CHAPTER 34 #2
Sebastian threw Kara behind him in an instant, his stance pure Thorne soldier – weight balanced, blade angled, ready to strike.
A soft laugh answered him as a woman stepped out from the darkness.
She was dressed in robes of deep amethyst, which floated behind her as she walked.
Her long, sleek dark hair was streaked with silver, which glowed in Sebastian’s crimson light.
“Oh, Warrior,” she said lightly, as though greeting an old acquaintance. “You are safe here. You may lower your blade.”
Sebastian’s sword did not waver. “Name yourself.”
The woman smiled serenely, completely unbothered by the blade aimed at her heart. “I was beginning to fear you had lost your way. It is wonderful to meet you both at last. The Warrior and the Healer. It was Written.”
The Warrior and the Healer?
Sebastian said nothing. Just waited for an answer.
“Veyra Fatàn,” the woman said, inclining her head. “Head of this House and Keeper of the Written Future.”
Sebastian backed towards the door, one arm out, drawing Kara with him. He tilted his head towards the ledges above. “Written or not,” he said coldly, “I don’t trust words whispered from the dark.”
“Ah, Warrior, you think in blades and traps and betrayal. You cannot help it. But you are not in Thorne anymore. You stand in Fatàn. I assure you, no one here will harm you.”
Sebastian scoffed. “Then why seal the borders the same day we crossed?”
“Sebastian Thorne. Karalynna Hale,” she said, each name deliberate, echoing against the high ceilings. “You are free to leave. You are not, nor will you ever be, prisoners of Fatàn. The shield is for your protection, should you wish it.”
Our protection?
Kara glanced at Sebastian.
He didn’t lower his sword. “Forgive me if I don’t take that on faith.”
Veyra smiled faintly. “I understand. Your protection would not be the will of the rest of Vallenna.”
Kara’s stomach somersaulted unpleasantly. A grim reminder that the whole realm wanted them dead.
“But,” Veyra went on, “I believe you have a question about the Arcanth.”
Sebastian’s hand tightened on the handle of his sword. “And if we do?”
Veyra spread her hands. “Then ask. That is, after all, why you are here.”
“We should,” Kara murmured. “You don’t have to put your sword down.”
He didn’t take his eyes off Veyra but gave a low, reluctant growl. “Fine. Ask.”
“We have all the Shards,” Kara said.
“I know,” Veyra replied simply, as if Kara had told her the weather.
“But they don’t unite for us.”
Veyra shook her head. “No. They won’t.”
Kara took a half-step forward, confusion spilling out. “Why? The Arcanth called to him. I felt it. It chose him.”
“Yes,” Veyra replied, her gaze sliding briefly to Sebastian. “But the Warrior alone is not enough.”
Kara’s heart stuttered. “What do you mean?”
Veyra didn’t answer but walked between two columns, leading them out of the corridor into a section of the library on their left, lit in low torchlight. The walls held books from floor to ceiling and in the centre was a small wooden table. Veyra settled herself at it and looked up at them.
“Answer her,” Sebastian demanded, eyes darting around the room. “What did you mean?”
“The Arcanth requires you both,” Veyra told them. “It responds to a Soulbond alone.”
A Soulbond.
The air left her. Sebastian stiffened beside her as his grip faltered for the first time.
“No,” he said harshly. “No, that’s not–” He stopped himself, shaking his head violently as though he could throw the thought off. “We can’t. I can’t.”
Kara turned towards him, startled. “Sebastian–” but he stepped out of her reach, throwing his hand up to stop her advancing.
Veyra’s gaze sharpened, as though she read the panic in him as clearly as words on a page. “The path you have walked was necessary, to allow a Soulbond to occur.”
“You knew all this would happen?” Sebastian asked, stunned.
Veyra inclined her head almost imperceptibly. It was enough.
“Everything we’ve been through,” Kara said, horror dawning. “You knew. You let it happen.”
Sebastian’s voice was low. “Do you know what she endured?”
Veyra’s expression didn’t change. “Yes. I do. But Draknor are coming – days or weeks, it is not clear – but they will land before the winter frost. Whether you unite the Shards or not.” Her tone was not cruel, just certain. That was worse.
“Why didn’t you tell the Council that?” Kara demanded.
“If we had,” Veyra said calmly, “and they’d allowed the Shards to be removed... the Healer would never have been sent after the Warrior. You would not be standing together now.”
Kara took a step back, reeling. “You don’t know that.”
“Were you,” Veyra asked, “or were you not engaged to the Caldris son before you hunted this man?”
Sebastian stiffened beside her. Kara didn’t answer. They all knew the answer.
“Left on your original path,” Veyra said, “you would have wed Caldris and called it duty.”
The words hit Kara like a physical blow. She thought of Henry’s dutiful face, the weight of her father’s expectations, the quiet suffocation she had once accepted as her future – and she saw it clearly. Henry’s hand in hers, the wedding, the crushing emptiness.
Sebastian’s free hand clenched into a fist. “Then why tell the Council of a prophecy at all?”
Veyra’s gaze turned to him, maddeningly calm. “It is our duty. And ask yourself, would your father have helped you without it? Would Tobias Thorne have stood beside you if he did not also believe Draknor were coming?”
Sebastian and Kara shared a look of unpleasant surprise. Evidently, as the bloodline of Fatàn, Veyra saw far more than she’d ever revealed to the Council.
“Tobias Thorne was integral to your success. We performed our duty to Vallenna. We do not, as a rule, interfere. We allow the Council to make its own decisions. Those decisions led you to each other.”
“It nearly burned her alive,” Sebastian snarled.
“And now your love is forged in flame,” Veyra said without flinching. “To Soulbond, you must be willing to die for one another. It’s more than love – it’s unconditional, irrevocable. You...” Her violet eyes glittered. “have now proven that.”
Kara’s fingers found Sebastian’s on pure instinct. He didn’t move, but he didn’t pull away either. Their magic glimmered faintly.
Sebastian’s voice rose. “You didn’t have to force this! The Arcalon – our magic reached for each other. We knew there was something, even then. You didn’t need to drag Kara through hell to prove it.”
“He’s right,” Kara confirmed. “We both felt it.”
Veyra nodded. “Yes, this is true. We watched you. The Warrior and the Healer. Every trial, every choice. The bond between you grew, before you truly understood it yourselves. And yet you did not choose him. Even when your magic stirred, you walked away.”
“I didn’t want to–” Kara began.
“But still you did,” Veyra said, frowning slightly.
“We did not wish this path for you, Healer. We hoped your feelings alone would be enough. Perhaps then we could have guided the Council to a more peaceful method. But you chose duty and comfort. A life that would doom Vallenna. So we ensured duty and comfort were no longer options.”
“You let the Council name us traitors,” Sebastian spat. “When you knew the truth.”
“Yes,” Veyra said. “And I did not intervene in her trial that followed.”
“You could have stopped all of it,” Kara said.
“I could have,” Veyra said evenly. “But your choice made this path necessary. I will not apologise for ensuring Vallenna’s survival.”
Veyra stopped, and watched Kara closely. Crimson light snaked over Sebastian’s arms.
“That wasn’t my choice–” Kara began, her words tangling. “You don’t understand – you’re twisting what–”
“You hunted him, captured him,” she said, unblinking. “Only changing your mind when the truth of his execution at your own hand became too much to bear.”
Kara looked desperately at Sebastian. But what could she say? His face was shadowed with doubt. Pain.
“Stop it, please,” Kara pleaded.
But Veyra wasn’t finished. “And you,” she said, now looking directly at Sebastian.
“You condemned her when she betrayed you. Would you have forgiven her, Warrior, truly, if not for the trials that followed? If not for seeing her broken, bleeding, desperate to reach you? Knowing she chose to burn rather than betray you again?”
Sebastian lowered his sword, only a fraction, but it was clear the words had winded him. Shame and anger flared in Kara’s chest, at her own weakness, at the manipulation, at all of it.
Sebastian turned to her, his voice edged with desperation. “No, that’s not... I was trying. I wanted to – I already–”