“Yes.” Draven holds his gaze with serious eyes. “That is exactly why I trust you, Orion. Because of what you have done.”
Orion draws in an unsteady breath while a chaotic mix of emotions flits across his face. Disbelief. Hope. Shock. Joy. Gratitude. Relief. The sight of it tugs at my heart, and Iremember Orion’s words from when we were waiting to ambush Imar back in the Seelie Court. How he has never been a part of a group before. How he doesn’t have any friends or anyone he trusts.
A smile spreads across my lips. Because now, he has.
Quickly hiding those emotions again, Orion straightens his spine and raises his chin while still holding Draven’s gaze. “On behalf of the Unseelie Court, I accept. We would be honored to enter this union with you.”
Draven smiles and inclines his head in acknowledgement. Then he closes the final distance between them and holds out his arm. Yet again, a hint of surprise flickers in Orion’s eye. Then he raises his arm as well. A smile blows across his face too as they clasp forearms.
“You’re smarter than you look, you brooding beast,” Orion says, his eye glittering and that slight smile still on his lips.
Draven lets out a huff of amusement before a knowing expression settles on his face. “And you’re tougher than you look, you preening princeling.”
They chuckle together.
Next to me, Alistair stares at them with eyebrows raised. “Did they just… become friends?”
“It would appear so,” I reply.
“This is going to be trouble, isn’t it?”
I grin. “Oh, for sure.”
Draven and Orion release each other’s forearms and take a step back right as Galen walks up to them as well.
“As the Black Clan’s second-in-command, I would be honored to form a union bond with you,” Galen declares, his serious gaze on Orion.
Orion smiles and inclines his head. “The honor is mine.”
While Galen slides out a small dagger to begin the bonding ritual, Lyra walks over to Alistair. Thoughwalksis probably notthe right word. She practically skips across the ground with a wide smile on her lips.
“So,” she begins, drawing out the word. Her orange eyes sparkle as she reaches Alistair. “Wanna make this official?”
Alarm flashes across Alistair’s face. “Make what official?”
“The union bond, of course. We agreed last night that you and I would form one, remember?” Her smile turns mischievous. “Though if you want to make something else official, I’m all ears.”
He chokes out a vaguely intelligible reply.
Laughing softly, I shake my head and leave them to it while I instead drift over to Isera. She is still standing in the same place on the grass, even though Galen and Orion have now moved away so that Galen can shift into a dragon for the second part of the ritual.
I look Isera up and down, trying to read her true emotions, as I come to a halt next to her. But her expression betrays nothing, so instead, I just ask, “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she replies immediately.
I say nothing. Only stand there next to her, so close that my shoulder almost brushes against hers. The silence continues to stretch. Across the grass, Draven has turned to the rest of his clan and is calling out orders to shift into their human forms.
Then Isera slides a glance at me from the corner of her eye and admits, “No. No, I’m not okay.”
I nod in understanding.
She draws in a small breath, and it’s an incredibly vulnerable sound coming from her. “Bane is dead, but I still don’t feel like I have gotten closure. I don’t know how my mother died or when she died or even what happened to her body afterwards.”
Pain hits me like a spear through the chest. Because I don’t know what happened tomyparents’ bodies either.
Panicked, I snap my gaze towards the ten Unseelie guards. One of them has crossed the wards on Orion’s instruction. No doubt to receive orders to share with the rest of their court.While making sure that none of my emotions can get through the mate bond to Draven, I summon a small flame of determination and shove it into the guard’s chest. Relief flows through me as I’m rewarded by that comforting warmth. It chases away the pain that tried to drown me at the reminder that I left my parents’ dead bodies on the floor of the Golden Palace in front of Jessina when we escaped through the portal.
I know that I shouldn’t do this. But I had to. Isera never opens up like this to people. And now, she is finally sharing her struggles with me. I need to be there for her. I need to be strong and dependable. Not a broken mess who is drowning in my own sorrows.
