Chapter 35 Unchained
UNCHAINED
Kairos stalked forward, murderous.
Vaeris tensed. “Aelie, take my hand.”
“You will not touch her.” Kairos’s voice, magnified to a deafening roar, blasted in the room.
I lunged for Kairos, but shadows wrapped around my waist like iron bands, yanking me to Vaeris. I slammed into his chest.
Mist wreathed Kairos’s frame. “Let her go. Now.”
“Or what?” Vaeris dragged me backward. “You’ll kill me? Have at it. The binding rune will tear you apart.”
“Release her.”
“Can’t do that.”
Kairos rammed his fist into the wall, leaving a crater. “Don’t be this fucking stupid. You know what she is.”
“I do. Which is why I need her.”
Kairos prowled closer, every line of his body taut with rage. “I will end you. Binding rune or not.”
“The moment you move, I’ll snap her neck.”
The words didn’t register at first, like they belonged to someone else, and then they hit. Vaeris, the man who’d preached about ending human suffering and looked at me with those anguished eyes minutes ago—just threatened to murder me. Casually.
What the fuck.
An inhuman snarl tore from Kairos’s throat.
“Human skulls are so fragile. One good slam against that wall”—Vaeris motioned toward the stone—”and it’s over.”
I struggled against the shadows.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Vaeris said calmly. “You’ll explain to the others that we came to an agreement, and I will take her home.”
Kairos’s face contorted.
I thrashed against Vaeris, scratching his forearm. “Let me go!”
Kairos took a half-step forward, then stopped. I twisted, trying to sink my teeth into Vaeris’s arm, but his hand clamped over my mouth.
“Stop fighting, damn it.”
I shook my head, still struggling, and stomped down hard to crush his foot. That’s when I saw it—his sleeve had ridden up slightly, exposing the edge of a rune on his skin. The faerie deal.
If I break it, Rheya and I are free.
I clasped his arm, sliding my fingers over the rune.
Vaeris hauled me to the exit, his attention fixed on Kairos.
I closed my eyes, sinking into the painful threads. They didn’t feel like magic at all. They pulsed and breathed. They slithered over Vaeris’s heart. His lungs. Coiled through his bones like parasitic vines. They wrapped around mine, too.
The deal had grown into both of us. Flesh to flesh. I hooked one thread and pulled.
My mind shattered with pain. I couldn’t breathe. I loosened the single thread. I bit down on a sob, the agony clawing deeper. Blood dripped from my nose, pattering on the ground. This—this was too much. It felt like ripping myself apart.
Vaeris yelled, throwing me off him.
I hit the floor, gasping, and the rune underneath us erupted. White energy shot upward, punching through Kairos.
No!
His back bowed. Magic ripped into him like a spear, and a gash opened along his side—deep, brutal, showing bone. Why was it attacking him?
“Kairos!”
Kairos grunted and dropped to his knee.
Vaeris staggered, clutching his arm. He gaped at Kairos, and then he laughed. “Thank you, sweetling. I couldn’t have planned this better myself.”
His glee echoed as I crawled toward Kairos. Ribbons of light cinched him, pinning his arms, his legs.
Kairos grimaced, his shoulder dripping with a fresh cut.
“Stop!” I reached for him, my hands passing through the light. “Please stop!”
Vaeris leaned against the wall, smirking. “You’re under oath not to harm anyone in this palace.”
“What? I was only trying to break the deal!”
“The binding clearly recognizes that as violence.” He chuckled, watching Kairos wrestle with the rune. “And he’s the one who swore the oath.”
My stomach twisted.
Vaeris’s smile widened. “You broke the rules. Now he’s paying the price.”
Horror flooded through me.
“You probably should have warned her about that, Kairos. Oh well. Better luck next time.”
The binding rune pulsed again. Kairos made a strangled sound, and another wound slashed his ribs.
“Stop it!” I shouted at the rune. “He didn’t do anything!”
I sank my palms in the bleeding flesh. Crimson poured between my fingers—hot, slick, too much. I pushed down harder, stanching the flow.
Blood soaked through my dress, pooled beneath us.
“Can’t heal,” Kairos gasped.
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“Binding rune.” He coughed, blood flecking his lips. “Won’t let me.”
No, no, no.
The wounds kept opening, and I couldn’t help him. He was dying in front of my eyes. Because I’d tried to save myself and destroyed him instead.
Footsteps thundered down the stairs.
I looked up through blurred vision as figures spilled into the hall. Soren burst into the chamber, Taressa and the guards close behind.
Soren’s eyes swept over Kairos on the floor, me covered in blood. “What is the meaning of this?”
“He attacked me,” Vaeris started.
“Liar!” I screamed.
Soren’s gaze locked on me, traveling over the blood soaking my dress, my hands pressed against Kairos’s wounds.
“Please,” I choked out. “Help him! Your Majesty, please!”
Kairos jerked, another slash ripping his stomach.
Vaeris sighed heavily. “I told you inviting him was a mistake.”
Soren turned sharply. “Did you strike him?”
Kairos grunted. “Yes, because he took her.”
Wait. “No, that’s not what happened! I was the one—”
“I was trying to bring her home,” Vaeris said smoothly, facing the others. “She was frightened. I was helping her.”
“He grabbed me!” I shouted. “He said he’d kill me!”
“She’s confused,” Vaeris murmured. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
“Yes, I do. You bastard!”
Vaeris shook his head. “She’s completely under his control. He’s had weeks to twist her mind.”
He was erasing me. Turning me into a victim, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“He brought bloodshed into your palace,” Vaeris continued, gesturing to Kairos. “If he’ll attack a king in neutral territory, he’ll go after anyone.”
“No! That’s not—he didn’t—”
“Aelie.” Kairos’s voice was weak. A warning. Stop talking.
Soren’s attention hadn’t left me. “Kairos attacked you unprovoked. Simply because you wanted to escort the girl home.”
“Yes,” Vaeris hissed.
Soren stepped forward, his shadow spilling across the stones. “You violated a binding oath sworn under my roof. The standard penalty is death.”
Vaeris grinned.
I wrapped my arms around Kairos. “No!”
Soren turned, his gaze pinning me.
I swallowed hard. “Kairos didn’t strike first. I did! Please, Your Majesty.”
“Irrelevant. He swore the oath. I will send word to Elwen,” Soren boomed.
My stomach caved in. The room was distant. Muted.
I can’t allow them to do this.
“What about the human?” the queen asked.
Vaeris moved between us. “I’ll take her.”
“No,” I croaked.
“Look at her,” Vaeris murmured, his brow furrowed. “She’s traumatized. The poor thing has suffered enough. Gods only know what she’s been subjected to in Sanguir.”
Fuming, I faced Vaeris. “I said no!”
Soren peered at me. “She stays here.”
“Excuse me?” Vaeris snapped.
“She’ll remain in my court,” Soren said firmly. “She’s clearly not safe with you.”
White light flared. Kairos let out a sound like he was being ripped apart. He sagged forward, choking.
No.
I felt it in my chest—my heart clenching around a jagged piece of glass. I stroked his cheeks. His skin was clammy, too pale. My thumbs brushed his jaw.
His eyes cracked open. “Aelie.”
“I’m here,” I whispered.
“Run. Find Uther, and go.”
“No, I can’t leave you!”
Kairos convulsed, every muscle locked in agony as he tried to break free.
I cupped his face with shaking hands. “Stop, you’re making it worse!”
His broken eyes found mine. “I’m so sorry. The deal. I didn’t—” He arched with a guttural yell.
Tears slipped down my cheeks.
There had to be something I could do. My gaze fell on the massive rune under our feet. It glowed brighter, readying another strike. I reached into a pocket in my dress, yanking on the gloves. Then I scraped at the floor until my fingers caught.
“She stays,” Soren said. “Until she can make her choice without coercion.”
“That’s not your decision,” Vaeris growled.
“It is now.”
“She has family in Skaldir,” Vaeris shot back. “A sister.”
“She’s welcome to join her here. Thalir always has room for unique bloodlines.”
“She’s not staying, damn it!”
“Give me one logical reason why she should be with you.”
I palmed the floor, feeling for the vibrating threads. I dug deeper, forcing my will between them. The magic sizzled.
Vaeris’s shadows rippled around him. “She’s mine by bargain.”
“Faerie bargain.” Soren’s tone flattened. “How predictable.”
“It’s a sacred bond,” Vaeris snarled. “One of the oldest forms of magic. You can’t just dismiss it.”
“We don’t recognize foreign bargains in Thalir.”
Vaeris laughed bitterly.
Kairos jolted beside me, a wet gasp tearing from his throat. The rune flooded the chamber with light.
It’s going to kill him.
I hurled my weight into the thread, twisting hard. My vision swam. Other runes started to unravel, connections snapping like overstretched rope.
Too much. I’m breaking too much.
The threads were sharp and cold, like crystals. Some gossamer-thin, others braided thick as my wrist, all of them knotted so tight I could barely wedge my fingers between them.
Heat lashed up my arms, the magic biting through the gloves. This rune was strong, woven into the bones of the palace. I felt it threading around every person, across the floors, above the walls.
Kairos was dying. I didn’t care about this place. Or its runes or anyone else. Only him.
I gritted my teeth and pressed harder, searching desperately for what held the binding together. There, a weak point. I pinched it, and—
Crack.
I’d pulled too hard. The shockwave tore through adjacent runes. They snapped, one by one.
Then the stone under my palms split, slashing through the glowing lines. Energy blasted outward, and the floor cracked. An ancient groan echoed through the depths, and then freezing water hissed through.
I’d just freed the ocean.
And it was coming to drown us.