I did everything in my power to refrain from wincing in disgust.
Another bond. Another dark spell being wielded in an attempt to gain some semblance of control over me.
Forest stood at her side, handing her anything she needed for her ritual. He’d just returned from giving his daughter a pair of clothes, the only decent thing he’d ever done for her. An Endarkened, chained by the neck, stood by the far-right wall, near the fireplace that remained perpetually unignited. Celanea placed the bone dagger on the silver platter that Forest held out for her as she began to chant in a harsh and vile language, snatching up a hand-crafted bowl containing a concoction of herbs and stones. As she chanted, she held up her leaking wrist to let it drip into the dish. She waved a hand over the bowl, and then swayed over to the Endarkened, snatching up his ghastly pale wrist lined with protruding dark-gray veins, and repeated the same process.
Her chanting never ceased, and a fire ignited to life in the bowl.A putrid odor wafted over to me, staining my nasal cavity. I grimaced at her vile form of magic, the same magic that bound me to her will.
The Endarkened shrieked, piercing my eardrums. It dropped to its knees as Celanea drained its stolen power and consumed it for herself. After another minute of her chanting, the Endarkened crumbled and then collapsed to the floor in a pile of peeling skin and bones.
I breathed a sigh of relief that the screaming had stopped now that it was dead.
Celanea began to cackle, low and soft at first, before it grew into something feral. But then, when she settled her piercing gold eyes onto me, she stopped.“You have failed me and defied me. And now you try to overpower me? Stupid little boy.”Her voice turned vicious in my head, and her power latched onto me, paralyzing me where I stood.
Celanea closed the distance between us. “Let’s find out what happens when you prove disloyal, shall we?”
I couldn’t do or say anything in response, except stand there and stare blankly ahead of me into her soulless and now blackened eyes.
Forest stepped forward. “What do you need, my love?”
“The girl. Bring me the fucking girl. I might not be able to sever the Twin Soul Bond, but I can ensure she can’t spawn any Celestial babies that’ll give me more headaches.”
Thirty minutes passedas I breathed in the stale, musty air blending with the pungent odor of blood magic in the kitchens.
I stood in silent stoicism, like the perfect soldier I was controlled to be. I had no control. If I moved or spoke, it was because Celanea allowed or demanded it. While she may have strengthened the Syphon Bond to gain more control, the part of me that loved Graygrew louder. Perhaps because she was in danger, it empowered that part of me to fight through the control. But not enough.
Celanea sat in a wooden chair with one leg crossed atop the other, flipping through an ancient tome while we waited for Forest to return with Gray from the keep. She didn’t trust a guard or anyone else to retrieve her.
The door swung open, screeching on its hinges as Forest cradled his daughter in his arms. She kicked and protested as he struggled to maintain his hold. “Shut up, you brat.”
Gray spat in his face before she caught sight of me standing off to the side. “Chrome?”
I swallowed, regret eating me alive.
Celanea giggled. “Oh, Chrome isn’t going to be able to help you today.” She rose from her seat, her black hair straight and wine-colored lips the only dash of color in the grim room.
“Come lie down,” Celanea instructed, patting the wooden table.
Forest strode forward, and Gray’s eyes widened in panic. “No, Father! No! You can’t?—”
“I can. And I will.”
Gray tried to leap from the table, but Celanea guttered out a spell in her native tongue, harsh and crude, causing Gray to go limp.
“How do you put up with her voice? It simply scrapes my last nerve,” Celanea complained, massaging her ear with her forefinger as if to clear it of water. “Anyhow, let’s continue.”
It appeared Gray had lost consciousness. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but either way, my anxiety grew. I tried to shove down the worry I held for her; whether she could have my children or not was of no concern. It didn’t matter. I just wanted her by my side as my queen. The feelings that kept arising sporadically for her needed to disappear again.
I hated Celanea, despised her for taking control of me and now of my Twin Soul.
In the corner, two Infernals stood like ghosts holding platters intheir hands, like the Endarkened from her receiving room, hiding among the shadows until they were summoned.
“There are many ways we can go about doing this,” Celanea announced, breaking the silence. “For convenience's sake, because I need you out procuring the stone rather than coddling this petulant child back to health, we’ll go with the least recovery time. I can’t have you constantly nursing her wounds in the keep,” she spat, referring to my bond with Gray.
The bond clung on by a thread, but it didn’t stop me from loving her. She was mine. And when the opportunity presented itself, I would set the world on fire and rebuild it from the ground up for her. Celanea and Forest had earned themselves very special treatment.
Celanea snapped her fingers, and the two Infernals in the corner crept toward the table, their expressions blank, carrying platters that held a wooden bowl and miscellaneous items. Their black veins protruded from their skin, while tiny veins continued to spread across their faces. Clearly, the Syphon Bond that Celanea had them locked into had been draining them more and more as the centuries went on.
Celanea positioned her fingers in front of her face, her forefingers bent to touch her thumbs. Her discordant language forced its way from her lips as she began another incantation. Everyone remained still while she chanted and weaved her fingers in odd patterns over one of the bowls. Continuing her ritual, she stepped closer to the table where Gray sprawled, her black-and-white mixed strands spilling over the edge.
