Blood Bond

Master Alarc decided to stay. After I gave him more details on the threats we faced and my own capabilities, he requested a room to devise more strategies, and to 'prepare his spells.'

Prince Cassian on the other hand looked like he had been run over by a carriage. His eyes were dazed, unfocused, and he kept blabbering that his father would never consider such atrocities. I had a few of the recently released Royal Guards watch over him and left him to stew on his own. He wasn't essential to the plan, but things would be harder without him. He was the only dark-affinity magic user we know of.

Right now, I just need to take care of what I can.

I stood out in the walled courtyard that was connected to the prisoner guards' quarters. A cool breeze swirled around me. The hedges here were well manicured and the small lawn was nicely maintained. But I wasn't here for the scenery or the pleasant weather. I raised my hands and a loud whoosh brought harsh wind howling past me. Wings shadowed the sunlight as they flapped overhead.

Meris and Kael shielded their faces even though I had already warned them of this.

I looked up into Hope's yellow avian eyes as she stared into my emerald human eyes. She dropped a raw, heavy lump of flesh into my hands. The weight of it immediately pulled my arms down.

"Is that a heart?" Kael stammered. His eyes were fixed on the still-throbbing mass of bloody muscle and sinew in my hands, completely ignoring Hope as she took off into the sky.

"Don't worry, it's a monster heart, not human." I tried to ease the two of them, but neither of their postures eased. Their scowls deepened. Hot blood dripped past my fingers and trailed down my arms. Different parts of the blob twitched. No matter what, this wasn't going to be pretty. "Let's go somewhere private, ok?"

I walked over to the private room that I had the puppet captain prepare for me. The smell was awful. It wasn't the familiar salt and iron of blood, but something oily and unnervingly inorganic.

This was what I had been looking for. In the demon files, many of the advanced hides and weaponized appendages required exotic minerals and metals not found in humans. In fact, quite a few were rare earth elements. Where could they even get them here?

My blood supplied the answer. When Hope had taken down that flame breathing demon monster in the forest, my blood had consumed its blood. And somehow I knew when reviewing the files that its blood contained what was needed.

Did they use monster materials on purpose? Or were demons modeled after monsters? Even more troubling was: Why does my blood know? I didn't like the idea that part of me seemed to be programmed for creating demons.

This isn't the time.

I looked over my shoulder to my two closest attendants, my expression a silent warning.

Meris read my mind. "We are not leaving you, child. Nothing we see will ever make us abandon you."

Kael inclined his head beside her.

I sighed and looked down at the mess of twitching muscles and meat in my hand. This is so disgusting. But there was no other way of getting all this material inside me.

Squeezing my eyes, I opened my mouth and took a bite out of the heart. Hot blood smeared all over my face, and as my teeth tore away at the chewy muscle tissue, the taste of it nearly knocked me out. It was an abomination, as if I had consumed a rotten egg, something which had decayed for so long that it had turned to goo. My stomach revolted, and a bitter bile rose in my throat.

Since Hope killed the monster using my blood, there was my blood in the heart as well. I connected with my blood there and willed what I had swallowed to stay down.

More bites, and I gagged in between them. Meris patted my back.

After forcing down a third of the heart, I lowered it to the ground. My rats converged on it. They needed to have enough materials as well, especially given my plans for the elves. Hopefully, those would just be backup.

I wiped my bloody lips with my already thoroughly soaked sleeves. I think I have enough.

To test it, I focused upon my sheathed palm-fang. First, I pulled up details on the vorpal blade in my mind and willed my blood to converge on the buried fang. Disturbingly, my blood worked on its own, seemingly understanding at an innate level what I wanted. The entire fang was pulled apart and then regrown, its structure infused with the new minerals and metals I had ingested.

I inhaled deeply, hoping that this actually works. I gestured to Kael and he placed a pair of shackles in my hand. Manacles, ones that had been placed on Master Alarc. I had examined them before using the molecular view. They were like Astrid's, only smaller, and there was only one dark-affinity crystal in them, but that was all I needed right now.

My new palm-fang burst forth. I reached for the crystal in the manacle and the fang through my Soul Seed's molecular view, and then connected the two of them by drawing a path through me. A channel lit up, a line of mana ran between the crystal and the fang.

On the outside, the fang's visible image blurred. I swiped it through the air and dark afterimages trailed in its wake. The blade hummed menacingly. I stabbed at a metal breast plate that had been mounted on a wood plank. My fang sliced through it as if it were parchment, meeting no resistance.

Kael winced, tensing. The worry was still heavy in Meris's eyes but she nodded grimly at me.

After a minute, the mana line faded and the fang's image sharpened, returning back to normal. The dark-affinity crystal was now dull. It looked like using it this way is quite a drain on the crystal. I need more of them.

—

"Your Highness. I cannot in good faith, leave you like this," Vanda said, looking despondent in a set of ill-fitting armor that she must have salvaged from the prison armory. Her eyes were frantically scanning me up and down. The fresh blood didn't help matters, but I had no time to clean up.

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"Your place is with Astrid. I tried trading with her before. She refused, remember?" I did my best to smile warmly at her. I knew she cared deeply.

She grimaced at my smile, as if it wounded her. "I can't face the High Princess knowing I left you like this. She would not abide by it either. If she heard what I heard last night, she'd…"

Vanda's words cut into me. I thought of Astrid sitting there, drinking her bitter tea, her face cracking as she heard about how her sister suffered and how powerless she was to stop it. My hand shot out, grabbing Vanda's arm with a strength that made her gasp.

My voice was a ragged, desperate rasp, each word torn from my throat. "Don't… Tell… Her… A… Thing…"

I released her and she staggered away from me. The threat hung in the air, until I managed to pull myself back after several deep breaths. "My sister is beset by her own troubles. She needs to focus on saving our parents, the King and Queen, and not be distracted by me. Go to her, aid her. I have my own protector." I jerked my chin toward Kael.

I turned to Meris. "Go with her." When she opened her mouth to protest, I raised a hand. "Make sure she gets there discreetly, and I want you to retrieve my sister's manacles for me. The ones I broke for her."

Tamas arrived after I saw the two of them off. He had his armor on, a breast plate over a chainmail jacket with long sleeves, and his sword was at his side. He was ready, and he reported that his father and Saleic were as well.

"Paroc and quite a few of the students decided to stay and join our cause. Apparently, a few of the local nobles joined in as well, including a rather insistent lady from Moonshade."

"Blaire? Why would she join all the sudden? I thought she wanted to keep her people safe." I palmed my forehead and groaned. "I thought this was all supposed to be kept secret? I wanted to keep all of them safe, not throw them into the fire!"

Tamas shrugged, his chainmail clinked. "No moth could withstand being drawn to the Flame of Aethelgard." He opened up a satchel and showed the dress that was haphazardly stuffed into it. On top of the dress was a pouch and a large red crystal. "I've brought the items you asked for from your room. As always, your errand boy at your service." He gave me a wry grin before bowing with an exaggerated flourish.

Tamas handed the satchel off to Kael. Then his face turned somber as he moved closer, speaking in a lowered voice. "Are you sure you can do this Princess? You look terrible, even worse than when I dragged you out of the Arena. And I was sure you were going to die then."

I placed my blood stained hand on his arm. For some reason, the memory of him carrying me down the tunnel was a comforting one. "I can last a while longer. Just need to disable those bombs, then you all can handle the rest."

He shook his head against mine. "I'm coming with. I owe you one and I'm not letting you out of my sight this time."

I pulled back and frowned at him, feeling bewildered. "It's too dangerous…" I wanted to protest that his father wouldn't approve, but looking into those intense yellow eyes—an exact match for Stonehand's—I knew that wasn't true.

"Besides, don't you need someone to give the word once you're successful? I've a comm talisman that's connected with Roderic." He grinned at me as he raised a large jade coin in his hand. "Also, I'm definitely going if he is as well." He sneered over at Cassian sulking at the other end of the table.

I followed Tamas's gaze, turning my head sideways since my back was turned to Cassian. "He hasn't agreed to come yet. I'm not going to let him tattle-tale to his father, but he can stay here until things are settled."

He had been quiet the entire time, his amber eyes tracking me as I moved between the released prisoners and incoming servants, giving orders, snapping at some, offering reassurance to others. We were running short on time and if things weren't well prepared, then even if I managed to disable the bombs everything would still fall apart. It was true for school projects and true here as well.

Backups for backups. The future isn't set.

A few times, I had caught Cassian staring. But he made no move to say anything. I figured he was still angry about the stunt I had pulled on him to pull him and Serine apart. I could apologize, but I didn't want to. Besides, he needed his own conviction to be able to go up against his own father, just having a thing for me won't cut it. He needed to actually care about saving lives.

Had I somehow managed to convey that to him with my eyes?

Cassian planted both hands upon the table and pushed himself up. "I'm going with you," he announced, though his voice sounded resigned as if he was beaten down.

I stayed with my back turned to him. "I'm not bringing dead weight with me. Would you at least promise to protect me as I disable those devices?"

His jawline clenched. "If those things are as horrible as you said they were. Then yes, I pledge by the honor of Rodinar, that I will place your life before mine when you are disabling them."

Tamas snorted. I placed my hand back on his arm to still him.

"Even against Lelian or… your father?"

I could hear Cassian drawing in breath. "Yes, against all that will come at you."

This is as good as I'm going to get. Time is running out.

I nodded and then raised my left arm. My mind drew up the data for another demon appendage: a long thin vorpal blade extending from the forearm, except I didn't need it to stay attached. Blood converged at points along my arm. Slowly, something hard formed underneath the skin. I bit back a cry of pain as the tip of a curved blade erupted out of my arm, my flesh peeled back around it.

Cries of alarm, gasps, sounded around me, but I waved them back with my other hand. I needed to do this in front of them. I needed my allies to see what I am.

I can't have them chickening out once the fight begins.

The blade shone like white steel with a menacing halo of blue. Its razor sharp edge sliced apart my pale skin as more of its length pushed out of me. My body wobbled from the pain, and two pairs of hands gripped my shoulders to steady me. I gave Tamas and Kael a quick, strained smile before returning my focus to the blade emerging from my arm.

The bottom of the sword was round and smooth like a bone handle. I grabbed that handle and yanked it free with a wet suction, leaving a gaping cavity where the blade had been. Tossing it over, the sword landed with a loud metal clang on the table before Cassian. "There, use that. Channel your dark-affinity magic into it, like you do with other swords."

Cassian's lips moved but no words came out as his eyes darted between me and the sword, coated with my blood. His hand hovered over the handle.

"There are some leather straps you can tie around the handle. But you need to practice at least a little before we leave."

He finally picked up the sword. He looked down the length of the blade, admiring or assessing it, I couldn't tell. Then his eyes fixed once more upon my bleeding arm which Kael was in the middle of wrapping up. "Thank you."

Tamas's eyebrows furrowed as he watched Cassian's back recede away from us. "You know, I'm a bit jealous. You have another one of those for me?"

I shook my head, palming my forehead again. Kael was still patching up my arm, but my blood was stitching my wound back together beneath the bandages. "Really, Tamas? Would you settle for a gift from me once this is over?"

There was a commotion at the entrance, a scuffle, as someone was shoved into the room by a couple of newly appointed guards. "Your highness, we caught this spy sneaking about."

With the figure's leather pants and jackets, one might be mistaken into thinking it was a boy at first. But as she thrashed about, the curls of her brunette hair flew, and her indignant cry was clearly female. "How dare you!"

"Cut her loose," I ordered with a sigh and dismissed the guards. I had already seen her lurking in the shadows through the eyes of my rats, but I had hoped she would go away on her own. Alas, that was way too much to ask for.

"What have you done with Prince Cassian?" Serine demanded as she stormed up to me, her eyes ablaze, acting nothing like the girl who had giggled and shared an afternoon with me just yesterday.

Why does everything feel like they're eons away?

She stopped short, looking down at me. "Elara! What happened to you?"

I rubbed at the sides of my head, groaning inward. Another one of these?

"Please, Serine, just leave. You don't want to get involved in any of this. It's way too dangerous."

Of course, her voice snapped back. "Oh no. I definitely do!"