She didn’t understand. Rune had many opportunities to take it.
“You are nectar to him, Alora. Divine fruit he is craving to devour. To break his bindings must mean you have the power to free him from the sun’s curse. That’s why the God of Shadows stole you away from the altar and forced you to marry him.”
Alora’s heart twisted but at last things were beginning to make sense. Why of all girls, Rune chose her.
“Marriage…?” Lady Zinnia’s eyes widened. “When Eldrik came looking for you, he said you fled, not that you had been taken. I had not realized—but how could this happen? How did he find you?”
Alora cringed. “I… sang his song.”
Zinnia rose to her feet elegantly, though still quite alarmed. “By the Seven, Alora.”
“I was desperate to save Argyle, and I made a foolish mistake.”
“Did you bind yourself?”
“What?”
“When he asked for your hand, did he ask you to bind yourself?” Her godmother asked urgently, her voice nearly shrill. “Did you accept his ring?”
Alora glanced down at her empty finger. “Yes…but I escaped him. He can’t reach me here.”
“No, you arebondedto him!” Zinnia took her shoulders, fingers digging into her shoulders. “Mind, body, and soul.”
A chill crept up Alora’s spine, her skin prickling at the fear on the Thornbearer’s face.
“My wards can no longer protect you.”
CHAPTER 38
Alora
For one awful heartbeat, the air vanished from Alora’s lungs. As if the space had shrunk around her with impending doom.
Bound.
The word drummed against her chest. Rune had said they were, but she didn’t know it meant she would never be safe from him.
Her first instinct wasn’t to run. It was toprotect.
Caelum.
Zinnia.
Everyone in the borough who had no idea what kind of nightmare could step out of the shadows at any moment. Her stomach turned cold and tight. She should never have come here.
The candle flames shivered, and the shadows deepened.
She could feel him like a prickling on the back of her neck. The bond beat like a warning bell she couldn’t un-hear.
Alora whispered, barely breathing,“He’s coming.”
Nexus hissed, fur bristling.
“Go,” she whispered and the kitten dashed out of her open window.
The candle flame thinned and went out. Cold rose from the floorboards like breath from a tomb as the doorway blackened, shadows peeling from it in slow ribbons. The smell of ash and winter iron flooded the room.
“I have what I need to stop him,” Alora told the others as she drew out the Sunstone dagger from her pack. “Leave! Now!”
