—No harm may come to any other by your hand or power, Lunara the Moonweaver, ’til the last of your days. By the Sisters, I so bind you?—
He released her as the last word echoed, a hazy lock settling in around her. She felt it, sinking deeper and deeper until it melted in, just another part of her very being. The marks he’d left behind healed before her eyes, as if to seal the magic in.
The relief was overwhelming. “Thank you. Thank you,” she repeated, slumping with a sigh.
“Don’t thank me yet.” His grip tightened around her wrist, digging in to the tendons and bones, even as the rest of him completely relaxed. “Remove my hand, however you need to. I won’t let go, so you’ll have to do it yourself.”
Brow furrowed, she tried to pull away, but his hold was an iron manacle. Reaching over, she tried to wedge her fingers beneath his?—
Weakness suffused her until she let go. The same again when she tried to use her nails to claw at him. Every attempt, she went limp as a babe. She didn’t bother trying her magic because she knew what would happen.
She was helpless.
“Do you see now? I mean you absolutely no harm. I’m barely using a fraction of my true strength. And yet…”
“I can do nothing about it.”
He nodded. “What if you needed to fight, for good reason? I would never leave you in such a state.” He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. “I release you of your oath.”
Instantly, a weight she hadn’t perceived was lifted.
“Go ahead.”
This time—though still ineffectual because he was a bleeding strong brute—she at least had the illusion of a chance when she was able to scratch the top of his hand, punch his knuckles.
Magnus let go as he laughed and held her hand, patting the back of it. “I swear to never do that again. It’s more of a ceremonial thing in the Westrealm, anyway. We say the words to mark our commitment or the gravity of a situation, but we don’t actuallydoit. I’ve literally never held anyone to a legitimatelybinding oath, and I can count on one hand the times I know it’s been done by all the others capable of it, combined. The language has to be so precise, so tailored to the individual. Knowing me, I’d probably still fuck it up somehow. Only under the direst circumstances would I ever even consider it.”
“This feels like the direst circumstances to me.”
“I know, Lunara, but it isn’t. You can’t see the forest for the trees right now, and that’s alright. That’s what friends and good family are for. They can be your eyes when you’re rendered blind.”
“Am I, though? The things I’ve seen. The things Iknow.”
“Are devastating, aye.” He tilted his head, looking her in the eye. “But you are your own person. You get to decide who you are and who you want to be.”
“The Elder Council will make me accept Illamiata. They won’t let me have a choice.”
“You’re ours now.” Magnus lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, squeezing. “As Imperial as the rest of us. It comes with quite a few advantages, aye? Not the least of them being that we look out for our own. We’ll not be letting anything happen to you that you don’t want for yourself, I can promise you that.”
Hope was so, so dangerous. “Can you?”
“Ach, aye. I really can. I may be little more than a bloated figurehead at the moment, but I know what I stand for. Force, of any kind, isn’t it. I know my parents will agree, and Brand would probably bring Starkeep to the ground by himself if you asked it of him. Have a wee bit of faith, witchling. You’re not alone anymore, so stop acting like it.”
His gentle admonishment hit Lunara right in the heart.
“Put on the dress tomorrow morning. Come down to the city and be with us. With Brand. Eat and laugh and dance under the night sky.Live.”
“He’s right.” Hedda padded silently across the rest of the distance, settling in on Lunara’s other side and raising a sardonic brow. “And trust me, I don’t say that lightly.”
Magnus grinned. “She really means that. Might be the first time it’s ever happened.”
“Probably. It was horrible.” Hedda smacked her hands down on her knees with a forceful breath. “Which brings me to the next thing. We can’t do any healing today. I have duties to see to for the Occurrence.”
Some of Lunara’s earlier excitement returned, a little spark of optimism she hadn’t felt flaring in a long while. “Not to worry. I wasn’t going to be healing her today anyway.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we need to let her meet us halfway.”
