CHAPTER TWELVE
Soulbinding remains the most mysterious and powerful of magical oaths. Mages have been known to elevate to mystic, and non-magic wielders have been granted otherworldly gifts.
—Bonded Magic, 18thlevel, Living Library.
We made our way to the southern end of the lake and found Ronan, Vander, and a horde of men and women by early evening. The Rising soldiers were at ease, loose and laughing. Van scooped me up into a one-armed back-cracking embrace before slapping his hand against Drystan’s in greeting.
Ronan’s eyes scanned our group, his brows dipping slightly.
“She’s not here,” I murmured as I stood next to him.
He shrugged his shoulders in that why-should-I-care way, and I raised my brows. His breath hissed through his teeth as he shook his head.
“You need to tell her,” I began. “You need to tell all of them.”
I glanced at the tall soldier, and he kept his eyes forward, scanning clusters of Rising soldiers as they shrugged off their burdens for the evening.
“I will. When the time is right,” he mumbled, glancing sidelong at me.
“They’ll understand. You could have told them about the Rising before Crown Peak, you know. You should have been open with them from the start. Trust is harder to win the second time around.”
He raised a light eyebrow. “Speaking from experience? Can I assume Bayne is getting the same lecture?”
I rolled my eyes as my molars pressed against each other.“Bayne has paid for his dishonesty. And things are…different between us now.”
Ronan barked a bitter laugh. “So, now that you have access to hisfeelings, you trust him? That’s not trust, Lyvia. That’s a crutch.”
A slow, burning sensation coiled its way into my chest. In a way, he was right. And it made me angry.
“He came clean. And he explained why?—”
“Why he lied to you for months about who he was?” Ronan cut in. “Why he stayed so close to you in Sultira? Doesn’t it bother you that he kept all that hidden, even after Kayj? Even in Odessa?”
A dryness formed in my throat. I had forgiven Bayne for hiding so many things, including his true identity. The power of the Bellators that he’d inherited from his ancestor. For his initial intentions of getting close to me. He hadfearedme. Feared what I would do with this power.
He never intended to let me leave after the crew of theEvectatook me from my cell in Mount Telum. In fact, he might have tried to kill me if things had gone differently.
But then he’d fallen for me as much as I had fallen for him. If I didn’t feel the truth in those emotions coming down the connection we had now, would I have this trust in him?Would I have forgiven him? Would he still fearme?
“We’re not talking about my love life.”
Ronan opened his mouth, and I held up a hand.
“I don’t completely trustyouyet, either, Ronan.”
He smirked.Smirked.
“You’re an ass.”
“I like keeping you on your toes,Bonder,” he added with a wink.
I rolled my eyes.
“Tiberius put on an impressive spectacle.” Ronan changed the subject, nudging me in the side. “Think the queen is okay with him showing her up?”
“I’m afraid to even think about it,” I admitted.
He slid his gaze along my bare shoulders and torso, the golden script still shining bright in the low, orange sun.
