Chapter 28 Tethered Souls
TETHERED SOULS
The weight of everything that just happened settled deep inside me, as the reality of what Wye had just given up began to take hold.
I barely had time to process it before Wye was wrapping his arms around me.
In fact, he only pulled back from me so that he could check me for injuries.
His hands closed gently around mine as he lifted them, his gaze dropping to the cuts left behind from where I had clung to the stone.
His touch was careful, as his thumbs brushed lightly over my skin, checking each mark with quiet focus, as though the smallest injury to me mattered more than everything he had just lost.
And that only made it worse.
Because no matter how I tried to look at it, no matter how I tried to steady myself, the truth sat there, unrelenting and impossible to ignore…
He had given up everything for me.
I turned slowly, my gaze dragging across the dead, ashen wasteland around us. The broken remains of something that had once held power now lay scattered, reduced to nothing more than a hollow grave of stone and dust.
Only then did my attention lift back to him.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked quietly, the question slipping from me before I could stop it.
“There must be shelter around here somewhere, where did Dantalion reside whilst here?” he asked Bo, who told him about a cave system not far from here.
“But what comes after that, because we have to find a way out of here.” I pointed out, but he didn’t respond immediately.
Wye’s expression tightened, as though the weight of it sat just as heavily on him. Then his hand came to my waist, pulling me closer into him in a way that felt instinctive. As though keeping me there mattered more than the answer itself. One he gave me regardless.
“I don’t know,” he admitted at last, his voice strained, the words clearly costing him more than he would ever willingly show.
My breath caught slightly at that, my gaze lifting to his.
“You don’t know a way out of here?”
His jaw tightened, and then he shook his head once.
“No. There is no way out of here… that’s the point of the Null.”
“Well, that’s not entirely true.” Bo’s voice cut in, drawing both of our attention toward him as he stepped forward. He brushed ash from his clothes, as though the end of the world wasn’t quite enough to dampen his usual attitude.
“Explain.” Wye’s gaze narrowed, and Bo lifted a hand, gesturing between him and me.
“I made it out of here.”
“No, you were forced from this place, there is a difference,” Wye countered immediately, his tone flat, cutting.
“Yes, and lucky for us, that difference is standing right there,” he said, nodding to me and making me jerk back a little.
“Erh, what now?” I asked.
“You summoned me,” Bo stated, and I frowned.
“I thought we already established that you were tethered to me,” I blurted out before looking warily at Wye, who was looking around as if there might be something in this vast wasteland that could magically aid us. Naturally, I wasn’t holding my breath at this point.
“He was being used as a pawn.”
The response came from Wye, and I couldn’t help but shoot him a surprised look.
His gaze softened when it returned to me, though the tension didn’t leave him entirely.
Not considering that we were still up shit creek without a paddle…
and, from the looks of it, the creek was on fire and trying to kill us.
“What I also know is that he tried to save you,” he said, his voice holding a certainty that hadn’t ever been there before when talking about Bo. But he surprised me further by going on to say,
“Even when he was losing his grip, even when it would have been easier to let you go and save himself by climbing higher… he didn’t. Which means that I’ve seen enough to know he wasn’t aware of what was being done to him.”
Bo snorted lightly,
“Wow, that almost sounded like a compliment.” Wye scoffed,
“Let’s not go that far.”
“But he’s right,” I said, my voice steadier now as something began to piece itself together in my mind.
“You did get out… and you said it wasn’t planned.” Bo nodded, throwing his hands up and declaring,
“That’s what I have been trying to tell you!”
“What are you talking about?” Wye asked, as clearly his mind had been elsewhere.
“Think about it, she summoned me… from this place, which means it’s possible she could do it again, only this time in reverse,” Bo pointed out.
“It’s most likely through her connection to me, as that’s the only explanation as to why she was able to access this place long enough to get you out,” Wye said, making me frown.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“Only those who control the Null are able to create portals into it. But taking Dantalion’s place has now stripped me of that ability, as he knew it would.”
“Yes, but he made the bargain with you, not with her,” Bo was quick to point out again, making Wye narrow his eyes in thought.
“Wait a second… are you really saying what I think you are? That you think I could get us out of here?” I asked, shocked, and suddenly wondered if I was about to need a pair of ruby slippers.
“You summoned me,” he said simply.
“And trust me, that wasn’t part of Dantalion’s master plan. If anything, the look on his face said he most definitely hadn’t seen that one coming.” I frowned slightly.
“But how can you be sure?”
“Because he was surprised,” Bo replied without hesitation, going on to say,
“Which means whatever this was supposed to be… it didn’t go exactly how he intended.”
Wye’s gaze shifted between us, something darker, more focused beginning to settle into place.
“What are you suggesting exactly?” Wye asked, and Bo pointed toward me.
“I’m suggesting we already have our way out.”
Silence followed that for a few heartbeats longer before Wye’s attention snapped fully to me.
“That night in my office and once again in the bathroom, each time you created portals, but how?”
I hesitated, shrugging my shoulder and lifting a hand slightly as I tried to find the words.
“I don’t… really know. I just… look at a symbol and then think of a place I want to be, and then it’s like, something just pulls me there.” Wye exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down the back of his neck.
“In that case, that’s going to be a problem,” he muttered.
“Why?” Bo and I asked simultaneously.
“Because I don’t exactly see my library anywhere in this wasteland.”
A thought suddenly struck me then, and before I could second-guess it, I stepped forward, reaching for his shirt.
He blinked.
“Okay, sweetheart… I mean, I’m not complaining, but this feels like a very specific moment to start undressing me,” Wye commented, and Bo made a choking noise.
“I mean, when you're desperate, you’re desperate but also… timing?”
“Shut up,” I muttered, already pulling open the front of Wye’s shirt, my fingers brushing over the firm heat of his chest before I pointed.
“What about these?”
Wye stilled, his gaze dropping to where I touched him, and then, slowly, his brows lifted as understanding hit.
“My sigils…” he murmured, and Bo leaned closer, squinting slightly.
“Realm marker… your house crest… yeah, that’ll do it. That’s Limbo tied directly to you.”
“Which means,” Wye said, his voice sharpening,
“I know exactly where it will take us.” His hand came up to the back of my neck, pulling me in as he pressed a hard kiss to my lips.
“You’re a fucking genius!” he growled happily, making me blush.
As for Bo, he cleared his throat loudly,
“Ahem… I think you will find that I contributed greatly here.” Wye glanced at him and said,
“Yes. But I don’t want to kiss you.”
“Fair enough,” Bo muttered.
Wye didn’t hesitate after that, shrugging his shirt off completely and stepping back.
“Go on then, sweetheart,” he said, spreading his arms slightly.
“Let’s see what you can do.”
I swallowed, nodding once as I focused, my gaze locking onto the symbols etched across his skin. And then instinctively… I reached for it.
Not physically, not truly, but something in me connected with it, pulled at it, until the mark seemed to peel away from him. Until it rose into the air between us as a shifting, smoky construct of light and shadow.
It responded to me.
Moved with me… for me. And then, with a sharp pull, it tore open space itself, and the portal bloomed into existence.
Without hesitation, Wye’s hand found mine, grounding me as he stepped forward, drawing me with him as Bo followed close behind.
“Time to get the fuck out of here!” Wye declared, pulling us through, and instantly, the world twisted.
It fractured before being put back together again, seconds before we landed in a new place, and most definitely not the one I had in mind.
The air changed instantly, thicker, richer, charged with power that hummed beneath my skin as I slowly lifted my head. My breath caught at the sight before me.
The throne room stretched out in impossible scale, vast and carved from obsidian stone that gleamed like polished glass beneath a dim, ambient glow.
The architecture, both brutal and beautiful in equal measure, with its towering pillars that rose toward a ceiling lost in shadow.
Their surfaces were etched with ancient markings that pulsed faintly with magic.
Subtle touches of something softer threaded through the darkness, curling vine-like carvings that felt delicate, almost fae in nature.
These were woven seamlessly into the harsher lines of the demonic design.
It was a place of power.
Of legacy. And at the center of it all…
There he sat.
A man who, without a shadow of doubt, was Wye’s father and ruler of the realm of Oblivion. And if Wye was power contained, then this man was power perfected.
Long black hair fell over broad shoulders, contrasting sharply against pale, flawless skin. His features were strikingly similar to Wye’s, yet sharper, older in a way that spoke not of age, but of experience.
Where Wye carried light, something celestial beneath the darkness, this man was the inverse of it. Like shadow wrapped in elegance. His presence was both commanding and effortless as he lounged upon his throne like a king who had never once doubted his place upon it.
His robes flowed around him, dark as night, yet threaded with faint, shifting patterns that caught the light like starlight woven into silk. This gave him an almost otherworldly presence that blurred the line between demon and something far older.
Guards stood on either side, unmoving, clad in gleaming silver armor that reflected the room like mirrors, their faces hidden, their presence silent.
And his gaze…
Locked onto us instantly.
“Well,” he drawled, a slow smile curving his mouth,
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I blinked, stunned, my gaze flicking to Wye.
“That’s your father?” Wye huffed quietly.
“Unfortunately.”
His father’s smile widened slightly.
“I doubt you’ve brought me a gift I can enjoy,” he said lazily, his gaze sliding over me with an interest that was far from subtle.
“Father, I would like to present to you my Fated. This is my Siren,” Wye cut in, his tone firm.
“Eliza Shadowmere.”
The shift was immediate.
“Ah,” his father murmured, something far more knowing settling into his expression.
“So, she was right… my sweet beloved.” I frowned, shooting Wye a look, but he just shook his head before confirming on a whisper,
“He speaks of my mother.”
“Oh,” I uttered as his father leaned forward slightly, resting his chin against his knuckles.
“Let’s see, Hell’s Prince, a human Siren and a Kobalos demon…”
“Walk into a bar?” I filled in making his father chuckle,
“Oh, I like her son. But alas, as much as it sounds like the perfect set-up for a jest, I believe my son is far too serious for such things, especially as he has something to tell me,” He said, raising a brow and waiting for it.
Wye’s expression hardened.
“We have a prisoner who needs to be returned to his cage. Dantalion has escaped the Null.” A pause followed, and then his father waved a hand dismissively.
“Leave that to me,” he said lightly, making Wye’s eyes widen.
“But…”
“But nothing, for now. If I have need of you when the time comes, I will call on you. Until then, he will no doubt be licking his wounds and trying to regain his power. Flushing him out will take time… and it seems you have far more pressing matters to attend to.” His gaze flicked between us, something amusing sparkling there. I didn’t have long to wait as he added,
“Like marrying this one.” My mouth dropped open in a gasp as he winked at me.
“Erh I…” I started to say when Wye shocked me even more and replied,
“I’ll send you an invite,” Bo pumped a fist and said,
“Wow, way to go, girly, you work fast.” I scowled down at him.
His father’s gaze shifted to him, amused.
“And this one?”
“He’s coming with us,” Wye said without hesitation, and my wide-eyed gaze shot to his when he admitted,
“He’s proven useful.” Bo grinned.
“You hear that? I’m officially part of the team now.” I laughed softly despite everything, bumping my fist against his.
Because just like that, it was over.
Not the story.
No, that was just the beginning, as I knew that what came next…
Was Fated after all.