Chapter Thirty-Seven

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

BOUND FATE

I gagged, choking on the blood that gathered in my airway. I fell to the right, my hand clutching my throat. The Witch beneath me yelled out in protest, a resounding “No!” I did not have the mental strength or clarity to process. He moved quickly, dragging me to my feet, making to portal me away. But as he did, the Talpa appeared at my side, standing proud at almost half the Drakkarian’s height. Which worked just as well, for the Talpa sent a little fist right into the crotch of my would-be captor.

The Drakkarian released me at the last second, grunting with fury and portaling away. My legs buckled, but Leiya was at my side, draping my free arm around her neck.

My eyes sagged, and I felt life slipping from my body. I noted the soldiers’ numbers had dwindled—only a few scurried away in retreat, departing along with their commander. Fayzien must have recovered enough strength to send a final blast of power.

“Leiya,” I croaked, blood mixing with mud on my skin.

Leiya sat me down, resting my back on her legs, keeping me upright with a hand on my shoulder. “Fayzien, can ye heal her?”

He shook his head and I let my eyes close. But then Cobal spoke.

“Where is her blood mate?” the creature asked. “Her Salanti?”

Leiya shook her head. “Naye, she doesna have one. She hasna done a blood sharin’.”

“No, but she is bound to him,” Cobal replied, and their words floated around me, drifting more and more like I did.

“What?” Leiya hissed. “Te whom?”

“The warrior called Ezren,” Cobal answered on my behalf. “He is also likely weak right now, for he feels the effects of her wound, though he may not bleed as she does. Their life forces can be shared, given they are bound. It may be enough to heal her. Is he near?”

Leiya shook her head, but Ezren’s name sparked something inside me. Perhaps he was already on his way, having felt the pain I endured. But a small truth cracked inside me. He was a proud male, and I’d told him to stay away under all circumstances.

“Break my left small toe,” I whispered, blood gurgling. Now. Now that I’ve asked, he will come.

Leiya and Cobal looked at me as if I had several heads, but Xinlan must have understood that I was serious and did not hesitate. She removed my boot and slammed the hilt of her blade into my left small toe without hesitation, and a soft cracking noise rang out.

I started to slip from consciousness, despite Cobal’s best efforts to keep me awake. Time passed in a swirl of eternity and split seconds.

“Thes es mad ,” Leiya hissed. “What ef the lad hemself es hurt? We have te get her te a healer,” Leiya said, her voice more stressed than usual.

“He will be here,” Cobal said.

A deep flutter filled the sky, and a large creature came into focus. Ezren soared down to us in Dragon form, his glimmering scaled body decorated with blood and ash.

My eyes wouldn’t stay open anymore. I had only my ears. The ground crunched and yielded under his claws. He roared, the sound of something not quite Dragon, but also not quite Fae, likely a symptom of the Dragon blood that still ran through his veins as he changed.

“He esn’t himself, after he shefts,” Leiya groaned. “He’s got a devel en hem.”

“Bring him to her,” Cobal commanded. “Her scent will calm him.”

Leiya still held me tight to her legs, but then there was shuffling, and the clash of steel on steel. I heard a loud crack, a low series of grunts, and then the sound of a body being dragged in the dirt.

“Wait until hes eyes change,” Leiya commanded.

Minutes or moments later, Ezren whispered, his breath close enough to tickle my face. “Terra?” He struggled to speak himself, and I knew the sensation of blood flooded his airway.

“Warrior,” Cobal said. “Do you know how to use your binding to share your life source? It is similar to how you sent more of your life source to me when she freed me during the Sk?l.”

“I think so,” Ezren rasped weakly from somewhere near me. “I remember the sensation. But how does it start?”

“Through blood sharing,” Cobal replied carefully. “As you likely know, Fae’s blood sharing with Talpa presents no risk of forming the Matching bond, given that Fae and Talpa could never be Salanti. But it will be different between the two of you. If you are indeed Salanti, she will forfeit her choice to Match.”

“No,” Ezren growled. “If there is any other way, Talpa, say it now.”

“Hmm, show me your mark,” the Talpa commanded. The words continued to float around me. “Interesting. There may be a way to share life without mixing blood. You will lose much strength. And we must try it fast, and if it doesn’t work, be ready for the blood sharing.”

Ezren grunted approval. “Where is her mark?” Cobal asked.

I fought to speak, to open my eyes, or to raise my hand. I could not. I only pictured the Dragon scale on my hipbone. A moment later, his rough hands slid gently down the side of my pants, running over my mark. Then he took his knife and sliced the pants from the top down, exposing my hipbone and the mark it bore.

I was slipping fast. I heard nothing else they said until Cobal directed Ezren to place the inside of his wrist on my scale. He then flowed not only his power and magic, but life source, into me. And it felt good, almost too good, like a drug numbing my pain. The arrow ripped free from my throat and Ezren’s free hand pressed into my neck, stemming the flow of blood.

The tether between us existed no longer just in theory. It was not the whispering pull I felt to him when we journeyed east nor the conceptual bond I was aware we had after the binding. It was a ripcord, from me to him, a braided chain of metal, of ice, of fire, of all substances, of none. My heart was bursting as his life source flowed into me—liquid iron penetrating my veins. Ecstasy, pain, and everything in between flooded all corners of my body.

And then, quiet.

My eyes fluttered open. He kneeled, bent close, his wrist still pressed to my bare hipbone.

“Can you speak?” he whispered, his voice breathy but recovering from the strained contortion it had been earlier.

“Ezren,” I rasped. The words came out and my hand flew to my arrow wound, which had closed now, only dried blood mixed with mud remaining where the shot had been.

“I’m covered in mud, aren’t I?” I asked.

“Aren’t you always?” he quipped back, and I choked on the tears bubbling up from shock.

That small noise broke him, and he pulled me into his chest, squeezing just slightly more than a typical embrace. “To the gods, Terra, I thought you were going to die,” he breathed into me, trembling. With relief or exhaustion, or both, I could not tell.

“We,” I corrected, pulling back from him to look at his face. “We were going to die.”

His eyes—still rimmed with a panic that made a small part of my heart crumple—searched mine. “I can’t lose anyone else, Terra. I can’t.”

“Ehem,” Cobal said, clearing its throat, transporting us back to the smoking reality in which we sat.

I looked around, and so did Ezren, his body tightening when Fayzien’s face came into focus. His muscles flexed, and I put my hand on his biceps, shaking my head. He raised his brows a fraction, but relaxed.

“We need to move.” My attention floated to Leyia, squinting at the sky.

“Ten thousand Drakkarians must have taken Viribrum,” Ezren said, his quiet words laced with fury.

“Aye,” Leiya nodded. “’At was me count when I saw the bastards up north.”

“They reached Valfalla during the Sk?l, hitting the palace first, as it was relatively unguarded,” Ezren continued, shaking his head. “In hindsight, this is no surprise. Of course, Drakkar would attack when the entire capital was distracted, with only a handful of palace guards on duty. From what I saw, a subset of the remaining ranks proceeded to the Sk?l while the others pillaged the nearby country towns.”

Leiya gave a slow, grim nod. “Aye, I had the same thought. I would say, we shoulda seen et comin’, but the strange theng es, we would’ve. How can ye mess an army that size?”

“So the question is… how did they pull it off?” Fayzien muttered.

“No army has ever snuck up on Viribrum—ever—in the history of our kingdom,” Xinlan whispered. “We are surrounded by sea. We have so many posts, so many redundancies, each with fliers to announce enemies.” She went silent for a moment. “There is only one explanation.”

My eyes snapped to hers. “They were invisible,” I breathed.

“Ten thousand soldiers? Cloaked? Ha!” Fayzien snorted. “Even I couldn’t manufacture such a spell.”

“There es strange magic afoot… I can feel et. Somethen about the way the fire spread—et was spelled, te be sure, but somethin’ felt… wrong,” Leiya murmured, almost to herself.

Images of pain and anguish flashed through my mind. “I saw something in the fire.” I pressed my eyes shut, remembering the screams and the suffering I’d absorbed. The memory was so fresh and alive in me that I had to shake my head to loosen its grasp.

Ezren’s words interrupted the flashback. “What did you see, Terra?”

“Shadows,” I whispered. “Shadows of the dead.” I shook my head again, trying to shed the lingering tremor of agony I’d experienced from those people. “I felt their pain. What does that mean?”

Five blank stares met my gaze.

Leiya scanned the group to confirm everyone was as confused as she. “I have no idea, Lassie, but we’ll figure et out, together.”

“So, what do we do now?” My eyes drifted in Ezren’s direction.

“We get you to safety,” Ezren and Leiya said at the same time. They cocked their heads at each other, looking pleased to be on the same page, before turning back to me.

My nostrils flared, silent rage crossing my face. “Are the two of you serious?” I whispered, more shocked than angry.

“Aye,” Leiya said. “Ye have significance fer stopping thes war, and ye know et. I have dreamt about et each night sence returnin’ from the isles. I can feel et en me bones. And the Drakkarian said as much when they were tryin’ te take ye! We canna lose ye.”

“Agreed. The Rexi will have my head if you lose yours,” Fayzien chimed in, though picking his nails in disinterest. “I’ll go find the queen. You leave with them, find safety. If you flee to Nebbiolo, there will be a place for you.”

“We have a Dragon.” Xinlan narrowed her gaze at Ezren. “Why not use said Dragon?”

“He es not en control a’ hes sheft—not fully. Hes awareness en the shape es lacken’ an’ he canna remain en the form fer long. Unless a trained Wetch es spellen’ hem, he willna be a’ weapon,” Leiya said.

Ezren’s eyes sharpened at the comment, but he gave a tight nod. “And I am drained—from Terra’s wound and healing. I’ll need at least a day to recover my magic, let alone my shift.”

“I am not going to abandon Viribrum,” I said, my voice low. “I am not going to run while innocents perish at the hands of invaders.”

“Viribrum is lost, Terra,” Ezren emphasized. “Ten thousand soldiers caught us unaware—there is no way the palace guard of merely five hundred could have defended against them.”

“We have to see if there are survivors,” I growled. Names ran through my head. Olea. Cas would have gone back to defend the city. And where was Gia? The thought sent a pang through my chest, drawing Jana’s image to mind. If Jana hadn’t been safe from the king, I had to imagine he’d found Gia, too.

“I agree with Terra.” Everyone’s head turned to Xinlan, but she avoided my eye. “We cannot leave our people.”

“ Your people,” Fayzien corrected.

“Let me be clear. I’m not leaving. Not without looking for survivors first.” I held Ezren’s stare, infusing myself with every ounce of confidence I had remaining, shoving down the grief and fear.

Leiya finally spoke again. “Okay then, Princess,” she said, crossing her arms, a look of smirking challenge painted across her face. “What’s yer plan?”