Chapter 27
A rms pinned behind his back, Rodric fought Cass’s hold. Dark, shimmering mist curled around them, disorienting him to a sickening degree. A second ago, it had been daylight, the midday clouds parting occasionally to release a ray of sunshine.
Rodric! Celina’s frantic voice was a whip to his soul. Excruciating pain burned through him. The blood in his veins felt like acid, and his body wrenched from the sensation.
Celina! He had to get to her. Had to stop the pain. One last burst of feeling, and the sensation vanished, as if it had never been. Roaring in rage, he inhaled the strange mist and choked, the thicker-than-air substance startling him.
“Do not make me put you under, Rodric!” Cass growled in his ear. Her fingers drilled into the back of his skull in warning.
A tiny bit more pressure and he had no doubt she’d have him in an unconscious heap at her feet. Breathing hard, he tried to speak through the echoes screaming in his mind. “Celina.”
“We’ll find her.”
He shook his head. “They caught her. I can feel it.”
“Save your fight. And stay calm.”
Nodding, he stilled his struggle. It was done. Cass wasn’t the one he needed to fight. Slowing his breathing, he carefully avoided taking deep breaths of the eerie mist. He couldn’t see anything other than the dark river of air surrounding them. “Where are we?”
“Shadows. Hold on.”
The fading swirl that preceded unconsciousness assaulted him, awful pressure blanketing him everywhere. Another instant and he was in the daylight again. Cass’s arms left him, and he sank to the ground, head falling back against a building.
He’d been running from several guards he’d fought off when he’d been wrenched painfully into the shadows.
Dizziness and nausea combined in a debilitating wave, forcing him to close his eyes against the onslaught.
“Cassia!” Hurried footsteps, and the sound of several packs thudding into the dirt accentuated the worry in Sev’s voice. “You’re hurt. Tell me how to help you.”
“I’m okay.” Her broken whisper said the opposite.
Steeling himself, Rodric opened his eyes and looked in their direction. Cass was leaning against the building, shaking so hard she was almost convulsing, limbs curled up toward her core. Sev immediately pulled her into his arms so that she wouldn’t fall on the ground. Breathing erratically like her lungs weren’t functioning properly, she closed her eyes and let Sev support her.
“You’re not okay. What’s wrong, shimira?”
“Magic. Not meant for that.” The words brought on another convulsion, and she jerked, stifling a grunt of pain. “Don’t let them see.”
Kavesh. She was right. They were going to attract notice. Glancing around, he saw that while they were getting a few looks, the guards who had been chasing him were nowhere to be seen.
“Come on, shimira, breathe for me.” Sev brushed back the dark hair that had fallen into Cass’s face with gentle strokes. “Deep breaths, like you do when no one’s watching. Count to four.”
Opening her eyes in a flash, Cass glared at Sev, but followed the instruction and measured her breath. Angry sparks lit the air around Cass in a shimmer. “Kill you. Later.”
“Looking forward to it.” Pulling her closer with his protective arm gripping her, Sev raised an eyebrow at him. “Can you help her? We need to move.”
Looking inward, Rodric found the white mist in his soul rushing about as if trying to break free. Gold swirled in motion with it, more than usual. Tremors ran through him as he tried to access it, an extension of the terror overwhelming him.
Trying to force the panic down, he pulled a tendril to the surface like Celina had shown him and gave it to Cass. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it eased the convulsions and let her straighten up.
The remaining tendrils of magic were visible, but slipped through his fingers like mist when he tried to grasp them. “I’m sorry, I can’t—”
“It’s enough. Let’s go.”
Sev picked up the packs and then slipped his arm around her waist. “Pretend you like me, shimira.”
She huffed but allowed him to support her. “I suppose you’re tolerable for the moment.”
“A couple out for a stroll will attract less attention than you limping.”
Rodric balled his hands into fists at his sides as they slowly made their way to the town’s entrance. Had Celina attempted to fight them? Was she injured?
His guilt and frustration were overshadowed by mounting anger. “You should have gone after her, not stopped for me!”
“Sorry to disappoint. But you were the one in front of me,” Cass said.
“They took her!”
“But they didn’t kill her,” Cass emphasized. “You can feel her. She’s alive. That’s all that’s important right now.”
She was right. He knew that.
Still, he fought the waves of panic and despair that were roiling inside him, building into a consuming wall. An image of the amethyst joining bracelet taunted his mind, and he replayed the sound of Celina’s desperate cry before it cut off into nothingness. She was hurt because of him. Headed toward the same dark place as Brenna.
A n unnervingly peaceful alcove acted as their staging area for the rescue. Their traveling gear and belongings were hidden out of sight, thanks to their map. The wind had picked up, rustling the trees in steady currents around them.
Though they had arrived some time ago to rejoin Daya and Connor, Zora and Rogue still stood alert at the edges of the space. The other horses were tethered in a group, shifting anxiously as the tension swelled from their humans.
A whirl of emotion radiated from Connor, banishing his usually calm and lighthearted nature. “I can’t believe this happened.”
“It’s my fault.” If he hadn’t been recognized, they would have gotten out with no problem.
“You made the best choices you could,” Sev said. “And we will get her back.”
Connor spun, storming a few feet away to pace, hand running through his short hair and then fisting in frustration as he attempted to absorb the news.
“We need to leave now. The element of surprise is gone, so there’s no point in waiting. We should hit them hard before they have much time to regroup.” Rodric was having trouble keeping still for this conversation, but he didn’t have the skills to pull off the rescue single-handedly, and he knew it.
Nearby, Zora threw her head and stomped, responding to his agitation. At least one of his partners was ready for action.
“There is a point,” Cass growled, gesturing at herself and Connor. “Two of your teammates have magic that works best at dusk. We need to wait. This is personal for all of us, but you’re thinking emotionally, not strategically. They’re not going anywhere until tomorrow at the earliest, and yes, they’ll be expecting trouble. We have to take the time to do this right.”
Rodric clenched his jaw to keep from spitting a retort, the mention of magic making him seethe. It had no place in their rescue. His brain said that was utter nonsense, but raw pain had overtaken his emotions. His mate was likely being interrogated or worse while they debated a new plan of attack.
“They could be hurting her right now!”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Cass gripped his shirt and got in his face. “Celina is the closest thing I have to family. It is killing me to wait. To leave her in the hands of people who will hurt her. You are not the only one who wants to run in there, blades flying, so stop acting like it!” She gave him a shove as she released his shirt and stepped back. An unveiled look let him see the pain in her eyes he hadn’t bothered to notice before. “I will fight to get her back with everything I am. I swear it, Rodric.”
The sound of the breeze whipped loudly in the absence of human voices. Rodric released a long breath, hating that Cass was right. That they were all right. Celina was Connor’s sister. Cass’s chosen family.
They were worried and hurting with him, and he was making a horrible situation harder on them. Sev and Daya’s efforts to mediate and keep the peace could only get so far with the hot emotions running rampant in the clearing.
“You know,” Daya started, “there is one huge advantage that we haven’t discussed yet.” She gave Rodric a meaningful look.
“No. I’m not using magic. It wouldn’t be useful anyway.” His magic was designed for healing and memorial retrieval, not tracking.
“You have a soul-bond with Celina, do you not? It could be incredibly helpful.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Sev asked before Rodric could respond.
“No one knows really, that’s the point—it’s the stuff of legends,” Connor supplied. “And you’re already using it.”
“What?” Rodric sputtered.
Connor paced away, running a frustrated hand through his short hair. When he neared Daya, she shifted slightly into his path and stopped him with a hand on his chest.
“Easy,” she murmured, almost too softly to hear. “You’re both hurting.”
The warrior took a visibly deep breath, covering her hand with his own and squeezing it. His energy was much calmer when he turned back to face them.
“When she healed Connor, Celina wasn’t only using her magic, Rodric. She used yours, too,” Daya said gently. “She tapped into the soul-bond and drew your magic into the healing she was attempting. Using a bond that way is very difficult. It takes a lot of time to gain the ability to separate the magics and control them individually.”
“Meaning, she didn’t do it intentionally,” Connor clarified. “When she realized what happened, that she’d used your combined magics, she didn’t think you were ready to handle it yet. Hopefully, you are now.”
The words stung, tearing into him fiercely. Celina had kept that from him?
“Magic requires skill. It may take years for the two of you to learn to share and use your magic together, but if your bond is already that strong, you should be able to connect to her,” Daya explained. “Send emotion to her, locate her, even talk to her.”
Sev tipped his head, studying her intently. “You’re more than a falconer, aren’t you?”
It was a fair question, and Rodric didn’t mind the focus shifting off him for a moment as he struggled to control his reactions to what he’d just learned.
“Very astute, hunter,” Daya answered with a smile.
The less aggressive of Daya’s two hawks flew over to settle on her arm, making soft sounds at her. She petted it with two fingers before looking up at them.
“I’m the Guardian of Hannelore Mountain,” Daya said.
“An ancient guardian?” Cass asked.
Daya nodded, looking tense as she confirmed the news.
“The Wolflumen stories are still whispered around the fire, but guardians are forgotten myths,” Sev said.
His friend’s voice rose in excitement over being in the presence of an actual myth. Turning away from the group, he let them talk. Daya had been helpful and he was grateful for her presence, but wasn't interested in the details of her life.
What bothered him more than Celina not telling him about their joint use of magic was that he hadn’t noticed it. Or had he chosen not to? There had been that moment of memory—his own magic—when they’d healed Connor. An oddity of shadowing Celina during the session. Or so he’d let himself believe. What more was he capable of with his magic?
The weight of responsibility crushed his chest as the need for urgency consumed him. His blood heating and heart racing. He needed to do something. For Brenna and for Celina. He was desperate enough to try anything to bring himself closer to them.
He bent his ear toward the conversation the others were having and caught Daya’s response to someone’s question.
“Those of us who remain are responsible for guarding the sacred lands and ritual sites, and for guiding the people in both ordinary and magical rites. Though that doesn’t happen often.”
“Rites… like binding two people with a soul-bond?” Rodric asked.
Everyone turned their eyes to him in surprise, and he shifted self-consciously.
“Morgan told me about the soul-binding between children and their guardians. That it could be done between mates. Can you do that?”
“I can’t do more than what nature has already begun. But I can tell you that those are two very different types of bonds,” Daya said gently, brown eyes warm with concern.
Her words rang true. His bond with Celina was visceral.
“So, I can’t track Brenna.”
“No.” Daya shook her head slowly. “Your bond with Celina though…it is the beginning of a weaving of your souls. Such bonds between mates are legendary for a reason.”
“But how?”
“Soul-bonds are unique. Completing the bond will come instinctively to you when you’re ready. But that connection exists inside you already. You just need to trust it.”
Rodric rubbed his chest. If what Daya said was possible, he could track Celina, sense what was happening, feel what she was going through. Make sure she was alright.
Closing his eyes, he breathed away some of the fear and looked inside himself. The magic was there, waiting. Sinking into the cold blue fire, he found the connection to Celina and reached for it, but he slammed into hard glass. The harder he tried to grasp the strand of their bond, the more the wall darkened into the opaque barrier that had hidden his magic for most of his life.
Panic surged to the point he could barely breathe, bringing back the dizziness. “I can’t.”
Quiet sighs of disappointment and frustration rang through the group.
Turning away, he headed for the trees, the old desire to run quickening his steps.