Soul Binder (Soul Saga (Book #2))

by Todd, E. L.

  Accacia smiled. “I do, too.”

  Accacia kissed his lips once more before she walked away. His lips lingered on hers for a moment and he had to force himself to release her, despite his strong urge not to. She let go of his hand, and he thought his heart would drop as well. She entered the blood red doors to the stone building. Zyle watched her go regretfully, counting the moments until he would see her again.

  Accacia stopped on the threshold and looked across the room before her. The stone walls were covered in a variety of battle axes and swords, which gleamed from the light of the flaming torches that illuminated the room. Accacia walked down the stairs and entered the large chamber. The room was so silent, with the exception of the crackling flames, that she could hear her boots thump against the chiseled rock below her feet. She stopped in the middle of the room and waited.

  There were two spiral staircases on either side of the room that twisted upwards to the higher floors of the building. Laura descended the staircase to her left and walked into the chamber. Accacia was startled by her appearance. She hadn’t heard her approach.

  Laura stopped directly before her and crossed her arms over her chest. She was adorned in the tan shorts and the green top of the Asquithians in the city, along with a yellow sword belted to her waist and a bow slung across her back. Accacia could see the toned muscles of her legs and the strength in her arms. The sight was intimidating.

  “Hello, Accacia.” She did not smile. She was neither friendly nor rude, but her infectious charm and aura of happiness had disappeared. Accacia felt like she was meeting a whole new person. “What brings you here?”

  Accacia was surprised by the question. She already confessed to Laura her desire to train in the renowned academy. Perhaps she just wanted to hear Accacia say it. “I seek your training and guidance. My body and mind are yours to mold and reshape.” Laura stared at her while she spoke, and Accacia felt her voice falter as she continued. Just her heated gaze alone was enough to make Accacia tremble. “Make me into a worthy warrior.”

  Laura dropped her hands to her sides. “You must already be worthy for such an endeavor.” She stepped closer to Accacia and fixed her blue eyes on her. Accacia was intimidated by the hostile gesture, but she forced herself to meet her gaze, recalling the way Roxian snapped at her when she averted her look. “Are you worthy, Accacia?”

  Accacia withdrew her sword from her scabbard and adopted a defensive stance. She knew she would have to fight her trainer to prove her worthiness. “Yes, I believe I am.”

  Laura appraised Accacia’s battle stance with a look of approval. It was obvious she knew the basics. Laura assumed Zyle, her life partner, had instructed her in the sword, and she was pleased she came prepared. “Sheath your sword, Accacia.” Accacia obeyed her command with a look of confusion. She thought she was expected to prove her adroitness. “Your talent with the sword does not prove your worthiness. It is your mind that attests your valor.” Laura held out her open palm to Accacia. “Give me your Soul Catcher. Your past actions, memories, and the important events of your life will determine your credibility.” Laura spotted the look of unease that crossed Accacia’s face. “My students have no secrets from me.”

  Accacia touched the capsule around her throat for a moment then returned her hand to her side. “I do not have a Soul Catcher,” she confessed. “I exchanged mine with a man from my past. I only contain his memories and none of my own.” Accacia sighed before she continued. She was disappointed she wouldn’t receive any further training based on this premise. “I am not at liberty to share his recollections with you.”

  Laura stared at her for a moment. To give someone your Soul Catcher is to give them your soul, to confess every memory you hoarded to your mind, whether they were positive memories or criminal activities. The fact that this man, dead or alive, had entrusted his most personal recollections to her was worthy in itself. “You are worthy, Accacia.” Laura turned around and walked to the stairwell. “Follow me,” she said over her shoulder.

  They walked up the first flight up stairs then turned into the hallway. Laura walked in front of her and led her pass several red doors until she stopped at one and opened it. Accacia looked inside of the room and saw a small bed in the corner, a drawer at the bedside, a sword rack, and a writing desk. Laura walked into the room and stood before the bed. “This is your living quarters. Whenever you are not training, you are confined to this room.” Accacia was sad to see that there was no window. It looked like a prison. “You are not allowed to leave the premises for any reason, and if you choose to do so, your enrollment in this program will be eliminated. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Laura.”

  “You will refer to me only as Lady Laura.”

  Accacia nodded. “Yes, Lady Laura.”

  “Your meals will be brought to your quarters. You will only eat what we provide. Any food in your pack will be stripped of your possession.”

  “Okay.”

  Laura walked to the door. “We begin tomorrow morning at sunrise.” She shut the door behind her.

  The Battle Academy

  33

  Accacia lay down on the bed and pulled the sheets over her body. The stone walls of the fortress made the room feel cold and clammy, and she wished Zyle was there to keep her warm. Accacia immediately felt guilty at the thought. She grabbed the Soul Catcher from her necklace and felt the gem in her fingertips, pondering if she should finally access Aleco’s stored memories. She longed to see his face again, to relive their intimate moments together, but she feared the remembrance would only bring her pain.

  Now Accacia belonged to another man and was committed to him for the rest of her long life. She still didn’t understand how it happened. It just did. It was as if Zyle and she were meant to be together. No matter what she did to keep him away, he still found his way into her heart. She was tired of fighting it. She gave into her feelings this afternoon and kissed him the way she wanted to, but her heart squeezed with guilt afterwards.

  She loved Aleco more than anything and wished she never left. She recalled their nights in the parlor by the fireplace and the evenings they would make love in the bedroom. Knowing she was never going to see him again only brought her pain. She missed him. She would always miss him. But he wasn’t there anymore and he would never be again. Should she move on?

  She felt Aleco fading from her memory the more she thought about Zyle and her conflicted feelings for him. She closed her eyes and accessed the Soul Catcher and fell into the black abyss of the sanctuary. Accacia scanned the walls of the room and watched the dancing images continue indefinitely on the marble walls. There was one memory in the corner that was stagnant, not projecting an ongoing memory like the others, and it displayed an image of Orgoom Forest. Accacia ignored the unusual image and selected a random picture from the wall. She didn’t care what the image was. She just wanted to see him.

  Accacia fell forward.

  Aleco was standing next to the wall of a palace, his face hidden in shadow and his signature cloak hung over his head. Accacia looked around and saw the city she recognized as Morkarh. There was red sand everywhere and it hung in the air like flakes of light snow.

  The sun had fallen below the horizon hours ago, and the city was lit with flickering torches to illuminate the realm. Aleco looked over his shoulder. “We can’t pass the guards undetected—there are too many. You get four, I get five.”

  The man behind him nodded. It was Devry. “Let’s do it,” he whispered.

  Aleco sprinted from behind the wall and charged at the guards who patrolled the entrance to the palace, nine in total. Devry dashed alongside him with his sword at his side. Aleco withdrew a three-bladed throwing knife from his belt and tossed it at the man closest to him—he fell to the floor. Aleco withdrew his blade and beheaded the next man then shoved his blade through the stomach of another, spilling his insides to the floor. Then, he retracted his sword. He beheaded the man next to him then snapped the neck of the last
guard. Devry killed his soldiers with equal speed. The transaction lasted less than a minute.

  They both dashed into the palace without saying a word. The palace was dark with the exception of the candles lighting the entry room, and Accacia could see the portraits of the Steward with his wife on the wall. The room was decorated with elegant chairs and a white rug. They dashed to the golden staircase and took two at a time, sprinting to the top floor. Accacia lagged behind their advance, but she caught up with them at the top. They seemed to know where they were going because they headed down the next hallway and veered to the left. A servant was walking down the walkway with a tea tray, and he stared at them with a look of fear. Aleco snapped his neck and Devry caught the tray before it fell. Accacia covered her mouth and gasped at Aleco’s aggression. The servant was not a threat to them.

  Aleco and Devry opened the door then closed it behind them. Accacia slipped through the entrance before they bolted it. Aleco approached the bed, which had two occupants in it, a man and a woman. They were obviously lovers by their ongoing actions. When they realized they weren’t alone, they pulled away from each other and covered their naked bodies with the bed sheets. They both stared at Aleco in fear. The woman whimpered at the sight and gripped her lover’s arm.

  Aleco spoke without preamble. “I want the Kadnit Knife. Where is it?”

  The middle-age man trembled at Aleco’s words. The menace in his voice even frightened Accacia. Even when he was furious with her for violating his privacy, he still didn’t seem as formidable as this.

  “I—don’t—know what you are talking about.”

  Aleco withdrew his short blade from his belt and marched over to the bed. The couple immediately flinched at his advance and tried to move away from him. The woman fell out of the bed and the Steward became tangled in the sheets, unable to escape in time. Aleco grabbed his hand and sliced his forefinger off. The man screamed in agony as he watched his finger drop onto his white sheets, spraying the pristine cotton with the contrasting red color of blood.

  “Where is it, Steward?” Aleco held the knife against his next finger, threatening to sever it from his body.

  The man tried to pull his arm away, but Aleco wouldn’t relinquish his grip. “Please.” He begged. “I told you I don’t know. It is the truth.”

  Aleco severed the next finger and the man screamed again.

  “I am only going to ask you one more time. I suggest you answer my question. If not, I promise you will lose more than you can afford.”

  The man remained mute.

  “So be it,” Aleco said. He walked to the other side of the bed and grabbed the woman by the hair, pulling her to a stance. She screamed when he seized her and begged him for mercy. “Robin!” she yelled. “Just tell him what he wants to know.” The tears streamed down her face and dripped from her chin.

  Aleco forced the edge of his blade against her throat. “Answer me and I will spare your wife.”

  The man switched his gaze from Aleco to his wife and back again. He held his hand up, the one that still contained all five digits and begged him to lower his weapon. “Please let go of my wife. She has nothing to do with this. She is with child.”

  Aleco pressed the blade against her skin, releasing a trickle of blood. She screamed in protest. “Is that your final answer?”

  The Steward did not blink. “Please release her.”

  Aleco sliced his sword through her neck, severing her head completely from her body. Her corpse dropped to the floor with a thud and her head rolled under the bed. The Steward watched in horror as her blood flooded the wooden floors of his bedchamber. He began to shake with fear. Aleco walked to his side of the bed.

  “Stop!” he said as he tried to move away. Aleco grabbed his arm and forced his blade against his throat. “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! Lower your sword.”

  “No.” Aleco pressed the blade further into his skin. “Tell me.”

  The man’s forehead dripped with sweat and his words came out in a rush. “It’s in the chest at the foot of the bed. The key is on my desk.”

  Aleco nodded to Devry. “Check it.”

  Devry grabbed the key and inserted it into the elegantly carved wooden chest at the end of his bedframe.

  “Don’t take anything else but the knife.” The man begged.

  “You’re an idiot.” Aleco snarled. “I just killed your wife and you are concerned that we will steal all your treasures? You are pathetic.”

  Devry rummaged through the contents until he found what he sought. “I have it.”

  Aleco released the blade from the Steward’s throat. The man rubbed his bruised skin with his hand and coughed into his lap. “I have done as you asked,” he said between a fit of coughs. “Now leave.”

  Aleco stared at the man then stabbed him directly into his left lung. The man immediately gasped for breath and was losing his battle for oxygen. Aleco withdrew his blade and wiped the blood on the already bloodied sheets.

  “I—told—you—what you wanted—to—know.” The man’s words came out as wheezes. His second lung collapsed and he tried to breathe with his remaining one.

  “Yes,” Aleco said. “But I never said I would spare you if you did. Like I said—you’re an idiot.”

  Accacia drifted away from the scene and was placed in a new one. She was outside on the Aequor Plains, with the sun shining in the sky on a cloudless day. The line of trees of Aequor Forest stood a few feet away. Aleco was sitting in the front of a wagon that was tied to two large dray horses that were eating the stalks of grass below their feet. His hood was pulled back and his eyes were closed, clearly enjoying the breeze of the plains on his warm face. Accacia felt her heart tug as she stared at his features. She missed him so much. He looked so handsome with his crystal blue eyes in contrast to his pale features and blonde hair.

  Aleco pulled his hood up at the sound of voices from behind the cart.

  “She is just a child!” a woman screamed. “Please release my daughter.” Accacia could hear the desperation in her voice and the sound of her shed tears. “She is just a child,” she repeated.

  A guild member walked to the front of the cart where Aleco sat. Accacia didn’t recognize the man. She had never seen him before. He was holding a young woman by the throat with a dagger to her back. Her tears streamed down her face and washed the dirt from her skin, forming lines to her chin. Her lips trembled in fear. Accacia felt the anger swell through her body at the sight. She now recognized the guildsman’s intention. The slave was beautiful. It was obvious.

  Accacia turned around and looked through the cracks of the wooden planks of the cart. There were dozens of slaves tied in the rear of the wagon. They were covered in sweat from the heat. She saw a woman cry into the shoulder of a man. She assumed these were the girl’s parents. Accacia became furious.

  “We don’t have time for this, Zahn.” Aleco snarled. He hadn’t looked at the guildsman or the slave girl once. “We need to reach Mortar by nightfall.”

  “Don’t worry.” He smiled as he appraised the slave girl. “It won’t take along.”

  The woman sobbed at his words.

  Aleco took a bite of an apple. “Make it quick.”

  Accacia stared at Aleco in disbelief. Was he going to do nothing?

  Zahn marched the slave girl into the forest and disappeared from sight. Accacia heard the screams a few seconds later and the desperate pleas of the girl. The woman begged him to stop but he continued to rape her. Accacia looked at Aleco. He ate his apple and stared straight ahead, unaffected by the girl’s cries for freedom.

  Zahn returned with the slave a few moments later. Acacia saw the bruises covering her face and her bloody nose. Aleco looked over at them and said, “If you bloody them, we won’t make as much of a profit,” he said.

  “Well, this one was feisty.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Well, what would you do?”

  Aleco chewed another bite of his apple and swallowed it. “I w
ould threaten to kill them.”

  The Tower

  34

  Zyle walked into the tower, dreading the upcoming conversation with every footfall of his shoe. He knew Roxian would not only be angry, but furious, at his public love for Accacia, the stranger who lived on these shores for only a year. Roxian wanted to keep Accacia’s identity a secret because she wasn’t sure what her plans were for the daughter of Henral and Portisha. She said she didn’t want to face an uprising from the Asquithian people, but Zyle knew the real reason. She feared Accacia.

  Not only was she charming and beautiful, but she came from the line of Henral and Portisha, the ambassadors that the Asquithians worshipped and admired to this day. They held a vigil for the anniversary of their deaths every year, praying their souls would somehow escape to the afterlife. Zyle knew they would rejoice at Accacia’s return. Now Accacia had entered education in the Battle Academy, he knew how upset Roxian would be by this news. She would be furious. And she would be paranoid that Accacia wished to be the ruler of the people. Zyle was certain Accacia had no such motive.

  Zyle walked into her study and saw the anger in her eyes. He sighed as he took his seat.

  Roxian stared at him. “What have you done?”

  Zyle shook his head. “Nothing is what I did.”

  “So, Cassandra means nothing to you?”

  Zyle didn’t know why he bothered to come. He wanted to make amends because of his familial relation to her and he pitied her, but his tolerance was waning. “You know that isn’t true,” he said quietly. He held back his anger and continued to speak. “I know she wants me to be happy.”

  “Spending your days with Accacia while she is imprisoned in a rock until her soul is spent? Do you think she wants that?”