3. Six Days Until Bonding #3
I follow his gaze to see Samantha’s mother in the doorway, beautiful with her long curling hair. She sends a quick glance my way, then looks back to Carr. “The bonding committee is here. They’re waiting downstairs for you.”
“Thank you, Rebecca.” The words are overly formal, given the raw emotion I just saw flash across his face. “I’ll be right there.”
Rebecca closes the door softly behind her.
Carr’s eyes remain fixed on the closed door, as though part of him is standing on the other side. Carrson told me he thought these two were once bonded.
Maybe he’s onto something.
Carr picks up the pocketknife, closes it with a click, and slides it into his pocket. Leaving the half-eaten apple on the table, he rises to his feet and walks to the door but pauses, one hand on the doorknob. “What Jack demanded, Sealed by Sight, do you know what that means?”
I think back. “Thomson mentioned it once. Bonded by Blood, Sealed by Sight. He didn’t know any details.”
Carr takes a breath through his nose, his gaze shifting briefly to Carrson before returning to me. “In the earliest days of The Order, a bonding wasn’t accepted on vows alone. The Order had to verify it was true. That no one would later claim the bond had been falsified or left unfinished.”
I wait, unease building as the explanation circles closer to something I can’t comprehend yet.
“Blood establishes the promise,” Carr continues. “The vows establish intent. But sight was what made the bond indisputable.”
My fingers curl around Carrson’s hand.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the bonded pair completed the ceremony before witnesses.” His voice is almost formal. “The members of The Order called to attend saw it with their own eyes. Once a bond was sealed, no one could contest it.”
For a second, I think he must mean another ritual. More blood. A prayer. Some final oath spoken in front of the people downstairs.
“I don’t understand.”
Carr Ashford has looked me in the eye while he whipped his own son, while he held a knife and asked whether I loved Carrson, while he explained that the future he believes in justifies every terrible thing he has done.
Now, he can barely look at me.
“You and Carrson consummate your bonding before witnesses,” he says. “Before the entire Order.”
“Consummate,” I repeat dumbly, my brain unable to process the words. “Witnesses?”
He doesn’t say anything, just watches with wary eyes, waiting for me to catch up.
“Wait…you don’t—you can’t possibly…mean,” my voice rises in volume as each of his words hits like a punch to the face, “that Carrson and I have sex in front of everyone!”
He nods once, the motion crisp. “That’s it exactly.”
“But—but,” I sputter, horror rising so quickly I can’t keep up with it. “I mean, everyone?”
“The entire Order is invited.” His gaze goes to my hand joined with Carrson’s. “Given that Carrson is an Ashford and you are, well…you, I’m guessing the turnout will be large. Especially after that little stunt you just pulled downstairs.”
He says it as though being publicly whipped was something I chose because I wanted the notoriety, rather than the only thing I could think to do to protect his son.
“That’s archaic,” I say, my stomach churning with a sick feeling. I might actually throw up. “Abhorrent.”
“The practice hasn’t been used in more than a century.” Carr’s mouth twists as though the words taste bitter. “Modern technology made the sealing obsolete. There are faster, more reliable ways to establish the truth of a bond.”
He sounds almost as disgusted by it as I am, which only makes the situation stranger. Carr Ashford and I are on the same side of something. Not because he cares what this would do to me, I remind myself. Not even because he cares what it would do to Carrson. He sees it as a relic, a waste of time.
I understand hating him. I understand fighting him.
I don’t know what to do with the fact that, in this, we agree.
“You don’t want the sealing either?”
“Do not mistake practicality for mercy, Laurel,” he says. “But yes. It’s a practice better left in the past.”
“Then why is Jack allowed to demand it?”
“The old bylaws were never removed.” Carr looks toward the door, his expression darkening.
“Jack Beaumont knows exactly what he’s doing.
He wants this bonding challenged from the start.
He wants Carrson humiliated before the people who are supposed to follow him.
He wants you to know that by bonding with my son, The Order owns you. They can decide what becomes of you.”
I look over at Carrson, who sleeps beside me. He hasn’t moved once during this conversation. “Does Carrson know what it means?”
“I don’t believe so.” Carr hardens his jaw. “There’s nothing to be done about it. To fight against it would only make us look weak and would further any claims that you and Carrson don’t truly belong to one another. We can’t afford that kind of mistrust. Not now.”
“But—”
“Watch him,” he commands, gesturing to Carrson. “He should wake soon. If something’s wrong, come get me.”
Then he’s gone, the door closing behind him before I can finish my argument.