Chapter 4

OLAND

I slept too deeply and woke up with a jolt. For a moment, I don't remember where I am, then it all comes rushing back. The manor, the wedding, last night.

I groan, thinking of Swyn.

Pain lances through my chest and I sit bolt upright in bed.

Swyn is gone.

Don't ask me how I know, I just do. There's a hollowness in my heart, a space that only she can fill, and the tingles racing down my spine tell me I'm right.

My wife has gone.

The bond that snapped into place yesterday, strong and unbreakable, feels frayed, stretched thin like a taut rope about to snap.

I throw off the covers, my mind already racing through the possibilities. Was she taken? No – if she had been, I'd have felt the violence, the tear in the bond. This feels different. Quieter. But no less alarming.

She left. On her own.

The realisation hits me with a fresh wave of pain, and I curse under my breath. Why would she run? After everything we went through yesterday, after that kiss…it doesn't make sense. But then again, nothing about this marriage has made sense.

Fate works in twisted ways, but I thought – I hoped – we were at least on the same page.

Clearly, I was wrong.

I pull on my clothes with a speed that belies the calm I'm trying to force on myself. My mind races, jumping between anger and worry. How far could she have gotten?

The manor is vast, but there are guards, wards, and spells in place. Someone must have seen her leave. Unless she's been planning this all along…

No. I refuse to believe that.

I stride out of the bedroom and into the hall, the cold stone floors doing nothing to cool the heat simmering beneath my skin. My steps echo through the quiet corridors, the manor eerily still in the early morning light.

"Swyn!" I call out, though I know it's useless. My voice reverberates off the walls, but there's no answer. Just the hollow echo, mocking me.

I search the rooms nearest to ours first, hoping against all odds that I'm wrong. Maybe she's just wandering the halls, unable to sleep like me, trying to make sense of everything. Maybe she's in the library, or the gardens. Anywhere but gone.

But each empty room I enter confirms what I already know deep down. She's left the manor. The bond between us is stretched too thin, the connection wavering at the edges, like a thread unravelling. If she gets too far, I won't be able to track her through it. And then…

I force the thought away, focusing on the task at hand.

"Have you seen Swyn?" I demand of the first staff member I come across, a young girl carrying a basket of linens. She looks startled, eyes wide with fear or surprise, I can't tell which. "The bride?"

"N-no," she stammers. "I haven't seen her this morning."

I grit my teeth and move on, searching every corridor, every hidden alcove, asking every employee I come across. But it's the same story everywhere. No one has seen her since last night.

I can't risk asking her family – or mine – about her, but as more time passes, I fear I might have to.

The truth gnaws at me, a pit opening in my stomach. She's gone. And she's been gone for a while. Long enough that the bond is weakening, her presence fading from my awareness like a ghost.

A sudden, irrational anger flares up inside me. How could she do this? After everything we went through yesterday, after the vows we exchanged? After the way she looked at me, the way she gasped when we kissed, like she felt it too – this bond we share. I clench my fists, trying to push down the frustration threatening to boil over.

But beneath the anger is something else – fear. Because as much as I want to be angry, I can't shake the worry gnawing at my insides. Did she leave because she wanted to? Or did something happen, something I wasn't aware of? The thought of her being in danger, out there alone, vulnerable, makes my blood run cold.

I reach the entrance hall and throw open the massive double doors, stepping out into the cold morning air. The manor grounds stretch out before me, eerily quiet under the dawn sky. There's no sign of her, no trace of where she might have gone. But I know she's out there somewhere. And I know I have to find her.

I close my eyes, focusing on the bond, on the faint pulse of magic that still connects us. It's weak, barely a whisper, but it's there. I cling to it, using it to guide me, to point me in the right direction.

"I'll find you, Swyn," I vow under my breath.

And I will. Whether she's running from me or from something else, I'll bring her back. I have to.

Because I can't lose her. Not now. Not ever.