Chapter 15 #2
He motioned for me to walk with him toward the tunnel mouth, stopping us about twenty feet from the others. Sorrow swooped toward us, landing on a chunk of concrete and rebar that stood up like some sort of macabre version of a tree. He watched closely…as if he knew what Veyyr was going to ask me.
“You will allow me to bind you to me,” Veyyr said. “For a period of one year. Not forever, but long enough to accomplish…what I need.”
The laugh was automatic for two reasons, the first being why the fuck did he need a year from me, and the second…I had to bluff. Because for Rana, I’d have given him as much time as he asked for. “This from the man who said he’d never willingly bind himself to me?”
His jaw ticked. “Things change.”
I stepped closer, the space between us a breath away from touching. “Or do you just want another chance at seeing more of me?”
Naked. Unspoken but heard clearly.
His eyes dipped to my lips and the hand furthest and hidden from the others slipped up to my side, under the edge of my shirt, higher until his thumb slid along the underside of my breast.
Breathless, my body instantly aware and demanding more of his touch, he doused it with his next words, the smug twist of his lips.
“I would not need to bind you to me for that, Tracker.”
I stepped back, flushed with both kinds of heat—anger and need. “Bastard.”
“Yes.”
My lips quirked, and I fought the smile, reminding myself this was for Rana. “How long?”
“A year.”
I snorted. “A week, maybe.”
“Six months.”
“Three.” I could manage that. Three months wasn’t too long in the scheme of things.
His lips twisted up. “Three then, three full moons.”
I arched a brow at him. He was too quickly satisfied with this negotiation. “And then you set me loose of whatever bonds you place on me. Agreed?”
He held out his hand, and I set my palm against his. For all the sexually charged times we’d had this felt in some ways far more intimate—the sensation of his magic sinking into me, a caress of ice and power that had my skin rising in response, brushing against the darkness I held deep in my body.
My hand began to cool, his magic wrapping around us, bonding me to him.
Veyyr, placed his other hand over the top so that my fingers were sandwiched between his, his eyes locked on mine.
The world fell away, and if I hadn’t known there were others around us, I would have sworn that we were alone.
I had a moment of panic and tried to yank my hand away, but he held me tight, with very little effort, even going so far as to draw me closer to him.
Our breath puffed out in billows of steam in the suddenly icy cold air.
“You are mine, Mallory…until the third full moon. Agreed between us that you will help me with my quests or tasks, that you will use your skills to see them filled, even if I am no longer on this plane of existence.”
I blinked as the icy chains of his magic settled in around my wrist, the cold quickly turning to a burn but that was not what had my attention. “What the fuck do you mean by that? Veyyr, what do you mean if you are no longer on this plane of existence?”
He slowly lifted his hand away to reveal a series of images wrapped around my forearm. Feathers, snowflakes, paw prints, all circled with a thorny vine…and within them I was sure I saw the head of a veilrunner.
“It will fade,” Veyyr said. “And when your time you have agreed on is up, it will be gone and you will be free of the bond.”
I tried to grab his arm. “What do you mean if you aren’t here?” but he’d already turned and walked away from me. The moment broken and the world back to all of us standing around the mouth of a tunnel.
Harrison paced as we approached. “Are you taking her to…you can’t.”
“There is no one else, Harrison. A calculated risk.”
He grabbed at his hair with both hands. “This is a bad idea, Veyyr. What if she follows you back?”
Who the hell were they talking about? Obviously, the healer that they needed for Rana, but Harrison knew her. And didn’t want Veyyr to go.
Veyyr shook his head. “She won’t follow me.”
“But she has before! This is a bad, bad idea!” Harrison grabbed at his brother, snagging him by the forearms. “We can find another healer. Maybe Mallory could track one?” His tone ranged from panicked to hopeful as he turned huge brown eyes to me, pleading.
Lucky handed Rana off to Veyyr, and took a hold of Harrison, dragging him back a few feet. “If your brother says it’s okay, Harrison, it will be okay. You gotta trust him. This is the only way.”
Harrison strained at Lucky’s hands, while Veyyr stared at me. “Let’s hope she’s worth it.”
There was a crack of lightning, and Veyyr stepped backward, through a seam in the air that opened to someplace else, like a curtain being pulled back on…the Veil? Was that a thing?
My brain blipped through what I knew. Yes, the Veil was the space between realities, between even life and death, and walking through it could allow you to jump from one place to another in seconds.
But how could he do that? I held my breath. For now, I didn’t want to make more trouble in getting Rana help.
On the other side of Veyyr and Rana was a shadowed room, a flickering candle on a table and a shrouded figure sitting in the chair. The figure had her head on the table, face turned away as if sleeping.
“I need your help,” Veyyr said.
Before she could lift her head, the seam in the air closed and he was gone before any warning could be given.
Harrison went to his knees. “Fuck, this is bad. Did you see her there? What if she saw me?”
His breath came in deep pants, as if his heart was going to stop. I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Will someone please tell me what the hell just happened?” I snapped. “Lucky?”
“Right, so…you saw the woman? That was Thorn. Veyyr was trained by her. She’s—”
“She’s not right in the head, she’s sick!” Harrison sobbed on the ground, his arms wrapped tight around his upper body. “She tried to kill me…she swore she would if she ever saw me again.”
As much as my own fear sliced through me, as much as the idea of being so fucking close to Thorn hit me like a runaway boulder, I couldn’t let it take me out. Not when the same fear was in Harrison.
I swallowed the beating of my heart, the flush of adrenaline and crouched next to him. “Harrison, she’s not here. And your brother would never let her hurt you. Even I know that.”
Veyyr was an enigma in many ways, but I had no doubt of his connection to his brother.
And really, the fact that Veyyr had been trained by Thorn shouldn’t have been a surprise, not really.
He’d known her when I’d spoken of her, and he’d been aware enough that he’d been willing to set up watch duty instead of trusting Isla’s wards.
But the fact that she’d tried to kill Harrison…
he was just a sweet kid. I looked to Lucky and he shook his head.
I reached around behind me and took the siphon weapon that sucked in magic. “Here. Take this, if she shows up, you can draw her magic away.”
He looked up at me, brown eyes terror filled. “What did Veyyr ask of you? In exchange?”
The change of track didn’t throw me, and I rolled with it, pulling up the sleeve of my jacket. “I am bound to help him for the next three months.”
Harrison shuddered and some of the fear slid from him, his face softening with relief. “I’m glad you’re staying, Mal…its better here, with you, having you here with us.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Not sure about that, your numbers got cut in half, and now your brother is making a deal with a crazy witch because of a kid I brought along.”
“Yeah, but you also helped get rid of Isla.” Lucky grinned. “Major fucking win. Go team!”
I rubbed my face, fighting the smile that edged there with Lucky’s words. “Harrison, you should get some sleep. You drove all night. Things are always shit on a bad sleep.”
The kid didn’t argue, just climbed into the back of the truck, pulled the hood of his jacket over his face and went to sleep, clutching the siphoning weapon tight.
I waited a moment, then leaned against the truck. “Lucky, if he can jump through the Veil like that—”
“It only takes him to Thorn. It’s a gift she gave him, if you want to call it that,” Lucky rolled his shoulders and stretched backward. “This is only the second time I’ve ever seen him use it.”
And he was doing it for Rana. For me.
A clatter of rocks turned my head, drawing my eyes to the wide black tunnel opening ahead of the truck.
I stared and the world narrowed to that single tunnel.
Strange but I felt like…had I been here before? Was there a memory hidden within it?
“Lucky, you keep an eye on him.” I didn’t even realize I’d taken a step toward the tunnel until the ogre took a hold of my shoulder.
“What about you? Where do you think you’re going?”
I couldn’t look away from the tunnel, feeling something stirring in my mind, the feeling of something I needed from here. A memory that pushed its way to the surface, whispering for me to dare a walk within. “Me and Sorrow, we’re going to check out where we’re going next.”
Sorrow let out a huff and wrapped his talons around the edge of the truck box until it creaked. “Nope. Nope.”
“Fine, Sorrow. Stay here.” I turned once more and headed toward the open tunnel.
When the bird didn’t want to go with me, I should have paid attention, but of course I didn’t.
Not when the tunnel was the second time a memory had stirred, and this one called to me in a very different way.
I could see the concrete trees that were rutted up around the opening in my mind as a memory, right down to the trickle of water that ran through the middle of it.
I could see the complete darkness in my past, and the fear it had instilled in me then—fear and a weird sense of hope.
Maybe Veyyr didn’t need to go through the darkness to get to our next stop, but I…I needed to face whatever waited in the belly of the beast.