47. Chapter Forty-Six #4
“Don’t try anything with your fire demon magic,” the guard snapped at me as she’d removed my shackles, “or I’ll kill you and her.” To illustrate her point, she’d lifted a forget-me-not infused blade, pointing it toward Lily.
Gritting my teeth, I’d let the relief from my temporary reprieve of the shackles rush through me. “I won’t.”
For those brief moments as I stripped out of my clothes and stepped into the tub, I remembered my magic and felt my fire in my chest. I longed to unleash it. Or to curse the consequences and transform into phoenix form.
But even if I could escape, I couldn’t get far without Archer, and I refused to risk him—or Owen or Lily. As soon as I was finished and dressed in my fresh nightgown, the guard marched over, my shackles in her gloved hands, and clamped my blistered wrists back in them.
The pain slammed into me like a punch, sucking the air from my lungs. I couldn’t quite stop the tears from pooling in my eyes.
Lily scowled, pulling me into a crushing embrace, but the guard stalked off, satisfied that I was no longer a threat. “We’re going to get you home,” Lily whispered in my ear fiercely. “I promise. Once the bond is broken and you’re safe to be away from Archer.”
I wanted to say more, how I regretted that we couldn’t spend more time together or how I wanted to be able to help them fight the battle for Emberglade too, but she was already slipping away. “We need rest before we go on,” she added.
“Are you stuck with the guards?”
Lily’s cheeks pinked. “They have a room to themselves. I…uh. Well, Owen didn’t want me trapped with any of them, and there weren’t enough rooms for me to have my own. And since Archer insisted on being close to you…”
I raised my eyebrows. Ah. Something interesting to distract me from my pain.
“It’s just a friendly gesture,” she added hastily, unable to hide the wistfulness in her eyes. “And even if it meant anything—which it doesn’t—it can’t lead to anything, so it hardly matters.”
Under different circumstances, I’d have teased her, but knowing her pain, I didn’t dare. “I’m glad he’s watching out for you,” I said instead.
“Goodnight, Isa.” Lily squeezed my hand, a thousand unspoken thanks and regrets shared in the small smile she offered me.
And then she was gone, weaving out of my shared room with Archer and leaving me to reenter our bedroom. Archer was in a pair of loose pants and nothing else. A wave of worry washed over me.
“Where is your shirt?” I demanded, eyes wide as I dragged them away from the muscled planes of his chest.
“Oh, is it missing?” Archer smirked, pulling back the blanket and settling into the bed.
Even when he tugged the bedclothes over himself, they didn’t cover enough of his chest. His gaze scanned me from head to toe where I hovered in the washroom’s doorway, suddenly thinking the floor sounded preferable to the bed.
“If you aren’t covering those marvelous legs while you sleep, why would I wear a shirt?
It’s too hot, and this is how I sleep comfortably. ”
Stifling a groan, I pushed off the entryway and forced myself over to the bed, pretending like I slept next to a half-clothed Archer every night. My only comfort was that I could still feel the anxiety rolling off Archer in waves, assuring me that his unaffected air was all for show.
Lying back on my own pillow, I ensured there was enough distance to keep us from touching as I tugged my half of the blanket over myself. Rolling onto my side so my back was to Archer, I closed my eyes and tried to think of anything other than the maddening prince in bed with me.
“Goodnight, Archer.” Even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to say. I wanted to ask him if he’d miss me when I was gone, if he’d feel the absence of our bond. As unwanted as it had once been, it had become a comfort to sense his emotions, to know I could speak into his mind.
“Goodnight.”
For a long time, I lay there listening to the steady sound of his breathing. Every movement clinked my shackles together, the forget-me-nots a constant pain that distracted me from sleep. I stifled a groan when the metal dug into my skin, chafing at the developing blisters.
I’m sorry, Archer sent into my mind. You shouldn’t have to sleep in chains.
It’s not your fault.
He reached for me before seeming to think better of it.
Our emotions were knotted, full of pain and the ache of missing our magic. But I could sense his underlying anxiety, mirroring my own. There were others too, confusion and doubt and warmth and something that might have been a level of affection mixed with attraction.
“Isa?” Archer murmured after another long period of sleepless silence, his tone soft as he spoke into the darkness. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
The memory of our embrace hung between us, and my stomach tightened. “Yes?” I whispered.
“I lied.”
The admission jolted me out of my uncomfortable focus on my pain and those unnamed emotions swirling through the bond. “About what?”
“About not feeling anything when I kiss you.”
My skin was aflame with the urge to turn to him and kiss him again.
That ache in my chest was a little less painful, making me start to hope.
No, don’t be foolish. He’s going to send you back home.
Even if he wanted you beyond temporary attraction, you can never be together.
His father wants to kill you. His people won’t accept you.
“Archer, we are blood bound,” I said firmly, as if to convince myself as much as him.
“It’s natural that we feel things, but it doesn’t mean anything. ”
With a clink of my chains, I turned back onto my side, facing away from him, hoping that was the end of the conversation.
Silence hung heavily in the darkness. My heart sank, but I refused to take back my words. Giving into anything—risking anything than what was necessary between us—was unwise. Keeping this wall around myself was safe.
We were fated enemies, after all. If Maris had seen one of us destroying the other, maybe that’s what would happen once Vithenna broke our bond. Eventually, all of this—whatever it was—would be meaningless.
At last, Archer rolled over too, his back also to me. “Goodnight, Feathers.”
His use of the nickname filled me with both relief and a strange pang of sadness. “Goodnight.”