Cris shook his head. “No, but I wish I had. I would’ve simply whisked you away and avoided the much planning, secrecy, and danger the bride-choosing charade caused.”
“Why didn’t you know it was me?”
“Oake said he thought he knew who it was. He never gave me a name. He said he needed a few days to check some documents. By then, the hunters were in the forests, and you’d left.”
“He insisted I go to the city.”
“He’s wise, for he saved you by sending you away from Iskadar and the hunters.” He sighed. “But then Castillo and I had to find another way to achieve our desires.”
“You started a war with your own country.” I admired him for being so proactive, so detailed. “What else? Did you arrest the brick mason? The baker’s wife?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, Echo, you must know I didn’t know those arrests had happened. I didn’t.” He motioned me to sit on his lap. “Castillo told me as soon as we returned from the wall. I made sure all the prisoners were released, just as you requested.”
I joined him in the recliner, the images of my fallen friends still vivid in my mind. “I watched them die.”
“I wish I could’ve spared you that.” He cleared his throat. “Are you hungry?” When I nodded, he sent for sweet buns and tall glasses of orange juice. Cris slid me a faint smile as I ate.
I spent many hours bundled against the wind as it howled out of the mountains, announcing the true beginning of fall and the promise of a long winter. I watched the clouds move through the sky, contemplating whom the High King would choose to possess.
He couldn’t be dead. He’d simply left his body behind, the way the ancients of Relina did when they transferred their intelligence. The difference here was that the High King had stolen years from his subjects, using them to prolong his life until he found another physical host.
I told Cris I needed to see Castillo, and he said, “He is in my father’s chambers.”
I set out to talk with my bond. I found him in a cavernous room, seated at an ornate desk. He looked so small among so much luxury.
“Echo.” He stood to greet me. “I hope you haven’t come to berate me about Oake.”
I stopped and crossed my arms. “About Oake? Perhaps later. First, I wish to discuss your father.”
“My father?”
I shared my suspicions with Castillo about his father merely finding another host for his intelligence, and he managed a half hour of speculating whom it might be.
I listened, trying to remember the names of royals and dignitaries from here to Heona. No matter who he chose to possess, I knew Javier de la Fuenta would return.
“I think we should air our secrets,” I said after the conversation about his father died.
“I have no more secrets.”
“How did Cris die?”
Castillo blinked in surprise. “That’s something you should ask him.”
“Why didn’t you mention you’d been his bond?”
He returned to the desk and sat. “It brings up painful memories. I’m sure you understand why I wouldn’t wish to discuss it.”
I could, yes, and I nodded as much. “What of Helena and Heona?”
“My mother is a stubborn woman,” he said with a sigh. “She knew Heona would not approve of a union between Umon and Nyth. She counseled me to visit Queen Bargout, tell her our plans, and offer a ransom to allow the marriage to proceed.”
“She was the ransom.”
“My mother is Nythinian nobility,” he said. “She made a very good ransom.”
“But she left before you did.”
“She’s very impatient,” he said. “She went without me, and when I discovered what she had done, I followed.” He ducked his head. “There’s one more thing.”
“Are you going to make me ask questions until I land on the right one?”
He looked up, that familiar fire in his eyes. “My father didn’t beat me. I didn’t even come home to Nyth. Those wounds were inflicted by Queen Bargout’s guards.”
I took a step back while I processed his words. “Why would she do that?”
“To prove she could,” he said simply. “It was a warning, a clear message that she’d do worse if I dared defy her.” He stood and came around the desk again. “Don’t worry, Echo. We kept our end of the bargain. Queen Bargout has no grounds to hurt anyone.”
I watched his eyes for any sign of a lie, and found none. I had to meet with Queen Bargout—soon—and I didn’t wish to return from that meeting the same way Castillo had.
I cleared my throat, the memory of my father healing me fresh in my mind. “You know of the obscure noble bloodlines, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know of mine?”
The right side of Castillo’s mouth lifted. “I didn’t until Oake provided us with your name. Then I did the research.” He sauntered back to his desk, opened a drawer, and removed a sheaf of parchment. “The del Toro line.”
He extended the file toward me, and I took it and clutched it close to my chest. “Thank you.”
Castillo nodded to the papers. “You should know that Cris pursued every lead we had until he found you. It’s good to see him so in love.”
I detected no hint of jealousy, and I couldn’t contain the small smile tugging at my lips. I had one more question to ask, but it suddenly stuck in my throat.
“Go on,” he said. “You won’t be able to breathe properly until your curiosity is satisfied.” He smiled as he spoke, softening his words.
“You have been touched by tainted magic . . . How do you rid yourself of it?”
He jerked his gaze to mine, his look piercing, all traces of joviality gone. “How do you know I’ve been touched by such magic?”
“I felt it in you.” I dropped my gaze to the floor. “The day I left Umon.”
“It’s difficult to cleanse the darkness once it is inside,” he said, his tone much softer than usual. “But as bonds we can help each other, keep each other on the right path.”
I raised my eyes to his. “So you’ll help me?”
“If you will help me.”
I left him to his father’s chambers, satisfied that we were to be bonds for a great long while.
#
I spent that night mourning the loss of Matu. He’d been a calm influence in a stormy place, a steady reassurance that I wasn’t ever alone or forgotten. His absence weighed heavily in my heart, and I couldn’t bear to believe we’d never walk arm in arm again.
A day later, I looked down into the garden, knowing Matu would find beauty in it even now, barren and dying as it was. I touched my fingertips to my lips and then pressed them to the cold metal of the balcony railing as he was lowered into the earth. I recalled the day Grandmother had met her final resting place, and this ceremony felt just as solemn.
Castillo wiped at his eyes, and Cris tightened his hold on me while the songs of comfort rose from the assembled magicians below.
“He was a good friend,” I said.
“A true guard,” Cris added, just before a knock sounded on the door. He turned to answer it, leaving me to watch the first shovelfuls of earth drop onto Matu’s casket, something I hadn’t had strength to do for Grandmother.
“Dearest,” Cris said from the bedroom. I cleared my throat to erase the emotion gathering there and turned to find him wearing his diplomatic face.
“There’s someone here to see you.”
“Who is it?” Only Mari and Castillo had been allowed in, and only to discuss the most vital matters. Castillo had insisted Cris take the throne, and he’d been making preparations for a coronation ceremony set for later in the week.
“Oake Ravendell.” Cris smiled and kissed me before I went into the living area to meet Oake, who looked wild among the plush carpets and paneled walls. His rainbow-colored tunic definitely hadn’t been seen in Nyth before.
“Oake.” A smile stretched across my face at the familiar sight of him.
>
“Echo,” he said, embracing me with a grin. He breathed in deep, the way he’d so often done. “You finally found your voice.”
I held him tightly, the way I had just before fleeing Iskadar. “Is it spectacular?” I whispered, still desperate for his approval.
“Your grandmother would think so,” Oake said, and I could only agree.
Other books by Elana Johnson
The Possession series (YA dystopian)
—Possession
—Resist
—Surrender
—Regret
—Abandon
The Elemental series (NA dystopian)
—Elemental Rush
—Elemental Hunger
—Elemental Release
YA Contemporary Romance
—Elevated
—Something About Love
About Elana Johnson
A speculative fiction author under the name Elana Johnson and an inspirational adult romance author under the pen name of Liz Isaacson, her work includes the young adult dystopian romance series Possession, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), Elevated, the Elemental series, the Redwood Bay romance series, and the Amazon bestselling Three Rivers Ranch Romance series.
She lives in Utah, where she teaches elementary school, taxis her daughter to dance several times a week, and eats a lot of Ferrero Rocher while writing.
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