Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
LYVIA
To worlds unknown and the promise of home.
– Eghan Family Stone.
Lyvia – Ayla, Lotrennia
Asmall squad of War Slayers maintained a healthy distance behind Bayne, their black paint stark against the rays that emanated from the elven king. Bayne’s emerald eyes cut over me, lingering on my disheveled hair.
“I can see you’re taking your role as the Bonder seriously,” he murmured.
I leashed the urge to snap back with a fuck-you.
“How can I help you, Your Majesty?” I asked sweetly, tucking the thin robe tightly around my chest.
“Last night did not go well,” he continued, crossing his arms. “I spoke with Isla this morning.” Bayne paused, something like irritation flickering across his face, and a brief wave of amusement rushed over me as I imagined the lecture he must have received from her.
“I am willing to let you harvest the leaves from the Living Library, but Antares needs some convincing. An act of good faith would be appreciated, especially given the news about Carina.”
My face fell, and my heart threatened to jump up my throat.
“What happened to Carina?” I asked quickly, the words escaping in a rushed jumble.
Bayne’s features softened, and his lips parted before he relayed all that had transpired on Kayj in the last few months in his composed, calm confidence.
The skin of my eyelids prickled and burned as I blinked rapidly.
I looked like hell, I knew, after the hours of tears that had followed.
My eyes felt dry, like autumn had arrived early.
The knots in my stomach had yet to loosen since we’d learned of the princess’s death.
Carina, my ally, my bookish, fierce friend, was dead at the hands of Ganmira and Renova, the Embodied who searched the realm for me.
Kellan appeared right when I needed him, and I’d backed into his hard body as the words left Bayne’s lips.
A numbness quickly spread from the tips of my fingers.
Though Bayne’s composure never faltered, I caught the shuddering of his eyes as he told me of his cousin’s death.
He left after the first sob climbed up my throat.
My face had buried into Kellan’s chest for the remainder of the afternoon as I let myself deflate in grief.
A tight, unbearable vice of guilt wrapped itself around my chest, adding to the edgy anxiety fueling the tapping of my fingers against my thigh where we now stood in a small clearing in the woods.
Our group waited a distance from where Queen Antares and Kellan stood. Kellan’s tanned arms were crossed as he spoke with the queen, her low-cut, teal gown showcasing the tops of her rounded breasts.
My gaze hopped to Khato, the ancient master of spells, as he approached. His gray hair swayed in the slight breeze snaking through the trees and ferns. His dark skin cracked as he smiled.
“Welcome back, Bonder,” he said quietly as he reached me, his tawny eyes soft.
I nodded in respect, and my brows tilted upward as I recalled our last conversation together.
He’d instructed me in secret to go to the Waters of Ascendiel, in hopes I might identify the soulbinding thread between myself and Bayne.
I waited for the quiet ache of the events that followed, but it didn’t arrive.
My eyes drifted back to the queen and Kellan in the distance.
“He didn’t believe me,” I said after a moment. “But thank you, nonetheless.”
Khato grunted his soft acknowledgment.
“It appears it wasn’t meant to be,” he replied quietly. “I trust the trip into the Waters was a success either way. It appears it led you to where you need to be. And you’ve at last discovered what binds the light and the dark.”
I allowed a soft smile as I nodded and turned to him. His bristly gray brows narrowed as he surveyed me.
“Threadsight is a powerful gift, Lyvia,” he murmured as he stared at the queen in the distance. “Take caution. Every glimpse into the secrets of the universe comes at a price.”
I frowned.
“Is my ability threadsight, or is it something else?” I asked, shaking my head slightly.
The master of spells cocked his head. “I’m not entirely sure,” he replied. “But you’ve been gifted glimpses a few times now, and it seems to have led you to your fate, even if it took you over some broken roads and impassible mountains.”
I followed his gaze as it landed on Kellan, the breeze carrying his cedar and leather scent across the valley to me. I cleared my throat and nodded.
“Yes. His power will end all or bless all,” I agreed, thinking of Ursa’s words. “I choose to believe the latter. We need him.”
Khato shifted next to me, and I turned my gaze back to him. His mouth fell open, and his bristly gray brows narrowed in thought.
“I suppose we will find out, won’t we? Though I don’t think it was a Lotrennian prophecy that led you to him.”
I paused, my brows narrowing. “Lotrennian prophecy?” I clarified, and he nodded.
Then I replayed the rest of his words. “Wait, do you know what led me to him?”
Khato’s dry lips tilted up in a soft grin, and he gave a schoolboy shrug of his hunched shoulders as he turned back to where Kellan stood with the queen.
I tilted my head as I turned his words over in my mind. A surge of certainty washed over me as realization hit, and that daring, silver-braided thread flared to life.
My throat bobbed, and I turned back to Khato. His lips tilted as he gave my arm a soft pat before joining Isla and Drystan as they approached. My heart began a steady gallop as my gaze snapped back to the man anchored to the other end of that thread.
Kellan held his hand out to the queen. Oh gods. A hazy sort of mirage ebbed against my memories. I had been here before. The man I loved was about to give a bit of himself to the queen of Lotrennia.
The queen’s gown swished in the distance as she took a step forward, reaching a thin arm toward the pirate lord.
My pirate lord.
My heart hammered against my ribs, and my legs began to move on their own accord. Queen Antares’s hand clasped onto Kellan’s, their fingers twining. My pulse banged against my neck, and I leaned into the sensation that I’d felt multiple times now… The tug.
I pulled desperately on that daring, braided thread as the queen’s head fell back, her flowing, golden hair sparkling against the Lotrennian sunshine. Her sky-blue eyes rolled back as Kellan transferred his power, the queen’s lips parting in apparent ecstasy.
My grip on the thread wavered, and Kellan’s face snapped in my direction as my feet slowed. My breath hollowed out in a frozen panic. A quiet recognition flickered across his face, and he blinked slowly, still grasping Antares’s hand.
The queen straightened, mouth parted as she stared at Kellan, her sharp fingernails digging into the top of his hand. She said something, but the wind whipped the words away from my elven ears. A demand, by the way her eyes bore into him with wild, lusty greed.
Kellan’s lips stretched into a dangerous smile, his brows narrowing as his lips moved in response. His fingers tightened on her grip, and the queen’s brows rose. Her face morphed from a covetous craving to a furious panic.
Her lips turned down, and her blue eyes widened as she tugged on her hand.
Kellan maintained his grip as he spoke to her, the words too quiet, too dangerous to be heard.
Queen Antares’s chest expanded as she took a panicked breath.
The color drained from her face as she snapped her gaze to where Bayne and the War Slayers stood in the distance.
The squad converged, moving quickly across the clearing, but Kellan dropped her hand. The queen staggered backward, barely catching herself as she put distance between herself and the Conduit.
Kellan’s hand dropped to his side, but he kept his eyes on the retreating queen as she backpedaled and finally turned, fleeing from the grassy field without a look at Bayne or the others.
Kellan turned toward me as I reached him. My heart hammered in my chest at the fear I’d felt, the risk of losing him to her after the sudden realization of what linked the two of us.
“The Living Library is yours.” He smirked.
“What did you give her in return?” I asked, the question leaving my lips before my throat clogged. “Did you promise her anything?”
“She wished to experience my power,” he replied, shrugging. “You said she was power hungry. You were right.”
He reached for my arm, squeezing gently, a reassuring smile gracing his lips.
“I let her experience what I can do,” he continued, his head bent over my face as he moved closer. “I let her experience all of it. I showed her what would happen if she did not allow us to defend the realm and if she ever laid a hand on you or Tiberius again.”
I blinked.
“You pulled power from her?” I replied, my eyes darting between his.
A dangerous smile slipped across his face as his eyes darkened.
“You began to… to drain her?” I shook my head slowly, “I hadn’t realized—”
“I don’t do it very often,” he murmured, glancing around the valley and scanning the crowd watching us. “But I can do it.”
“You did it for me,” I realized, my brows furrowing, “when I was about to…explode on the Hydra last year.”
Kellan nodded, a rumbling mm-hmm rolling up his throat. “I thought it best to keep my ship floating,” he whispered. “And I thought I’d like to feel your hand in mine.”
I blew out a breath, the relief in my chest palpable.
“But you didn’t realize we had a deeper connection until later in Aedrialis,” I wondered aloud, shaking my head.
He nodded. “No,” he confirmed. “I suppose it has something to do with giving some of myself, versus taking something for myself.”
He shrugged, and then his brows narrowed. “Why were you so worried? Did you think I’d promise her something?”
My throat bobbed, and I shook my head. “She has a way of sinking her claws into people,” I muttered.
Kellan pursed his lips and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m not leaving you,” he replied into my hair.
I closed my eyes as the words found their mark.
“I have something I need to tell you,” I said, my voice coming out quieter than intended.
Kellan’s chin rested on the top of my head as he waited, but nerves fluttered wildly in my chest, smothering the forming words. What would he say? Did it even matter if I had the ability to break a bond like that? Would he believe me?
A summer breeze floated through the surrounding trees, clearing a loose strand of hair and brushing away the question as soon as it had formed. Of course, he would.
He was Kellan. And he was mine. My powers hummed encouragingly in my chest as the rest of our group departed.
“When you’re ready,” he said quietly, pulling away and sliding his hand into mine.
I heaved a breath and opened my lips when a set of glowing, golden eyes blinked in the shadowed forest.
Kellan froze as he turned, and a large form took shape in the shadows. His hand slowly moved to the dagger at his belt.
“Wait,” I breathed, drifting my fingers to the top of his hand.
The golden eyes blinked once, and the creature’s massive head dipped, swooping its large snout to the side, as if scenting the air. My heart beat in awe as a light-brown wolf crept through the shadows and into the light of the large clearing.
My breathing had stopped, and I took a tentative step toward the Lotrennian wolf, the guardian of the Land of Light and Life. I slowly dropped a knee to the long grass and stretched my hand out.
The golden eyes darted between Kellan and me, wary, yet curious. Large paws padded slowly across the grass, and I opened the casting connection to Tiberius. My caeluma blinked his eyes open behind my own, and the wolf paused, cocking its big head.
A soft whine escaped its maw, and she stretched her neck out, her wide, wet nose brushing against the tips of my fingers. A howl echoed in the distance, and the wolf spooked, her hackles rising in a long line of fur before she darted from the clearing.