Every elf gasps. Only my brother stands perfectly still. He must have known Baelen was going to do this. Had they talked about it? Does Bae know the danger?
No, Baelen! Don’t! Don’t say the words!
His heartstone begins to glow. Blood-red light shimmers at its edges, tendrils reaching through his robe, seeking to make contact with his skin.
No champion has ever done this before because it binds them to me and dooms them if they fail the trials. If I had any hope of saving him before… My hope crumbles with every flicker of light from the heartstone. He holds my eyes and his voice becomes fierce. With every word, firelight from the heartstone pulses into his chest, binding him to his promise.
He says, “Marbella Mercy, Storm Princess, I give you my heart. I will love you, protect you, and honor you until the end of time. Until death.”
Soft, green eyes from another time and his voice asking me: May I have your permission?
My legs fail me.
I drop to my knees in front of him, my purple cloak billowing around me, my own heartstone sinking to my lap. I don’t care that my reaction causes a stir. Let them think that I’m weak, that I’m in shock, that I want to scream out my fear for him.
Bae, what have you done?
He draws the heartstone away from his chest and I’m horrified at the way the light grips him, stretching from his heart until the last moment when it sinks back into the stone.
He’s just bound himself to me for life.
Until death.
All I want in the world right then is to reach out my hand and close the gap between us.
He waits for me to respond. There are words I’m supposed to say, but I never memorized them. I never expected to need them. Once spoken, they will complete the binding.
My own voice sounds like a death knell.
“Baelen of the House of Rath, you are bound to me, live or die, succeed or fail. You will never love another.”
In the time since he first offered me the heartstone in the Storm Vault, he hasn’t smiled once. Now he does. It’s a half smile, a lifting of one corner of his mouth like he’s uncertain about my reaction but knows what he wants.
He holds the heartstone out to me. I turn my palm up to receive it. He lowers it into my hand, pausing before letting it go. I close my fingers around it, force myself to rebalance, and draw to my feet. He follows me up.
My voice wobbles as I say, “I accept the House of Rath.”
Baelen nods and spins on his heel to return to his square. The space he leaves behind is so enormous that I almost topple as if my world is suddenly unbalanced, as if something was taken from me without me knowing it.
I stare at his retreating back, wanting him to come back. He pauses mid-stride and half-turns with a puzzled frown on his face, but keeps walking.
I force myself to draw up to all of my five feet three inches, forcing my mind blank. I have to deposit the stone in the chest and then return to the center of the dais. I turn to my left, ignoring the stares from the Elven Command. The heartstone case is open before me. Inside, it’s divided into thirty compartments marked for each House and protected by spells. As contenders are eliminated, they will come to retrieve their stones.
I place the Rath heartstone into the top left compartment, unwilling to let it go. I force my fingers to unfurl, leaving it there.
Then I return to my place in the center of the dais.
The next House is the House of Elder. The two cousins Eli and Ethan wait in their square. Elise’s investigations revealed that they’re both clever fighters, lean, not exactly built for war but excellent with strategy. It doesn’t look like Baelen’s pledge to me worried them—or if it does, they aren’t showing it.
Eli steps forward, revealing the heartstone in his hand. He takes the step up to the dais lightly. He drops to one knee, holding it up to me.
“I am Eli of the House of Elder. I offer you my heartstone,” he says.
I take it from him, saying, “I accept the House of Elder.”
After placing the blue heartstone into the chest, I wait for the House of Splendor. Elise had told me about Simon who is predicted to be the champion from this House. Sebastian and another male wait with him as decoys. I sense Jordan’s gaze on Sebastian. She hasn’t been able to speak to him, but thankfully after the ceremony that ban will be lifted.
As expected, Simon steps out of the square, but so does the other male. I frown as they both step forward… and then they step aside.
