CHAPTER 37 #2
“Kneel there,” she directed, pointing to it. “Facing each other.”
Kara risked a glance at Sebastian as they obeyed. He didn’t say a word, and neither did she. She didn’t think she could. Anticipation fluttered in her chest. Kara gripped his hand tighter, hoping he would understand her meaning.
Don’t let go.
Her knees dug into the stone floor, her free hand clammy against her dress.
Sebastian’s shoulders were tense, his sword still at his hip – because of course it was – even here, even now.
But he wasn’t watching the room as he usually did.
His eyes were on her. And the look in them made her feel braver.
I’m about to Soulbond with Sebastian Thorne.
A thrill ran through her. The whole thing felt surreal. Terrifying but wonderful.
Well, Father, I guess I don’t take your advice very well.
She took a breath to steady herself.
“You are ready,” Veyra said. It wasn’t a question, but Kara murmured, “Yes,” anyway. Sebastian gave one small nod of assent.
Veyra settled into position in front of them, setting a small silver bowl on the stone floor.
She added earth, a pinch of dark soil, then water, which pooled around it.
Air came next, the faintest swirl of breath over the rim.
Last came fire, a sudden flame that leapt up and danced above the rest. Kara’s pulse tripped as she felt the heat on her skin. It was too close. Too hot.
As if he’d read her mind, Sebastian stroked the back of her hand – a silent I’m here.
The bowl glowed faintly gold, and a pulse of something ancient echoed through Kara, gone as quickly as it came.
“In the name of the Four,” Veyra intoned, her voice echoing. “Earth, Water, Air and Fire. The balance of life. The magic that binds us. May you witness this Soulbond.”
Kara squeezed Sebastian’s hand and he smiled faintly in return.
“This bond,” Veyra said, “is not of body or of law, but of soul. Once joined, no force in this world can sever it. Your pain will be shared, your joy doubled, your strength made whole. Where one walks, the other is never absent. To choose this is to choose eternity. Once done, you cannot turn back.”
Kara’s heart turned over at the words. She looked into Sebastian’s eyes. He was pale, but he didn’t look away.
Veyra’s gaze moved to him first. “Sebastian Thorne, Warrior, Son of Fire, do you vow to bind yourself to Karalynna Hale? Soul to soul, magic to magic, essence to essence. To accept her pain as yours, her strength as yours. Eternal, unbroken even by death. By the Four who watch, and under the blessing of the Arcanth, do you so vow?”
Sebastian swallowed. He looked nervous, but when he spoke, he didn’t falter. “I do.” Then quieter, full of a conviction she hadn’t heard from him before, like he’d finally stopped fighting: “My soul is already yours.”
She almost stopped breathing. Hearing him say it like that. The world could have ended in that moment and she wouldn’t have cared. He’d chosen her. Freely. Finally. Always.
Veyra turned to Kara. “Karalynna Hale, Healer, Daughter of Air, do you vow to bind yourself to Sebastian Thorne? Soul to soul, magic to magic, essence to essence. To accept his pain as yours, his strength as yours. Eternal, unbroken even by death. By the Four who watch, and under the blessing of the Arcanth, do you so vow?”
Kara looked into his ice-blue eyes and felt nothing but utter certainty. Tears welled. “I do. My soul is yours.”
Sebastian’s eyes closed for a second. When he opened them, there was no armour there, just him.
Veyra’s voice rang clear in the chamber. “Now speak the words of binding together. Repeat after me.”
She paused, letting the weight of the moment settle.
“Soul to soul–”
Sebastian and Kara’s voices joined: “Soul to soul–”
“Let us be bound.”
“Let us be bound.”
“Breathe together,” Veyra said, stepping backwards. “And let your souls find one another.”
Kara drew in a shuddering breath, and reached out for Sebastian’s other hand.
His fingers were trembling slightly as she laced hers through his, but the moment their fingers locked, their magic stirred.
The familiar rush of warmth, of strength filled her – then it exploded from them.
Crimson poured from Sebastian’s skin, alive and fierce.
Another thread followed – a soft yellow, warm as sunlight.
Sorrel – his mother’s. He looked at it in surprise.
Kara gasped as her own emerald burst free, twining upward, soon joined by a shimmering violet that she had never summoned before.
Lyran magic.
The air in the temple filled with a weaving storm of magic.
Crimson coiled with emerald, yellow tangled with violet, their strands knotting tighter and tighter until the whole circle blazed around them; a rainbow of colour.
As suddenly as it started, the threads fused into the same gold that they had produced at the Fire Temple.
It flooded outward, dazzling, brilliant, binding them in a sphere of light.
Then it happened.
Their souls collided – no longer apart, no longer two.
The force of it took her breath away. Memories not her own burned through her: Sebastian in the training yard, fists raw and bleeding.
His joy the first time he bested a captain.
His mother’s laugh – warm, bright, gone too soon.
His terror when Kara had been taken. His fierce protectiveness – willingness to fight, to kill if needed – yet the aching guilt at every choice that had led them here.
And surrounding it was the truth of him.
His love for her. His loyalty to Vallenna.
His soul – Gods, it was good. Good and full of light.
She had known it, knew his fears had been unfounded, but to feel it was something else.
Something more beautiful than she could have imagined.
You were so wrong about yourself, Sebastian. So wrong.
His strength flowed through her veins, hot and fierce, burning away her fear, her weaknesses.
Her own power reached for him instinctively, wrapping him close, pulling him in.
She poured every ounce of love, every drop of certainty she had into him.
His magic – his entire being answered – filling her like it had always belonged there.
And through the bond, she felt his shock at her conviction, his awe at being chosen.
I’ll always choose you.
And beneath it all, blazing like fire in the dark: want.
He wanted her, utterly, endlessly. She allowed her own desire to fill her, so he could feel it too.
The golden light dimmed, folding into their skin leaving a fine shimmer, but the bond did not fade.
It pulsed, alive, like something threaded through her own heartbeat.
She pressed a trembling hand against her chest and felt... him. His presence. Inside her.
We did it. He’s mine. I’m his. Forever.
She looked up at him, saw the shock and wonder mirrored on his face. Not only that. She could feel it. His emotions were coursing through her as if they were her own.
Takes some adjustment. Yeah, you could say that.
Sebastian was breathing as though he’d run miles, and tears streaked freely down Kara’s cheeks, but she didn’t care.
“Kara,” he whispered, voice raw.
She surged forward at the exact moment he did, and their lips crashed together.
It wasn’t sweet. It wasn’t careful. It was untamed, desperate even.
Full of all the things they couldn’t put into words.
Sebastian reached up to frame her face. His hands were shaking.
She grabbed his shirt and dragged him closer, holding him to her.
She wanted to keep him there forever. The bond flared brighter at the contact, their magic sparking gold between them joyfully.
When at last they broke apart, it was reluctantly, and mostly because they needed to breathe.
“Kara,” he said hoarsely. “You’re part of me now. Forever.”
She laughed, breathless and tear-stained. “Exactly where I want to be.”
Finally, Veyra spoke again. “It is done. From this night, your souls are one. No power in Vallenna can unmake it.” She smiled down at them, more warmly than Kara had seen before. “The Healer and the Warrior. It was Written.”
She turned her back, waiting patiently at the temple entrance for them.
It took them several minutes to gather themselves enough to stand.
They followed Veyra quietly back through the winding paths of the city.
Kara could barely think straight, all she could feel was Sebastian.
A sudden spike of adrenaline that wasn’t hers when his attention was drawn to a shadowy alleyway, a prickle of unease when someone passed too close, his warrior instincts bleeding into her.
She was so distracted that she lost her footing on an uneven cobblestone.
The rush of protectiveness that hit her as he reached for her arm made her gasp.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I can feel it,” she said, steadying herself. “You. All of it.” She looked up at him. “You’re protective of me.”
“Of course I am.”
“But you notice everything, every movement, every shadow–”
He raised an eyebrow. “You can feel all that?”
“It’s...”
“A lot?” he supplied.
“Intense. But–”
“But what?”
“Wonderful.”
The smile he gave her would have made the Four Gods weep.
As they walked, the streets quietened, the only movement soft candlelight flickering in windows.
It was as if the city knew what had been done, and it was giving them the privacy the moment deserved.
Their small house waited just as before – warm, beautifully prepared.
The basin now shimmered with clean water, the bed turned down, and wine and fresh lavender flowers had been left on the table.
Veyra paused at the doorway. “This night belongs to you. No one will disturb you.” She bowed slightly before disappearing back down the street.
Kara let out a nervous laugh. “It’s madness,” she said, pushing a stray hair back from her face. “They’ve prepared it like a wedding chamber.”