Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
AURON
I have spent my entire life learning how to keep my face still.
Auron Draven does not flinch. Auron Draven does not betray emotion. Auron Draven does not let anyone see the seams.
It’s a useful skill now—because Lindsay Blake is laughter and wildfire and has absolutely no sense of self-preservation, and for the first time in a long time, I have to work not to show how she affects me.
She doesn’t trust me. Not yet at least. Which is probably valid.
But she’s beginning to—just enough to be dangerous for both of us.
She passed me earlier, still pale from the night before, Raiden shadowing her like a storm-cloud, Nolan reading while walking, which is its own hazard.
And Tamsin was talking so fast I’m not even sure how they kept up.
Then Lindsay smiled—soft and tired but real—at me.
I think she’s starting to view me as more than just a Blood.
It shouldn’t matter.
It does.
And it shouldn’t bother me that Kael carried her back to his room after she collapsed. I shouldn’t care that she leaned on him, trusted him, let him hold her. Not when I know the truth: I cannot be that for her.
Not while the binding spell curls under my skin like a brand waiting to ignite. Maybe if I knew her before the spell was put on me…
I shove the errant thought away. It’s a weakness. And I am not weak.
My fingers rise to my lower lip—a habit I hate. The magic there pulses faintly, warning me. Reminding me.
If I kiss her—if I even try—the bindings will rupture.
The truth will spill out of me like blood. And she will be the first to bleed for it.
My father’s voice hums through my memory, a snap of magic that feels like a whip. “The geas protects you from the prophecy, Auron. If it breaks, you break with it.”
But I’ve learned something he never accounted for, I don’t care about myself.
It’s not myself I’m afraid of breaking anymore.
It’s her.
Lindsay deserves someone unbound. Someone who isn’t a political blade sharpened by centuries of tradition. Someone who isn’t walking her toward a betrayal the realm demands.
Because the betrayal is coming, and it will be from me.
Now, I watch her laugh at something Tamsin says. Nolan relaxes. Raiden softens. And I’m sure even though I can’t see him, Kael is somewhere close by. He’s always around her, watching her as much as I do.
Idiots. All of them.
Idiots who will shatter if I fail.
I push off the stone archway, jaw tightening. If I’m going to break her trust later—better she never gives it to me now.