Chapter 28 #2
Roark’s mouth tightened for a moment before he went on without acknowledging the truth of our intact bond. But how would she know it was possible to keep a bond with a split soul? Either way, the distrust is deeper than willingly dividing her soul bond’s soul; it is allowing him to be killed.
“But it was done so you would live. Don’t you think your father would want you to survive?”
But his mind—
I clasped his hands before he could finish his gestures. “You told me there were moments when he had a clear thought. Perhaps that night was one.”
I did not understand my defense of the queen, but I could not manage to keep my tongue still. As though some deeper piece of my soul yearned for Roark to have some…peace, some kindness left from a bloodstained past.
He let out a rough, breathy sigh and gestured slowly. The point is, I do not understand her true motivations.
I had not mentioned what I witnessed on the queen when Nivek was summoned, the web of an unbreakable bond. I did not know if I truly trusted Elisabet myself, but the words came all the same. “I do not think her bond was broken.”
Roark tilted his head. Why?
“I know you see things differently when we speak soul to soul, but I saw endless weaves of a bond across her soul, Roark. I saw it, and it looked so similar to ours.”
He rubbed the place over his brow. But she knew that to rend my soul would break my bond. That was why it was done.
I propped myself onto one elbow and studied his features. Behind the anger I could almost see a flicker of hope. “Unless she knew a different truth.”
You believe Elisabet of Dravenmoor willingly allowed me to keep a soul bond with a melder, knowing it would be considered treason? You think she has been playing a part all this time?
“Why did you not kill Thane?” I asked, my thoughts tumbling in new theories, new possibilities. “You could have taken his soul, and the ravagers would’ve ended him, but Skul Drek let him live.”
Roark winced. Nothing disturbed him more than knowing how close he’d come to killing the prince. Some of it is a blur since I was not in control entirely, but it was as though, all at once, I recognized him. My hate, my cruelty, could not take him, for he had earned none of it.
“Your mother had a great deal of control over you in those moments. True, you had regained some, but I believe she could have forced you. What if she…didn’t want you to lose another brother?”
I stopped when Thane faced me. I could feel him, sense him. Somewhere in the darkness, I managed to pull on the connection between us and stop the slaughter. The queen would have allowed him to die.
I did not know what to say to that.
Roark sat up and propped his elbows on his knees, fists in front of his mouth, considering every word. If her bond with my father is intact, I don’t know what to think anymore. She warned me, no one ever truly knows the queen’s next step.
I pressed a kiss to one of his shoulders. “Perhaps we won’t ever know her every plan. Whether she was involved in sending word of our union or not, it doesn’t matter. She wants the bones destroyed, same as us. So we must make our own moves. We’re running out of time.”
Roark peered at me. And what moves are you thinking, wife?
“If the Jorvans know of us, if Ingir is making such violent moves against us, I think we must speak to Thane. I don’t know how, but he needs to know what is going on in his own kingdom.”
Roark lifted one of my palms off his chest and kissed the center. Agreed. Auki and Brynn have smuggled enough supplies for about a week. We could make our way to the Black Fjords and send word to Stonegate.
“Don’t you think it would only draw out the Stav Guard?”
Not if Thane is the only one to understand the missive.
I furrowed my brow.
Roark offered a sad sort of smile as he spoke. When we were boys, Thane and I had secret signals we’d write to each other. A code, you could say. If we can get past the Dark Watch, perhaps I can send one. It might intrigue him enough to meet.
Hope flared like a roaring flame in my chest. “When?”
He shook his head. The úlfur will be more protective of the borders and of you after the attack. It might still be some time, but I will learn their new rotations and make a plan from there.
My shoulders slumped a bit in disappointment. It felt like we had no time left. I did not know what Fadey could see in the mirror, if he could only enter with me, or if he’d managed to slip into the trance on his own.
I did not know if he’d heard any hint of our discussion with Nivek.
Roark began to shift so he could face me directly, but he let out a rough grunt when the wolf pup took our nearness as his cue to nuzzle his bony head between us, his tongue lapping at Roark’s cheek.
He shoved the beast away and pointed to a fur mat in the corner of the room, a silent demand to get off the bed.
The fara tucked his tail, plodded to the mat, and curled onto his lonely new bed with a look of utter dejection.
I snickered and kissed the top of Roark’s shoulder. “We have another problem.”
Which is?
“You, husband, need to choose a name for your new little wolf.”