“I just have one question for you, Swynwraig.” His gaze pins me. “Why are you here? I know you’re not running from the Order.”
8
My heartbeat thrums in my neck. For a terrible moment, I forgot my mission. I was too distracted by his confession and the warnings about our future from…some version of me. But I meant what I said. We should go our separate ways.
I should get as far away from him as possible.
It’s just…I can’t, can I? Walking away from Taliesin Wynn means turning my back on Osian.
But if I stay and die, Osian dies. Now that I’ve resurrected him, his soul is bound to mine. This is an impossible situation with no easy answer. Or if there is one, I haven’t had the time to find it yet. All I can do is go with my gut.The truth. If that doesn’t make him run, I don’t know what will.
“The Order sent me to find you.” I lift my chin, silently daring him to challenge me, though I have no plan for what I’ll do if he does.
He doesn’t look surprised. “So you knew the warded veil is broken.”
“Unfortunately, no. The High Swynwragedd didn’t see fit to tell me.” I nod toward the dead man. “He knew, though.”
“And what will you do now that you’ve found me?” he asks coolly.
“Return to Caer Draen.” So I can live. And so Osian can live...somehow. I may have failed my mission, but I’ll have to find another way to get him out. I don’t know how yet, but I will.
It’s the only option I have.
Taliesin steps in close, and all my breath flees from my lungs. I watch the apple at his throat bob as he swallows, right where his traitor mark hides beneath magic unknown to me. What kind of spell does that? How does he command it? It’s not from the Order.
I lift my gaze to his, bracing myself. There’s a dark, ancient glow in his eyes that makes me tremble. Slowly, he reaches out, tucking a curved finger beneath my chin. The world around us stills. I stand frozen, horrified by the tug of desire in my chest.
“I thought you might say something like that,” he murmurs.
Cold metal bites my wrist. I gasp and jerk away, but he tugs me back, a slim chain in his hand linked to the manacle clamped around my arm. My pulse races. I throw out my hand, intending to grab the chain and wrench it free, but he pulls it so hard I crash into his chest.
He palms my back, holding me flush against him.
A traitorous warmth flames through me.
I shove at him, desperate, but it’s useless. He doesn’t even yield an inch.
“Stop fighting me,” he says, his voice a low rumble against me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I hiss. “Let go of me. Now.”
“I won’t hurt you,” he says, “but I can’t let you go, Swynwraig.”
“You said you would point me in the right direction,” I counter. “That we would part at the fork in the road.”
“I just wanted to see how you’d react. Remember, the Order is waiting for me in those cliffs. Perhaps I’ll use you as a distraction.”
I stop struggling, though my ragged breath still shakes through me. “Then just…don’t go to the cliffs.”
“The only way to my tower is through them.” His tight grip on me loosens—just enough to let me breathe. “I’d abandon the place entirely, but there are some things I need. Things I can’t risk the Order finding.”
Curiosity pricks in the back of my mind, but frustration and fear quickly overwhelm it.
“That’s your problem. Not mine,” I snap, shoving at his chest again. My anger spikes as he barely flinches. The bastard is like a slab of stone.
“Calm down.” The metal stings my wrists again as he leans in and lowers his voice. “This is for both our sakes. I’ll get past while you draw them out. It won’t take long for them to realize who you are, and then they’ll escort you home safely. We both get what we want, and we’ll never see each other again, avoiding whatever catastrophe you were trying to warn me about.”
“It wasn’t me,” I say through clenched teeth. “I have no power over dreams.”
