“Thisis what Davina does to those that she ‘loves.’ This is what a blood bond looks like.” He paused for a moment and refastened his tunic. “When she was first beginning to practice blood magic, she discovered a way to bind her life to someone else. At the time, we were very much in love and couldn’t imagine spending our days without the other—”
“And now?” Daemon asked as his hand came to rest on Auraelia’s shoulder.
“Now?” Caius scoffed, his eyes flicking up to Daemon. “Now, it’s a burden I don’t want to bear. A weight on my soul that I can’t remove.”
The room fell silent as Caius’ admission settled around them.
“What exactlyisa blood bond?” The deep tone of Ser Aeron’s voice reverberated through the room.
“It means, Commander, that my life is bound to Davina’s. What happens to her happens to me. Take pain, for example.” Caius winced as he leaned back against the couch, his gaze honing in on Auraelia. “Though it’s not as severe, any pain she feels, I get theprivilegeof experiencing it as well.”
Auraelia’s eyes widened, scanning over every inch of the emissary’s body before settling back on his face. It couldn’t be…could it? Had her magic affected him, too?
Daemon’s voice cut through her rampant thoughts, demanding proof of what Caius had said. Her heart stuttered in her chest. No one other than Daemon and Xander knew what happened in the harbor. But if what Caius said was true, then the extent of the damage she’d inflicted on Davina would be present on him as well. The idea of seeing it on someone she hadn’t intended it for made her head spin.
The corner of Caius’ mouth lifted into a menacing smile, his eyes still locked onto Auraelia’s as he began to remove his shirt. When he slid his arms free of the fabric, Auraelia’s hand flew to her mouth, silencing the gasp that slipped through her lips.
Stark white lines trailed down both of his arms, originating from two clearly defined palm-shaped imprints on his upper arms.
Auraelia stood, her gaze flicking over the marks on his arms, as she took a hesitant step forward, closing the distance between herself and Caius. When she finally met his gaze, he seemed to read the question in her eyes and inclined his head, extending his arm out toward her.
Starting where they ended on his hand, Auraelia’s fingers hovered over the marks cascading down his arms, afraid to touch them. To feel the damage that she’d unknowingly caused. When she reached her handprint on his shoulder, she noticed faint lines that shot out over his chest, stopping mere inches from the blood bond rune—like it had kept her magic from penetrating his heart.
“I didn’t know—” She shook her head slowly. She hadn’t meant to dothis.Not to him.
“Would it have kept you from doing it if you had?”
His question surprised her. Would it have kept her from harming Davina if she’d known?
It didn’t take long for the answer to become clear, and as she steeled her spine, she met his gaze. “No, Caius. It wouldn’t have changed anything. It changes nothing.”
She’d expected anger, perhaps even sadness, in response to her honesty. Instead, she received a devilish smile that made his eyes sparkle with mischief. “Good.”
“Good? What do you mean ‘good’?” Daemon questioned as he came to Auraelia’s side, his brows pinched together.
Sighing, Caius pulled his arms away and grabbed his shirt from where he’d tossed it onto the couch. After slipping it over his head, he said, “That’s good because I want this to end. I’m tired of being her plaything. Tired of taking her hits. She’s not the woman I fell in love with, the one with whom I agreed to enter this stupid bond. I don’t knowwhoshe is anymore. And she won’t let me go.”
“Why not just sever the bond?” Piper asked.
The laugh that emanated from Caius was one of pure disbelief. “You think I haven’ttried? The only way to sever a blood bond is death. Either mine or hers.”
“So, if we kill you, she’ll die too? Easy enough. Rae, do you want to? Or shall I have that honor?” Piper stood then, a menacing smile on her face as she stalked toward Caius.
Auraelia had known Piper her whole life, and she’d never heard her speak that way—she didn’t have a mean bone in her body. The only time she lifted a blade was during training. But she also knew that Piper would do anything for those she loved, consequences be damned. After seeing her friend with her brother and the tears trailing down her face as she slipped from Xander’s room, she recognized the venom in Piper’s voice for what it was. She was well acquainted with it because that same rage filled Auraelia whenever she thought of anything happening to the ones she loved. Her family, her people. Daemon. They were all pieces of her heart, of her soul, and she’d be damned if she let anything else happen to them.
“If only it were that easy,” Caius said with a scoff.
“Explain, and do it quickly before I try it her way.” Auraelia seethed, her magic warming in her veins, begging to be released. She was over him talking in circles, over this conversation and how everything he said brought more questions than it did answers.
“If you kill me, all that would do would infuriate Davina. She’d feel it; it would probably weaken her for a while, but it wouldn’t kill her.”
“And if we kill her?” Auraelia countered.
“Ifyou kill Davina, and that’s a large if, then I will be free.”
“Would you die?”
Caius shrugged nonchalantly as if they were discussing what canapes to have at a party. “Perhaps. But either way, I’d be free. If I die, I am no longer able to bend to her will. If she dies and I live, the same applies.”
