CHAPTER 39 #2
When he glanced up at her, he was shocked to find her eyes filling with tears.
“Kara – what–” he began, worried.
“I love that.”
I could get used to that look on her face.
Sebastian thought they were having a moment, but it lasted for all of about five seconds before the energy practically exploded out of her.
“Oh, we have to test this some more,” she burst out, squirming out from under him and springing to her feet, her eyes darting to the door.
“Oh no,” Sebastian said, exasperated. “Whatever you’re thinking, the answer’s no.”
She only grinned wider. “Come on. Let’s take this outside.”
He groaned, but swung himself off the bed, grabbed the satchel with the Shards – he didn’t trust leaving them unattended here – and followed her out into the morning light. Predictably, the first thing she reached for was his sword, propped by the door.
Give her Thorne strength for five minutes and suddenly she thinks she can handle a blade.
“Absolutely not.” He plucked it from her hands and fastened it to his hip. “The last thing I need is you swinging this around in front of half of Aeterna.”
Kara pouted even as she practically skipped down the path. “Possessive?” she jibed.
“Of my blade? Absolutely.”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“You don’t touch a Thorne man’s sword,” he said defensively.
Kara laughed cheekily. “Is that a rule?”
“It’s the rule,” he said, shifting his hip out of her reach as he walked.
“Is that right? And what happens if I do?”
He gripped the hilt tightly. “Try it and find out.”
“Ooooh, I’m so scared,” she laughed as she laced her fingers around his free hand.
A few Fatàn townspeople passing by slowed, smiling at them. It was as if they already knew exactly what the two of them had discovered. Kara flushed, but the sound of her laughter only grew louder, and Sebastian felt it flare in his chest until he almost smiled himself. Almost.
Veyra appeared at the entrance to the library, watching them closely – Kara still practically bouncing with joy and Sebastian fighting a smile at her side – then she nodded, hope lighting her face.
Sebastian stepped forward. “You didn’t tell us our magic would do this.” Emerald sparks leapt from his hand, proving his point.
Veyra’s face split into that infuriating, knowing smile. “I thought you’d enjoy discovering that part for yourselves. Your magic is a part of you,” she said, her gaze flicking between them. “Now it is a part of each other.”
Kara laughed again, clearly unable to help herself. “Enjoy? He nearly had a heart attack!” She squeezed Sebastian’s hand. “I, on the other hand, am having the best morning.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes.
Veyra looked between them, amused, something fond in her expression. Then her gaze sharpened, falling to the satchel at Sebastian’s hip. Something else present in her now. Urgency.
“The bond has settled,” Veyra said. “The Shards await.”
And just like that, the playfulness drained from the morning.
Here we go.
Kara followed Veyra, Sebastian’s hand in hers.
She still felt joyous and curious, whereas he looked suspicious but resigned.
Veyra led them down winding streets towards a large open flatland.
It looked to be a Fatàn training ground of some sort – a wide expanse with a circle of smooth stones at its centre, each etched with ancient sigils. An unspoken power hummed in the air.
“This is the place you will unite them,” Veyra said, gesturing towards the circle’s centre.
“Right,” Sebastian said shortly. “No riddles this time. What exactly do you need us to do?”
Her eyes sparkled. “Not what I need, Warrior. What the Arcanth demands.”
“Which is?” Sebastian asked impatiently.
She smiled at him. “When you place the Shards together this time, they will respond to what now lies between you.”
“Our Soulbond,” Kara said, her cheeks flushing pink.
Veyra inclined her head. “Yes. You will focus on each other. Call to one another with your magic. Feel it. Will it. And the Shards will answer.”
There was a long silence. Sebastian laughed incredulously under his breath. “Feel? That’s it?”
Kara smacked his arm lightly. “Sebastian.”
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “What? I thought it’d be more complicated.” His shrug was all carelessness, but Kara knew better. The tension in his face betrayed him, and it echoed across the bond.
Veyra only smiled. “When you are ready.”
Sebastian dropped to one knee and unclasped the satchel. The Shards clinked quietly inside, catching the sunlight, sending facets of colour into the air. He tipped them out gently onto the floor and looked up at Kara.
“Ready, Healer?”
She took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
The memory of their previous failure was vivid in her mind. But it was different now.
It would work.
She eyed the Shards on the floor, and without speaking, they reached for two each. He picked up the Fire Shard, its crimson heat crackling against him, and the Earth Shard, its golden glow gentle and reassuring.
She gathered the mint-white Air Shard, which was light as a feather, and the Water Shard, which rippled cool and soothing against her palm.
Four Shards. The four elements. They stood facing each other, barely two steps between them, one Shard in each hand. Kara could see her own nerves reflected in his face.
“Together?” he asked.
“Together.”
They reached forward with the Shards at the same time, pressing them together. The moment the four crystals touched, golden tendrils erupted from their hands, a hum split the air and the ground beneath the circle trembled.
“Show it,” Veyra called. “Show the Arcanth your bond.”
Kara shut her eyes and allowed her mind to fill with thoughts of Sebastian. She opened herself wide inside the bond; no hesitation, no shields. She let it all pour through–
Everything vanished.
Their bond went silent. Kara’s eyes flew open, but she couldn’t see anything. Not Sebastian. Not the training ground. Not even the Shards in her hands.
Just darkness.
A vision slammed into her. Not what had happened. But what could have.
Sebastian tied to that Godsforsaken tree, bound in nightshade. Her standing over him. But this time, she wasn’t letting him go.
His voice, disbelieving, “Kara–”
“I’m sorry, but you’re a traitor,” she heard herself say. Hollow. Dutiful. “And I have my orders.”
The vision dissolved. Then reformed.
The journey back to Vallenna City.
Sebastian a prisoner. Kara refusing to meet his gaze.
Their arrival at the City gates. Crowds jeering. Her delivering him to the Council.
Alaric’s voice as she stood at his side: “Well done, daughter. You’ve served Vallenna well.”
The other Lords and Ladies nodding approval. Simone Navyr smiling coldly. Tobias Thorne’s face, devastated but resigned.
Sebastian thrown in the dungeons, locked in a cell with those cold stone walls. Alone. The trial. The verdict. Condemned to die.
The vision shifted once more.
His pyre built in the square.
Not hers.
But because of her.
The crowd gathering.
Him being dragged out, broken, bleeding, but trying to fight anyway. His back shoved against the stake, rope wrapped tight around his chest. More kindling added around his feet. The torch lit and waiting.
And she was there, stood with her father, just watching–
“NO!” Kara screamed into the void. “That’s not what happened – I didn’t – I wouldn’t have! I chose him! I CHOSE him!”
She heard Sebastian’s voice, “It’s lies, Kara, it’s showing us lies, you never would have–”
Another voice echoed in the dark, drowning everything else out, so powerful it was like it reverberated in her bones. The Arcanth, speaking, both beautiful and terrifying:
Prove your bond is true.
Show me why you choose him – not once, but always.
Kara reached desperately into her mind, her heart, her soul, and let the truth flood through:
She thought of the Fire Trial, when he’d thrown himself into flames to shield her, his hands burning but unstoppable.
The first flutters she’d felt when she’d looked into his eyes afterwards.
The Water Trial, when he’d leapt into the raging river without thought for himself, and she’d realised how impossibly brave he was.
How capturing him, hurting him, had felt like she’d been carving out her own heart.
That rescuing her had risked his own life, but still he’d come for her.
How fiercely she respected the strength it took to keep standing when the realm tried to break him, to keep fighting when everyone named him a traitor.
She felt – no – she saw his answer to the Arcanth’s test in her head.
The first time he’d seen her in the City market, sunlight catching in her hair, stopping him in his tracks.
The awe he’d felt watching her drag Morra back from the edge of death, emerald light spilling from her hands.
The twist of pain in his gut when he’d seen her standing beside Henry.
The fragile, desperate hope he’d buried when she’d untied him.
Chosen him over duty. His joy when he’d realised she loved him, and how fiercely he wanted to protect her, to keep her safe.
His surprise, but deep gratitude, for the way she saw him, the way she knew him.
Every time. No matter what mask he wore.
The images shattered. Kara crashed back into her body, gasping, the training ground back in focus. Sebastian still across from her, eyes wide, breathing hard.
“You saw everything?” she asked, voice shaking.
“I saw the truth,” he said. “That you choose me.”
“I do,” she said fiercely. “I always will.”
“I know.” His voice was certain.
Their love echoed across the bond, and their magic roared.
Golden light poured now from both of them, wrapping their hands, pulling the Shards together.
With the sound of a thunderclap, raw power burst outwards, so strong it nearly drove Kara to her knees.
She braced herself, keeping her hands gripped around the Shards.
Sebastian’s hands stayed tight over hers, the feel of him keeping her standing.
The voice sounded again in her mind, deep and ancient: