Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Soulbinding remains the most mysterious and powerful of magical oaths. Mages have been known to elevate to mystic, and non-magic wielders have been granted otherworldly gifts.
We made our way to the southern end of the lake and found Ronan, Vander, and a horde of men and women by early evening. The Rising soldiers were at ease, loose and laughing. Van scooped me up into a one-armed back-cracking embrace before slapping his hand against Drystan’s in greeting.
Ronan’s eyes scanned our group, his brows dipping slightly.
“She’s not here,” I murmured as I stood next to him.
He shrugged his shoulders in that why-should-I-care way, and I raised my brows. His breath hissed through his teeth as he shook his head.
“You need to tell her,” I began. “You need to tell all of them.”
I glanced at the tall soldier, and he kept his eyes forward, scanning clusters of Rising soldiers as they shrugged off their burdens for the evening.
“I will. When the time is right,” he mumbled, glancing sidelong at me.
“They’ll understand. You could have told them about the Rising before Crown Peak, you know. You should have been open with them from the start. Trust is harder to win the second time around.”
He raised a light eyebrow. “Speaking from experience? Can I assume Bayne is getting the same lecture?”
I rolled my eyes as my molars pressed against each other. “Bayne has paid for his dishonesty. And things are…different between us now.”
Ronan barked a bitter laugh. “So, now that you have access to his feelings, you trust him? That’s not trust, Lyvia. That’s a crutch.”
A slow, burning sensation coiled its way into my chest. In a way, he was right. And it made me angry.
“He came clean. And he explained why—”
“Why he lied to you for months about who he was?” Ronan cut in. “Why he stayed so close to you in Sultira? Doesn’t it bother you that he kept all that hidden, even after Kayj? Even in Odessa?”
A dryness formed in my throat. I had forgiven Bayne for hiding so many things, including his true identity. The power of the Bellators that he’d inherited from his ancestor. For his initial intentions of getting close to me. He had feared me. Feared what I would do with this power.
He never intended to let me leave after the crew of the Evecta took me from my cell in Mount Telum. In fact, he might have tried to kill me if things had gone differently.
But then he’d fallen for me as much as I had fallen for him. If I didn’t feel the truth in those emotions coming down the connection we had now, would I have this trust in him? Would I have forgiven him? Would he still fear me?
“We’re not talking about my love life.”
Ronan opened his mouth, and I held up a hand.
“I don’t completely trust you yet, either, Ronan.”
He smirked. Smirked.
“You’re an ass.”
“I like keeping you on your toes, Bonder,” he added with a wink.
I rolled my eyes.
“Tiberius put on an impressive spectacle.” Ronan changed the subject, nudging me in the side. “Think the queen is okay with him showing her up?”
“I’m afraid to even think about it,” I admitted.
He slid his gaze along my bare shoulders and torso, the golden script still shining bright in the low, orange sun.
“You’d make a good elf,” he said, that familiar swagger entering his voice.
I elbowed him in the ribs, but a part of me eased at hearing that carefree tone return. His back was straight and his shoulders tense, but he seemed more relaxed tonight.
“Quite the contrast to that white and pink lacey thing you wore at the Sun Dance last summer.” He pulled his sapphire eyes from mine and looked out at the men and women of the Rising, now joining in the dancing.
I blinked. “How do you know that?”
He glanced back, narrowing his light brows. “I was there, obviously.”
I elbowed him again. “I know that. I saw you,” I said, raising my eyebrows as I remembered the queensguard draped in his finest armor, white cape and all, shining like a black beacon next to the queen. “There were hundreds of people at that ball. You knew who I was a year ago?”
He turned to face me, eyebrows shooting up. “You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
He chuckled and shook his head, turning back to the celebration. “You were a highly sought-after lady-in-waiting. The men at court, those young lords. You were talked about ever since your entry into society four years ago… Wait, five? When was your birthday?”
Pink stained my cheeks. “End of summer.”
“Noted.” He tapped a finger to his temple and gave me a wink. “Anyways, you were an enigma. Beautiful, powerful, and yet all you wanted was to wear those damn black robes. Don’t you remember Lord Pavel’s nephew approaching you that night?”
I blushed as his words sank in. “He asked for some pointers about a couple of his mares. He seemed nervous. I thought maybe he was going to see if I could come work with them myself, but…”
I glanced up at Ronan, whose eyebrows rose to the dimming sky.
He barked out a laugh as he threw his head back, curls bouncing. “Oh, you really had no idea. I couldn’t blame him. At least he was brave enough to approach you. Half of them gawked.”
I chuckled and shook my head. Ronan gave me a roguish grin.
“Can you blame them? You looked…” His eyes took on a glassy quality he searched his mind for memory. “Regal. Even Galena commented.”
The red in my cheeks deepened. I glanced up at Ronan, whose countenance had shifted since his mention of the queen. I bit down on my lip as worry and an overall seriousness seeped back into his face.
“We’ll get back, Ronan,” I said quietly. “Soon. We’ll find a way. Even if Tiberius has to fly us all the way there.”
Ronan snorted. “Not sure that proud horse of yours would allow me on his back again.” He nudged me, eyes softening.
Definitely would not, Ti’s brazen voice sounded in my head.
Get out! I snapped back, severing our connection.
“You need to tell the crew the whole story,” I said, returning my attention to Ronan. He eyed me warily as the internal conflict brewed. “The risk of not getting back in time has to outweigh the importance of the secret. Think about it.”
The music paused for a moment as a new group of musicians replaced the exhausted, jubilant elves who had been playing. They pulled out wooden instruments and picked up a fast, jaunty tune.
Ronan heaved a sigh, as if shaking off the weight of his secret. “Since my duties prevented me from asking you last year”—he turned toward me, holding out a calloused hand—“dance with me?”
I grinned and gripped his hand, grateful that we had opened that door of communication those months ago in Odessa. Grateful for his friendship.
He pulled me into the throng of winding bodies, and we skipped along to the bouncy beat, twirling and laughing as we danced.
Torches lined the edge of the lake and lights hung stretched between branches, creating a web of dazzling flames as Aelius finally dipped beyond the horizon.
The melody shifted as the night wore on.
It picked up in beat and intensity, as if the music itself danced to the flames that swayed and skipped in the night wind.
The dancing turned sultry, with limbs and hips making smooth movements as bodies moved closer. Something deep stirred inside, and my thoughts drifted to Bayne. I pulled my eyes away from the elves pairing off.
Isla grasped my hand and pulled me into a throng of people.
She spun me around, and we danced with each other.
I let the music take me as I flung my arms into the air, spinning and closing my eyes as I took in the freedom of this moment, allowing myself to participate in this joy, in this ongoing celebration with the elves of light and life—with the mystical queendom I hadn’t known existed a year ago.
I spun, losing track of time and my friends after several songs.
Another blast of nebulis powder, this time silver and sparkling and smelling like cedar and something else, something familiar.
It filled the space between the torches, and I reached a hand into the glowing shine that floated through the air, my eyes catching on the stars blinking open in the midnight sky.
I ran my fingers through my hair, marveling at what the silver did to the black strands.
I let the wild waves tangle together as I spun, eyes drifting closed once again.
I opened them moments later as the air stirred around me, the elves moving aside, giving me space.
I slowed my spinning and turned to the billowing cloud of gold nebulis exploding in the distance.
My feet stopped moving along with my heart. I sensed him before I saw his tall, dark form stalk through the shimmering powder that rained from above. A brilliant, green gaze caught mine across the distance as Bayne prowled through the night.