CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE #2
We finally reached the edge of the cobblestone road, and I screamed for help, roaring in the empty air.
Begged for anyone to save him. Tears streamed down my face.
My body trembled with exhaustion, every muscle fighting against me, yet I clawed desperately at his lifeless form, dragging him inch by inch through the dark.
My breath came in ragged gasps, my hands slick with sweat and blood—his or mine, I couldn’t tell.
I couldn’t leave him.
Out of the silence, a hand closed around my wrist. I froze. The touch was firm, deliberate. My heart stuttered. For a moment, the night held its breath with me.
“Let me.” Finnegan whispered softly, and Noctis’s body rose by magic, hovering slightly above the ground.
I nodded, nearly falling to my knees in a plea of desperation.
“I came to check on you both, but I didn’t expect to find this.”
“Save him,” I begged, the words leaving in a breathy whisper.
Finnegan turned and stalked toward the center of the village, Noctis’s body trailing behind. I pushed myself to keep up, but the surge of relief shook my already wobbling knees.
He stopped before a cozy cabin, smoke billowing from the chimney, and walked right in.
I always seemed to find charm during maelstrom, dismissing all opportunities to enjoy.
I barely noticed the other council members sitting in the couches of the living area, keeping my eyes glued to the route Noctis drifted on air.
Finnegan meticulously lowered the god to the room’s floor, and Bru and Lucine jumped into action. Their game of cards would have to wait. It took seconds for the councilwoman to kneel before him with a healing potion, prying open his mouth and gently pouring the swirling contents between his lips.
I fell to his side, grasping my hands in my lap. I felt helpless watching the council work on Noctis.
“He speaks so highly of you all, and now, I see why,” I whispered instead.
Lucine met my devastated gaze as she began wrapping the god’s cut arm, and the woman’s features softened with pity.
“We would be nothing without Noctis. He is more than the realm’s god to us.”
There was so much truth to that statement. I witnessed it through the streets earlier that day in every bow, every tear, and every inhabitant praising his name.
His pain didn’t just reach me. It settled in my bones like an ache I could never outrun as if my body decided it belongs to him just as much as it belongs to me. His joy filled spaces in me I didn’t know were ever empty. When he smiled, it was as if the world tilted in the right direction again.
In that moment, it became undeniable. Whatever I lost—whatever parts of me were gone—he wasn’t one of them.
“I think he is for me as well,” I admitted softly.
Lucine chuckled. “We will make sure not to spill that secret to him.”
Noctis shifted, and I gasped, frantically searching his face.
“What secret?” he croaked, the words getting caught in his throat.
We laughed, breathless and shaky, as if the sound could hold back tears—caught between the flicker of something genuinely funny and the wild, aching relief of watching Noctis stir awake.
The night involved catering to the god, purely against his commands, ensuring his full healing. I rested before the fireplace, staring at the wood as the embers popped off its surface. The sight mesmerized me, but every time the flame cracked and spurted, I flinched in response.
Finnegan lowered himself into the armchair beside me and sipped from his tea.
“You will leave tonight with another piece of the trident,” he said, staring at the champagne carpeted floor. “And I wanted to apologize for our mistrust when you first came to our home.”
I contemplated an answer, and although I was upset they tested my character in trials I was destined to lose, I understood why.
“There is power in trust. And when it’s tied to something this big… it shouldn’t be taken lightly. I don’t blame you for holding back.”
Finnegan hummed low in agreement.
“Did you know about his father’s involvement?” I asked.
“We did.”
“Has he known?”
Finnegan nodded. “There are many other prisoners released by his father’s hand over the centuries.” He paused. “Something stirs in the shadows. Whatever they’re planning, it nears. You must make haste.”
Gods… I could stay here. In the Aetherkin Bound. Just stay.
“Lucine mentioned the Writherbought preparing us for finding the Oceanwrought trident piece. Do you know where it is?”
Finnegan nodded. “In the Abyssal Hold. Locked deep within its chambers and surrounded by prisoners like the Writherbought. Each one is brutal enough to end your life with a simple look.”
I stood and faced the councilman who extended a fabric-wrapped object—the trident piece. Finnegan gestured to the door at Noctis who watched from a distance. His eyebrows furrowed, and then his face distorted into something I couldn’t read.
“When this is over, we hope you will call our home yours as well,” Finnegan said, but my eyes were fixed solely on Noctis.
It was time to get back to the chaos of the other Bounds. Parts of me were ready to finish it all, but the majority of my being wanted to just pause.
I made my way to Noctis, and he gently grasped my face in his hands.
“Your face,” he murmured, voice thick with emotion.
“Why did that sound painful to say?”
I ran my fingers across my cheeks, still expecting to feel open wounds from the Writherbought’s burning binds. However, nothing marked the skin. The creature's power attacked and harmed only the mind, making me merely believe the pain existed.
Noctis ran his thumb across my lower jaw, and I felt it then. A scatter of needle-sharp prickles raced over my skin, snapping me backwards.
“The curse is bleeding through our bond.”