Chapter 7
Elariya
“The Things We Carry”
Iwalked into the living room with my heart pounding in my throat.
Mother, Grandmother, and Emabelle were gathered near the hearth, folding linens and stacking clothes into neat piles. The fire was low, the room quiet, the kind of domestic calm that felt obscene after everything I’d learned.
For a heartbeat, none of them noticed me.
Then Mother looked up.
Her gaze slid over my face and stilled. Then it dropped.
To my tunic.
My pants.
My boots.
Her hands froze mid-fold, hazel eyes widening.
“Elariya?” She spoke my name quietly, as though saying it louder might cause something to shatter.
Grandmother’s head lifted. Emabelle turned.
All eyes were on me.
Mother rose slowly, confusion sharpening when her eyes flicked to the satchel at my side. “Where are you going?”
“Back to Galaythia.” The words sounded insane and freeing. “Or wherever my mission takes me.”
Mother’s skin drained pale. Grandmother and Emabelle stood, staring at me like I’d just confessed to murder.
“What are you talking about, dear?” Grandmother stepped forward.
“I know.” My voice didn’t shake like I expected it to. “I know the truth. I wasn’t in a coma. And the spell I cast to find Father didn’t give me this.”
I held up my wrist, showing them the sigil.
“It’s a soul mark.” I met her gaze and didn’t look away. “A bond.”
“Elariya, please—”
“No.” I shook my head, heat rising fast behind my eyes. “How could you lie to me? All of you?” My gaze snapped to Emabelle.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered.
“Child.” Grandmother spoke in a low voice. “There are things at work you don’t understand.”
“Then tell me.” I took a step closer. “Tell me what I don’t understand. I know you were trying to protect me, protect us. But lies?”
Mother came closer and stopped in front of me. “You can’t go back. I forbid it.” Her voice didn’t sound as controlling as it usually did. It sounded like a plea. “It isn’t safe.”
I reached into my satchel and pulled out the seal first.
Grandmother gasped.
“The royal seal of Galaythia,” she breathed. “Where did you get that?”
“Prince Alaric of Galaythia has requested my help in finding his brother, Wolfe Nightblade.” My mouth tightened around the name. “And I’m going.”
“The prince requested your help?” Mother whispered.
“Tell us what happened,” Grandmother rasped. “How came you by this seal? Getting a royal request is no mere thing.”
I held her stare. “Why don’t you tell me how I got home first, then I’ll tell you everything.”
The air thickened, heavy with tension and all the unspoken truths hanging between us.
Grandmother glanced at Mother, who stiffened when their eyes met, then she eventually nodded.
Grandmother looked back at me, her eyes wide and cautious. “Thayden brought you home.”
Blessed Mother. I knew it. “How?”
“We don’t know.” Grandmother’s hands curled at her sides. “He told us only that he tracked you to Galaythia. That he took a team of men and brought you back. Nothing more. No details of who had you. No details of what he faced.”
She drew a slow breath, and something like disgust tightened her mouth. “But I learned the rest on my own. Quietly.”
My pulse kicked. “What did you learn Grandmother?”
“That he hired Scabbards.”
My body locked. Scabbards were mercenary outlaws from the fringe lands between the Veil and the mortal realm—smugglers, Veil-thieves. Some were mixed-bloods like me, born with magic. Some stole it. Some used alchemy to twist whatever they could siphon into something useful.
“Their kind can move where they shouldn’t,” Grandmother said, voice low. “They can slip past the Veil without drawing the usual notice.”
“So, he didn’t involve King Varis?”
“No. And he didn’t involve Prince Maelor, either. Because what Thayden did would never be sanctioned. And if he’d gone through proper channels…”—her gaze sharpened—“it would have taken longer. You would have been gone longer.”
“Why didn’t he involve you?”
“My dear child, you may not remember what’s happened over the last five years, but you know what Thayden is like. He likes to be in charge.” She raised her brows.
“You were taken on the eve of your engagement celebration. He was enraged by that. Everyone was looking for you for weeks. We didn’t know where you went, and we kept finding leads that led nowhere.
There was very little we could do openly without drawing attention to ourselves.
We tried every spell we dared. All we got were glimpses of your soul, just enough to know you lived and were safe, for the most part, but we wanted you home.
Thayden brought you back on the day your memory reset. ”
I was sure that was by design because it was easier.
“And there’s more.” Grandmother’s voice took on a frail edge.
“What?” The satchel strap cut into my shoulder like a warning as I pulled it closer.
“He knows your powers aren’t bound, Elariya.” Mother stepped closer. “He saw you use them in the magical realm.”
My blood turned to ice in my veins. “Oh, Gods.”
That was a secret we’d kept all my life.
The sentence for such a thing was death. We’d be treated worse than those who practiced witchcraft.
Blessed Mother, that was why everyone had been on edge and so scared they could barely breathe.
“He’s threatened to deliver us to Prince Maelor if we do not cooperate, if… you don’t marry him.” Mother placed a hand to her heart. “Then he’ll have all of us killed.”
Gods above. That was what he meant yesterday about holding the power.
And he was right.
That asshole had it all.
The bravado I previously felt evaporated like mist in a fog, and a tremor of terror coursed through me.
My family more than needed me. This was no longer about keeping the house and our lands. It was about life. Their lives.
Grandmother reached forward and took my hand with the sigil.
She inspected it and gave me a sad smile.
“I knew what it meant. I knew that a member of House Nightblade must have given it to you. But I couldn’t risk entertaining it with Thayden around.
I told him it was the mark of a spell.” She pressed her lips and intensified her gaze. “Which of the princes gave it to you?”
“It was Wolfe.”
Her eyes grew wider, and she glanced at Mother looking visibly shaken. When she looked back at me, I could see she was trying to maintain her composure.
“Elariya… Gods be good. My dear girl—” She faltered, as if the words themselves carried weight. “Wolfe Nightblade is not someone to trifle with. Of all the Fae, he’s one of the most powerful and dangerous beings in the magical realm.”
Goosebumps prickled along my arms. “I know.” I’d written extensive notes about Wolfe and his powers and his danger, but it didn’t change my mind. “He is all of that, but he gave me his mark.”
“He bonded his soul to you. But it does not mean that you are bonded to him.”
My brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Your curse. With one like yours, where your choice is impaired, a bonding of the soul would go against the laws of fate and destiny.” She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Though you may have been in love, you don’t remember it.”
A pang of guilt stabbed at my heart. The fact that I didn’t feel like I was in love with Wolfe just proved her point.
“Wolfe is missing.” I decided to focus on more important matters. “He was with me when he went missing. That must have something to do with whatever Thayden did to get me back. I’ve been asked to help find him. I can’t remember him, but I can’t with good conscience abandon him.”
Mother rushed forward and held on to my shoulders. “Elariya, you have no idea where he may be. Vaelthorne is a dangerous place.” Mother’s grip tightened, too tight, like she could keep me here by force. “I can’t allow you to go where it’s not safe. Please do not do this.”
I gazed at her long and hard. “Mother, this isn’t only about me leaving. You still haven’t asked how I even came to know Wolfe Nightblade.”
“How?” Emabelle blurted, stepping closer. “How did you meet him?”
“It was Wolfe who took me. Because of Father. Because of what he did the last time he crossed into the magical realm.”
The moment I said that, Mother held her breath.
“What did he do?” she asked, her moon-white skin growing paler.
“He killed Wolfe’s father.”
Grandmother’s hand slipped from mine. Mother’s did, too, like her fingers had forgotten how to hold. For a heartbeat, she looked as if she might fold in on herself.
Grandmother steadied first, then her eyes sharpened to something old and dangerous. “Tell us everything, child. Tell us everything.”
I reached into my satchel and took out my journal. “This is my journal from last month.”
I drew in a slow breath, then told them what they needed to know.
I kept the tender parts about Wolfe to myself.
When I finished, I handed the letter I’d prepared for them to my grandmother.
“Everything’s in there,” I rasped. “In case you need to go over it.”
With a shaky hand, Grandmother took the letter from me and held it to her chest.
Mother swayed and walked blindly to the couch as if her legs had forgotten how to work. She sat hard, one hand pressed to her heart, the other braced against the cushion.
“Mother…”
She looked at me, eyes glassy, expression overwhelmed. “Your father … he did this. He killed the king… He dragged us into his nightmare…”
“Yes, Mother.”
“My heart can’t take this.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “My heart…”
I walked over to her and rested my hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry.” She was shaking so hard I could feel her tremors in my body.
Her devastation was palpable. She loved my father with all her soul and knew his actions would come with serious consequences if we managed to get him back alive.
Mother had given up so much to be with my father and create a life here in the mortal lands, where she knew she’d never be able to use her magic again.
Grandmother didn’t move. She stood very still, very straight, as if emotion were a luxury she couldn’t afford.