“Always.”
“You have changed, young Queen. Bind him to you, and I will leave him.”
“What?”
Yeah, Heath seconded Dominic’s question. The room fell silent, those who had not spoken watching on quietly. Even little Isadora seemed to sense the danger in the room.
“Make him your Wynathraeda so that if he breaks his word, in any way, his life is forfeit.”
“That will kill Asherah.”
“The he has an excellent incentive to act right.”
What other choice did they have? The Guardians were Level-7 mages minimum, and Torin was old and powerful. If he wanted to make problems for them, he could do it with his eyes closed.
“Fine.”
Torin stroked—stroked—Silva’s neck, his runes dancing in dizzying speed until one slithered from his bicep and over his forehead. The closer it got to Silva’s skin, it switched from glowing red to red with dashes of silver around the edges.
“Be bound, Niamh Danaan of the Silver.”
The rune leapt from Torin’s skin and slammed onto Silva’s neck. She screamed, her body twisting, and Torin gripped her in his arms to keep her from falling.
Heath began to burn.
He fell to the floor, twitching, trying to catch his breath. Everything. Fucking. Hurt. It burned, aligning and realigning as his organs smashed back together.
“Heath!”
Asherah’s scream reached his ears, but he couldn’t soothe her. There was no way he could reach out to her.
There was a Tether, thick and barbed with black and silver, spanning from Silva to Heath. Shadow and silver. The two of them together.
“You will be bound to the law of this bond. You will answer to her. And if you break this, one of you shall die.”
All at once, the pain dispersed and he could breath. “Shit.”
“Can I have that? It’s like a fuck-his-world-up-at-any-time button,” Romano quipped.
Heath couldn’t do more then send him a one finger salute.
“You’re a bastard,” Silva hissed at Torin.
“Perhaps, but a necessary one. The Guardians will now allow Heath to be beholden to the Ales and her Cosantiór. As such, Heath’s tied men are also bound. Also, Silva, you have the gift to fix the child. Good day.”
The fucker walked out. Just walked out like he hadn’t changed the lives of seven people in Dominic’s hold.
“I think I hate him,” Heath groaned, getting to his feet.
“I think I love him,” Romano returned.
“Of course, you do.”
“What the hell did he mean ‘fix the child?’” Dominic roared.
Silva turned on shaking legs and fingered the rune on her throat. “He showed me, and he means Isadora. The extra life energy within her that’s forcing her growth.”
“Make this make sense.”
