Chapter Twelve #2
The amulet at my neck started to glow and heat just before the bright light that was my power flew out of my fingertips, breaking through Celeste’s illusion as if it were glass.
The rest of the illusion of the moving corridors and walls faded away.
I sat on the floor about twenty feet from Rowan, who was still encased in ice, while Elara glared at me from the other side of the room, a shield of crystal encasing her.
I breathed deeply, suddenly feeling weak and exhausted, as if I had run a marathon.
The muscles in my arms and hands spasmed, cramping with such intense pain that I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.
It was quiet for a few brief moments before loud clapping echoed, coming from the open chamber door.
“Well done.” Richard Gaines’ loud, booming voice echoed through the room as he bounded in, still clapping slowly. “Well done, Mari. It seems, maybe, Alaric was correct after all. There is promise in you.”
Alaric was at my side before I could blink, his green eyes searching mine as he helped me up.
“Are you okay?” he asked after pulling me to my feet.
“I think so,” I mumbled as my hand went to my necklace. “I think this helped.”
Alaric looked down, taking the amulet in his hands, hissing when it burned him slightly.
“Yeah, it has a protection ward embedded inside of it,” he nodded. “I noticed it in the library when I gave you my ring. You said it was your Nana’s?”
“Yeah, been in our family for a while.”
“And she wasn’t a Bloodwright?” His eyebrow cocked in curiosity.
“Not that I know of, no.”
“Speaking of your ring,” Richard’s voice boomed again, forcing us to break our conversation. “We need to discuss the current situation with the two of you being Twinflames and all.”
Celeste paled, her eyes growing wide with shock. “Twinflames? With her?”
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment as Alaric stood in front of me, blocking me from the others, acting as a shield.
“What did you think, Celeste? When you saw us in here training?”
“I assumed you were helping her, not mentoring her,” she screeched, her wide eyes glancing at the other Council members. “I thought her uncle was mentoring her.”
“That’s the usual order of things,” Elias mused, more to himself than to the group. “I don’t believe there has been a Twinflame bond in over 200 years. At least none other that has been recorded. Only three in our history.”
“Can someone please explain what this Twinflame bond means?” I stepped in front of Alaric, refusing to once again remain a topic of conversation instead of a participant. “So what if Alaric is my mentor? It’s not like either of us had a choice in this.”
The room fell silent, and Alaric tensed next to me as he took my hand and placed the ring back on my finger.
“Alaric had a choice,” Celeste bit back bitterly.
“Was I supposed to let her die?” His voice boomed, his question not just for Celeste but for all the Council members in the room. His father bristled, standing straighter in an attempt to meet Alaric at eye level, but Richard fell just a few inches too short.
“You know what the rules are about un-initiated Bloodwrights,” Dr. Duvall stepped in front of her niece, coming to her defense. “Either they find a way to cope and seek out their blood-related mentor, or they are cast aside.”
“I had to at least try,” Alaric reasoned. “The ring burned me until I finally gave it to her.”
“It did?” Both Elias and I asked at the same moment.
Alaric took a deep breath, glancing between the two of us, before settling his gaze on Elias. “Yeah, burned like shit. Hadn’t felt that kind of pain since I first emerged and got too close to a cemetery walking home from school.”
“Interesting,” Elias replied, stepping forward to the annoyance of Richard and Dr. Duvall as he pushed them out of the way, taking my right hand in his as he examined my hand and the ring carefully. I hissed in response, my hands and fingers still tight with pain.
“Can you please just tell me what this means?” I spoke directly to Elias, ignoring all the others, especially Alaric, who seemed just fine with keeping me in the dark. “What is this blood-binding ritual you mentioned?”
Elias’ features softened as he turned my hand over and then reached for my left arm, pushing up my long sleeve to reveal the golden sigil tattoo. I hadn’t noticed before, but it had grown; the vines stretching further down my arms to my fingers. It tingled at his touch.
“She’s been marked for death?” Elara’s shrill voice echoed. “Why is she even in here? Send her out. Let the Stonebound deal with her.”
Dr. Duvall lifted her hand in command. “The Council voted last night to let this play out.”
Elias and I ignored both of them as he took my two hands in his, looking into my eyes.
“This death mark will tear you apart even with your power emerging more and more,” he began, eyes shining. “But the Twinflame Blood Ritual will bind your soul here in your body and . . .”
“And to mine,” Alaric finished, his voice low, like he was ashamed.
I gaped at both of them, not quite processing what they were saying.
“The blood ritual will act as your full initiation,” Elias continued. “But in order for the bond between the two of you to endure, there must be a blood fusion, as the two of you are not blood-related. This will act as a tether for both of you. But it comes at a cost.”
“What cost?” I whispered, not trusting my voice.
“We’ll be bound for life,” Alaric confessed. “Your pain will be my pain, and my pain will be your pain. We’ll be connected in ways that can never be reversed.”
“Your power doesn’t just flow beside Alaric’s—it answers to it, the way flame answers to air.
Twinflames aren’t just bound, they are fused.
His fire will scorch when you bleed, your light will falter when he breaks,” Elias paused, putting my hand back in Alaric’s.
“You’re Twinflames. You are not just bonded.
You are halves of a whole—forever tethered. ”
I stood mute, the room feeling like it was closing in as Alaric squeezed my hand. I was a Bloodwright with a mentor from who I’d never escape, unless that escape was death.