger. “Send word to Levinica. Her wards are to be strengthened immediately. Rìan will undoubtedly seek refuge in the Dusklands, where his power is strongest.”
Ice speared through me.
“And the second thing?” Hamish asked.
Aedric rose and crossed to him, placing a hand on the big male’s arm. His expression hardened, intensity sharpening every line of his face. “No one must know about the siphoning,” he said meaningfully. “No one. Do you understand?”
Hamish dipped his head. For a moment, I thought I saw something flicker across his rugged features. Dismay. His hand twitched once more near the knife at his belt. “Perfectly.”
An overwhelming sense of dread spread through me as he turned and left, silent as a shadow despite his size.
“He’s going to kill her, isn’t he?” My voice shook. I couldn’t stop it.
Aedric’s back was to me. He didn’t answer.
“The healer,” I clarified, panic tightening my chest. I prayed I was wrong. Prayed he would turn back with that easy, mocking smirk and tell me my imagination was running wild. That I was overreacting.
He looked at me then, and his face was a cold mask of focus.
My stomach lurched.
“No, Aedric! No—you can’t!” I rushed toward him, grabbing his forearm. The towel slipped loose again as I tugged at him, but he was immovable. Solid as stone. “Stop him! Take it back!” Tears spilled freely, hot and uncontrolled. “The wounded need her. Please, Aedric! Please!”
He cupped my face in both hands, his grip firm, anchoring. “If this gets out, you’re dead.” He gave a small shake, just enough to still me. “I’m sorry, El. But it must be done. I have to choose. Her life, or yours.” His eyes held mine. “Guess which one I pick.”
He released me.
I stumbled back, folding my arms around myself, shaking.
Would this nightmare ever end?
“Rest,” he said evenly. “Compose yourself. I’ll call on you in a few hours. We’ll practise your magic.”
He opened the door.
“Aedric,” I called after him.
He paused.
“Is that what happened to the owner of the Thistle and Thorn?” The words tore free of the barb-filled pit in my chest where doubt had taken root.
I’d denied it for so long. Told myself the shop had closed for innocent reasons.
But I’d seen the haunted look in the baker’s eyes when I asked what happened to the apothecary.
I had known then, even if I’d refused to accept it.
“Did you send Hamish to dispatch him as well?”
He turned just enough for me to see his profile, sharp against the glow of the torches. He bit his bottom lip. For a brief second, something like hesitation crossed his face.
Then it was gone.
“I don’t know anything about that,” he said.
The lie struck me like a blade.
He did know. The cold calculation beneath his words was subtle but unmistakable. The little shopkeeper had given me the bath orb. The one that made me see the truth about my mother, about how Aedric had kept her. I’d trusted him with that knowledge. Told him everything.
And the next time I’d ventured into the city, the apothecary had been boarded up and empty.
“Gods, Aedric,” I sobbed. “What lengths will you go to, to hide the truth?”
He paused, then exhaled slowly. “Whatever lengths are necessary.”
And then he left me there.
Alone.