Most of the royal residences on campus were along the cliff overlooking the ocean. I headed for that drop off and leaped right off it. Hardening my body and strengthening my legs, I landed on my feet, throwing up a massive cloud of sand, creating a five-foot-deep crater. Then I turned and began punching the rock wall behind me.
I tried to imagine the rock was Izzy, but I couldn’t. Hurting her, even in my own thoughts, wasn’t possible. So, I hammered my fists into the rock until my power waned, my fists turned bloody, and I’d carved a cave thirty feet deep into the cliffside.
Even then, exhausted as I collapsed onto the rock, my anger still rode me.
How could she do this? Controlling me. It went against everything I stood for to have a woman control me…again!
There was no way I’d ever trust her. The thought of our political marriage sickened me. Though, that seemed unlikely now, since I’d failed to bring the titans to our side.
My rage turned into a vicious self-loathing, and I threw myself against the jagged rock in this cave over and over to punish myself.
I’d failed.
I’d failed myself.
I’d failed my sister.
I’d failed my own kind.
I’d failed the world!
Never in history had there been a more epic failure than me.
Izzy — treacherous bitch that she was — didn’t deserve me.
Perhaps I’d walk into the ocean and die.
I didn’t, but I stayed in the cave, bloody and broken, contemplating it for a long time.
IZZY
I sought out Lhorine.
I had a little time before Rook and Vyns returned from their realms — hopefully with better news than Bayn — and really wanted to get this situation with the titan sorted. I didn’t like that I’d put a binding on him, it was just plain wrong, no matter how much of a dick he’d been.
Royal’s Hall, once the hang-out for the elves on campus, had been turned into our HQ. Lhorine was busy, along with my grandmother and Zora, organizing everything and everyone. I probably shouldn’t be pulling her away from this, but if Bayn was ever going to get his head on straight and figure out some way to bring the titans to our side, then I needed to free him of this binding.
“Can I borrow you, for a second?” I asked, gingerly.
She seemed about to refuse but must have seen something in my eyes and nodded, begging forgiveness from the others. We found a secluded spot.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Ah… well… I sort of put a binding on someone by accident… and now I can’t remove it.”
“On who?” she asked, shaking her head. “By accident? Really?”
I shrugged. “Yeah… on Bayn.”
Her brows shot up. “You bound a titan…by accident?” This seemed like a big deal. “Binding anyone by accident really shouldn’t be possible, but a titan? Their resistance would be quite high. That’s… extremely impressive, if also incredibly reckless and stupid.”
“Put that on my tombstone,” I muttered. Because somehow:extremely impressive, if also incredibly reckless and stupid, seemed to fit me rather well.
Lhorine gave a little laugh as she let out a breath. “Wow… okay… and you tried to break the binding… but couldn’t?” she verified.
“Yup.” I nodded, lips tight. “I removed part of it, but not all.”
“Okay.” She seemed to have come up with something, nodding to herself. “It’s not an issue of power, since you’d be able to remove your own just fine. Meaning… it’s an issue of substance.”
