Chapter 9 #3
A thin black line unfurled across my skin, curling over my chest in slow, deliberate spirals before slipping beneath the collar of my dress.
Aedric frowned, his attention turning to me. I caught the neckline of my dress and pulled it higher just before his eyes reached the mark.
“Why were you looking for me?” I tried to steady the tremor in my voice.
His laugh cut short, his swirling gaze narrowing on me. His tongue flicked out, wetting his cracked, bloodied lips. “Lady Levinica had a vision.”
Aedric scoffed. “Everyone knows Levinica’s visions are unreliable at best. They mean nothing—and rarely come to pass. Her gift has muddied over the centuries, along with her mind.”
Veylan's eyes sharpened. "Did you not play a part in her madness?"
“Enough.” Aedric’s voice cracked like a whip. Veylan fell silent at once, though his grin curdled into something darker.
Aedric turned toward the wall, motioning for me to follow. “Come, Elowen. There is nothing to gain from this.”
But I didn’t move. I stayed fixed on Veylan, on the unsettling stillness of him trapped within the wards.
“A vision?” I asked.
He nodded once. “That you will break the bond to the Dark Prince.”
Aedric stopped in his tracks, and turned back sharply. “Break the bond?”
“Welcome back, lordling,” Veylan drawled.
“How?” Aedric demanded.
Veylan lifted his good shoulder, the other hanging slack. “You’ll have to ask her.”
Aedric’s eyes snapped to me, his breathing quickening. Hope flared in my chest, sudden and bright, almost painful.
“Breaking a bond isn’t possible,” he said, though there was less certainty in it now.
Veylan propped his chin on his fist, “Levinica has seen otherwise.”
“Then why hasn’t she sent for me?”
“Perhaps she is not eager to help you,” Veylan replied, a knowing edge to his hateful smile. “Are you so surprised?”
“Why are you telling us this?” I blurted. “It’s in Rìan’s best interest to keep me bound to him.”
Veylan’s eyes slitted. “As a servant to his will—yes. As an Eidra pledged to him—yes.” The working side of his mouth twitched in faint distaste. “But as one who has siphoned from him… Your destruction would mean his. And that is something Elantis cannot afford.”
The room seemed to tilt.
How did he know? How did he know I’d siphoned—
“Please, girl. I can send my shadows anywhere darkness touches.” He glanced mildly around the cell. “Well. Almost anywhere.”
“What do you mean,” I asked carefully, “my destruction would mean his?”
“Elowen,” Aedric said sharply.
“Didn’t your precious mate tell you?” Veylan raised a mocking brow—the only one capable of moving in his half-paralyzed face.
I turned to Aedric, but he was staring daggers at Veylan.
“You’re lying,” he said flatly. “You’re lying about the vision.”
“I assure you, I am not.” Veylan angled toward me, bracing an arm lazily over one bent knee as though we were discussing nothing more consequential than the weather. “What I mean, girl, is that you took part of him into yourself. You are tethered in a way far deeper than some ordinary little bond.”
A dangerous rumble rose from Aedric’s chest.
“If one dies,” Veylan continued, unfazed, “the other follows. That is the true cost of siphoning. It is why the practice is forbidden—it is suicide.”
“Aedric,” I breathed, pulse thundering in my throat.
When our gazes met, I saw it immediately—apology. Sadness.
He’d known.
Everything inside me went quiet.
If one dies, the other follows.
My life tied to Rìan’s. Rìan’s tied to mine. The thought was impossible, horrifying…
And then, all at once, understanding crashed through me.
Why Aedric had kept the siphoning secret. Why he’d panicked when the healer discovered the truth. Why he’d gone so far as to have her silenced.
Because this changed everything.
To kill me was to kill Rìan.
Every High Fae in Elantis who feared what Rìan was—what he might become again—would willingly put a blade through my heart if it meant ending the Dark Prince. Sairus. The High Lords and Ladies. Gods, perhaps all of Elantis would see my death as a necessary cost.
Aedric had been trying to protect me.
Protect me from becoming the easiest weapon anyone could ever wield against Rìan.
Abruptly, Aedric tore himself away and strode to the cell, slamming his palm against the magic containing Veylan. The barrier rippled violently.
“You swear it?” he demanded. “You swear Levinica saw the bond broken?”
For the first time since I’d known him, Veylan looked almost solemn. He placed a slender hand over his chest. “I swear it, lordling.” The mocking edge returned, quieter this time. “In this, and this alone, our goals align. This bond between them must be broken.”
Something ignited in Aedric then. I felt it flicker sharply through our bond—fierce, urgent, alive.
“We must go to the Court of Dusk.” He turned to me, his voice taut with urgency. “We have to speak to Levinica.”
I nodded quickly. “And if it’s true—if the bond can be broken…”
“You’ll be free of him,” he said immediately. He took my hands in both of his. “For good.”
“That’s right, Lord of Flame,” Veylan cooed from within the cell. “Your mate will finally be yours—”
His smile widened.
“—and yours alone.”