Blood Bond

"I will draw a bath right away," were Meris's words the moment I stepped into my chambers

I knew how horrid I must have looked. Dust still clung in clumps to my hair. No one at the site had bothered to give me a towel to wipe off the dirt that caked my cheeks. But it was the look on Meris's face that made the severity of it sink in: cold fury blazed in her eyes, her arms shook, and the wrinkles on her face hardened into stone. It pulled me back to the manor, to the horror of seeing myself in the mirror… and her catching me.

Blargh!

A wet, gagging sound ripped through the quiet room. Anya threw herself away from me and onto the ground, heaving what must have been her lunch onto the smooth marble floor. Meris stopped in her tracks, glaring down at her. I closed my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Anya, but please don't look."

Anya, still sobbing, scrambled to her feet and rushed out to find servants to clean up.

In the bathing room, Meris pulled the wool cloak off of me. It was then that we saw it: the streaks of black dirt that lined my entire body, most likely dust and debris turned into paste by my own blood and then dried on. My wounds must have bled as I slept, as they usually do now, and judging from the sheer number of streaks crisscrossing my body, the blast had left quite an impression on me.

Anya must have seen the true extent of my wounds with her Diviner sight.

A strained laugh escaped my lips. "I suppose I will need red sheets from now on."

Meris just stood at the door with her hands folded before her, her face impassive. Unamused and waiting. I nodded to her and she helped me into the steaming, white, porcelain tub.

Anya returned sometime later and helped Meris sud the mess that was my hair. Her eyes carefully avoided my face and body. I watched the dark droplets of dirty water fall from my hair and listened to the small, distinctive PLOP each one made as it rippled the water's surface, leaving a ribbon of murky black in its wake.

I tried to think of the right words to say, of the apologies I could make for the worry that was written all over both their faces. But in the end, I could only think of one inane, gossipy thing: the thought that had dominated my mind the instant I'd approached the door and seen Kael standing there at attention.

My wet fingers ran from my face to my forehead, my mind wailing, What am I going to do?

"I think," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "I might have accidentally confessed to Kael."

Anya gasped, dropping the brush in her hand. But Meris just answered in a stone-cold, even tone. "I told him he should relinquish his post."

I choked on air, nearly slipping into the water. "He told you?!"

"Isn't that a bit extreme? I'm sure Sir Kael can hold back his feelings while serving her highness." Anya had her hands clutched together, one could almost see hearts in her eyes.

The wrinkles on Meris's face deepened. "It doesn't matter what he thinks. It's what she did." She snapped fiercely, her fingers digging into my hair as she scrubbed. "She sacrificed herself to save him! That is not the role of a protector. He should have never let that happen."

Anya gasped again, her eyes looking dreamily up to the ceiling. I, on the hand, felt mortified, wanting to sink deep down into the water and drown. He told her everything!

Meris wouldn't let it go. "He could have stopped it, except for his feelings for you."

I remembered the way my words had frozen him as he descended into the darkness. Warm water splashed over my face as I covered it. "I had to."

"Judging by that reaction, you have feelings for him too."

I thought of the heat of Naomi's breath, of Astrid's sad smile, and of Kael's hand upon my cheek. This was all completely messed up. There were pieces of me being pulled in different directions, in different worlds. "No… yes… I care about him… but… I don't know," I groaned against my wet fingers.

The hand scrubbing my hair stopped. My head was suddenly pulled into her chest. "Don't dwell on it anymore, child," Meris's voice was surprisingly soft. "Rest. But you must never do that again."

"I'm going to see my parents and Astrid later. Can I be made ready?" I asked as Anya ran a drying wand through my wet hair.

Meris dipped her head. "Yes, we have your wardrobe selected, and a light meal before we head out?"

"You aren't surprised?"

"We were told of your ascension to Regent and that you're free to roam the keep. The visit seemed inevitable."

Anya couldn't help but jump in while she combed oil and fragrance into my hair. "The rumors of you becoming regent have been running rampant everywhere. Is it true that Theron tried to kill you along with that general?"

I blinked as a flowing, white robe with blue blossoms was draped over me. "How long has this rumor been going on?"

Anya glanced sideways as she was filing my nails. "The Regent one started earlier today, but the one about Theron sprang up the day you disappeared."

I turned my other hand over, my gaze following the lines that crossed my open palm.

They had spread rumors about me being regent even before I agreed to it. To them, it was a foregone conclusion.

They had sowed the seeds of the tale that Theron tried to kill me before they could have possibly known what happened. The truth? They didn't care about that, me, or even one of their own: Titus. All they saw was an opportunity to frame someone else as the enemy.

They wanted to set Theron up as the bad guy, and use me to turn the people against him.

After all, I thought with a flash of bitter irony, I'm one of them now.

My teeth clenched. Anya's soft brush swept across my cheekbones, adding a layer of false color to my face. I had already known that the position of Regent was an empty one, but now I was sure there could only be one way to end this: with force.

—

Meris escorted me out of my chambers. Her eyes were stuck on me, not letting me go, as if I'd disappear if she blinked.

Kael joined her behind me, but just as when I walked up to him, he wouldn't meet my gaze. I turned when I sensed him staring at my back, and found him lowering his head and looking away. Confronting him at this point would just make things even more awkward.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

One thing is for sure, I'm definitely not going to force him to resign. It was my fault after all.

The evening light scattered yellow-tinted colors from the stained-glass windows into the Royal Solar. Mother was standing by the hearth, poised and stately as always. She turned to me as I entered, the evening's tinted colors dancing in her silver hair.

In the other corner of the room, under the shadow of a large high-backed chair, slumped my father's large form. He was resting his head lazily against a propped-up fist. His beard and hair were loose and wild.

There was no rush toward me, no lifting of my body into the air, just silent gazes from both my parents.

I took a steadying breath and stepped forward, dropping into a formal curtsy. "Mother, Father, I have returned."

CLANK!

A flagon fell from the arm of the chair and rolled, spilling a red pool over the ground. Father pushed himself up, a large mound shambling toward me. "Treasure, I saw you dance."

"Thank you… Father?" I inched back as his shadowed figure loomed over me. "I want to tell you that I've been made one of the Regents."

His large hand clasped my shoulder. "What have I done? You were such a bright, beautiful flower. I tried so hard to hold on, but it was all for naught," he cried out, the words ragged and broken.

I looked from side to side, not sure at all who might be listening. Is that why he's acting like this? "I… am not siding with them against you. I had to do this, to protect you, Mother, and… our family."

His grip tightened. He shook his head. "Now that they have all seen your light, we can't hide it anymore," his other hand caressed the top of my chest, where the red orb of my Soul Seed lay. "Your fire is too bright, too bright for him not to see."

"For who Father?! Who have you been hiding me from?" I grimaced. There was something more important. I stood on my toes to get closer, lowering my voice to a whisper. "Father, please listen to me, there might be a battle in the coming days, a big one. Do you and Mother have some place safe to hide here? Somewhere with reinforced walls?"

But Father's eyes were glazed over, looking both at me and through me. "He'll take you. He will take you from me. Not my treasure, no. Not again." His words were choked and final.

I grabbed at his arms, trying to shake him out of the nightmare he must be in. He lurched and flung those arms around me, pulling me into a deep embrace, but this wasn't his boisterous bear hug. No, it was desperate and suffocatingly tight. His fingers dug in. His entire body shook.

Mother walked up to us. Her hazel eyes looked into mine as I patted Father's trembling back. "Do what you must, my daughter. You will never fail us."

She crouched down and whispered something into Father's ear. He released me and pulled away. As she guided him away, she turned back, her gaze meeting mine one last time. "Do not worry about us. We will be safe."

—

"You sure you don't want to come in as well?" I stopped at the steps leading up to Astrid's chambers and looked toward Kael.

Kael's head dipped. He looked away, still refusing to meet my eyes. "Your time with her is precious." His boot crushed an imagined pebble on the ground. "I will talk with her another time."

Another time, another me would have teased him. "Oh come on, Astrid would love to see you. You two can share some sweet memories together." But the words died on my lips.

Would he even make Astrid happy? What does he think about her? About me?

I just don't know.

Astrid was waiting for me in her sitting room. She had on a simple grey dress with long sleeves, and a tea cup was in her hand. There were two metal bracelets on her wrists. They looked like the smaller versions of the manacles they had shackled her with after the ambush: blocky with pulsating blue lines etched over its dull grey surface. However, they weren't connected by a chain and so she was free to move her arms.

She blew away a tendril of steam rising from her teacup, her blue eyes gazing out the window. The pungent aroma of bitter leaves swirled in the air. "Ela, why are you here? I was hoping you'd be far away. Cassian has really failed me."

I thought of all that happened after the ambush, all the near-deaths, the fighting, the blood. There were points that I could have perhaps run, but there was one thing pulling me back. "I had to come back. You're in danger. You all are. The elves, they're after you. How could I leave?"

I stepped closer and she turned to me, setting down her tea cup with a light clink on the tray. "You could've lived a happy, full life out there in secret. Kael, he'd keep you safe and in good company."

Dreading the repeat of what happened with Father, I quickly closed the gap and knelt down before her, placing my hands over hers. "I'd be forever haunted by the thoughts of the family I left behind."

Her head moved slowly from side to side. "You don't know what awaits you Ela. Just leave, now. Let me carry this sham a little longer."

"No." My face closed in on hers. "I've seen the tears in your eyes. The weight of it crushing you."

I've seen and felt her fist striking that wall.

I placed my hand over the red orb on my chest. "There's some horror that awaits me because this is now mine. I know that now."

Father's cries had told me enough.

"But I told you already, I want to help. Please, lean on this useless sister of yours."

When she stayed silent, I pushed on. "Astrid, there's something big happening that will put all of the Concord in danger. Innocents will die, especially here, and… Theron. You should see what he's become. He's so broken, and they are going to pin everything on him. I'm going to stop them… I have to." I looked into her eyes, searching. "Please, I need your help."

After another long, heavy moment, hands cupped my cheeks, and a reassuring smile curled over those lips. "Theron and I always joked that you were a baby some god had snuck in because your features were so strikingly different from ours. But now I see why Father calls you 'Treasure'; your eyes are just like Mother's."

"I can try to help, but I'm limited by these." She raised her hands, showing off the blocks of metal around her wrists.

I eyed the two items curiously, and then touched them with my fingers. Nothing: it felt just like cold metal, even those glowing blue lines. But I had other ways of seeing now. I sank into my Soul Seed and then looked out at the metal bands through the molecular view. There was a wall of atoms meshed together: the metal casing. Past that, I found a flat, grainy surface with grooved channels running all through it. In those grooves flowed something bright and liquid-like, but it couldn't be real liquid at this scale. It felt like the energy that Soul Seeds put forth from drawing in blood essence: mana.

From above the surface looked like a circuit board, with bright mana lines as circuits. They seemed to converge at several crystal structures. These don't feel like Soul Seeds. There were no runes in them, but they did have a strangely familiar feel.

Oh, the Reaper Soul Seeds in Saleic's rapier and spear. Those dark-affinity crystals and the dark tendrils that came out of them felt the same as these. Are these dark-affinity magic stones? Is that how they locked down powers?

I glanced up at Astrid, who was watching me intently. "Can I try something?"

She nodded.

I focused back on the mana circuit board. The lines feeding the crystals, were they powering the crystals? Or were the crystals pushing mana outwards? Or is it just the flow itself that mattered?

I was about to cut off the flow, but then paused. There might be others monitoring Astrid. If I just just free her and alert them, wouldn't they lock her down again? No, the timing has to be right.

I reached out through the molecular view and then squeezed the channels. The bright flow slowly narrowed until only a trickle came through to the crystals.

Astrid's hand touched mine. "That's enough Ela. My powers are back." She wiped the sweat from my forehead. "I can take the rest from here."

Compared to the last time I'd used this ability, the strain didn't hit me as hard. Blood wasn't gushing into my mouth, and more importantly, I still felt full. This took just a drop. The depths inside me had definitely grown.

I whispered into her ear. "I'm going to try something in four days, at the latest. Be ready. We'll have to move at the same time. Please, go to Mother and Father first."

Her features hardened; I could see the warrior in her shining through. She nodded. "My Battle Sense will tell me when." She pulled me in and kissed the top of my head. "Be careful Ela."