Solen is off scoutingthe Kingdom of Haven while I traverse the temple tunnels. I am not pleased with the dampness of my clothes from my moonlit swim, but the heat from my mounting anger keeps me nice and toasty.
The bond I can barely keep up with continues to cause a flip-flop of emotions; one movement, a feisty arrow spears my heart, and the next, a shiver runs down my spine.
Right now, the bond is slowly building intensity as it spreads through mychest.
I’ve roamed these tunnels under Haven for many moons from the comfort of my bed back in Terra. The system in Haven is much more straightforward than the one we have at home.
Standing in front of a solid stone wall where I know a door should be provides a new challenge. “Come on, come on.” I glide my fingers around the outside of each stone, looking for a double-rounded symbol.
Close to the bottom, something gives way with a click before a latch in the stone wall moves back an inch. Looking down, I realize the door is half my height, so I crouch down to gain access to the other side.
“Figures,” I mutter under my breath, squeezing through the hole.Since these walkways were made by fae, you would think they would be taller.
A narrow, dark tunnel stretches out before me.If nothing has changed under human rule, this tunnel should branch off and form a network of walkways under the kingdom.
Sensing the need to keep going, I move swiftly down the tunnel at a jog, letting that strange bond draw and guide me. Putting my faith in the Goddess to the test.
I must find my bonded and be done with this—done with her. With some separation, I can think more clearly.I am here for my family, for the upcoming nuptials that will see my lands safe from a new threat. I will not let history play out again the way it did in the human and shifter wars. No matter my feelings, I will undertake my duties to my family and my people.
So, this bond? It has to go.
However, I cannot stop thinking about the small woman with the silken hair. In theory, I can break the bond, and with space, I’llhopefully forget her. Surely, with her big, strong dyre wolf, she does not want me.
My blood fizzles and pops at the thought of that dyre wolf. Even my lip starts to pull.
“There’s no other choice.” The words echo around me as I follow her, my bonded, the strain in my chest cavity pulling me further and further away from everything I’ve ever known.
“Goddess, please help me find a way.”
To break the bond. To save Terra and be done with this ache for good.
sixteen
Dove
All is quiet asthe last of the lyrics fall from my lips.
I am not sure what the Goddess is expecting from this rebellious display, but the ratcheted words that come out of Castor’s sinister sneer are a surprise to my ears.
Words that have not been spoken since they massacred the streets centuries ago.
“Witch!” he bellows from astride his horse, ahead of my wobbling prison.
With that word alone, pandemonium strikes the streetsof Haven.
My cage is unceremoniously dropped, slamming against the hard, cobbled steps below. With the force of the fall, my whole body flies up and down, and I find myself sprawled and sore on the bottom of the metal bars.
Screams and cries ring out around me as I reach up to rub at my painful head, finding a wet patch forming in my matted hair.
If I had the strength, I would beat at the cage to tell them they are all being ridiculous. If I were a witch, I would have done much worse than sing a damned song.
With barely a moment’s notice, the cage starts to shift underneath me. Suddenly, I’m sliding down the steps we were ascending to the king’s manor only movements ago.
I have just enough wits about me to grab the sides and try to keep myself steady on the steep incline. Apparently, the wardens did not think about that when they hot-potato-ed me onto the very slanted stone steps beneath us.
Within the blink of an eye, my tiny prison is sliding.
My stomach hits my throat, and a scream of my own lodges high as I whirl past villagers running and screaming left and right. Their only saving grace is the width of the steps.
