Soulbound (The Return of the Elves Book 1)

by Bethany Adams

  “You can’t be everywhere, Kera,” he said. “After your shift is over, please come find me. Provided I’m not unconscious.”

  “Have I done something wrong, Lord Lyrnis?”

  Lyr smiled. “No. But you might want to consider whether you’d be willing to take Koranel’s place when he moves up to Captain. It will be a bit of a shift for you, but I need someone I can trust.”

  “Myern,” she choked out, her eyes wide.

  “Please consider the position.”

  “Of course.”

  A soft chuckle slipped out at her stunned expression, but levity fled as soon as Elan opened the door. With a raised brow, he stopped them, gesturing to the broad stone washing stand beside the entrance. Lyr looked down at himself and grimaced. “I can stand well enough to wash my hands.”

  He scrubbed the blood from his hands and face, then stepped back for Kai and Arlyn to do the same. Gods, they were all a mess. He should have at least changed clothes, but he feared he’d collapse at the sight of his bed. Laiala came first. Forcing aside the lightness in his head, Lyr walked through the door on his own. The sharp tang of herbs swirled through the air as he made his way to the bed along the right-hand wall. Lynia rested there, so still and pale he drew up short, his throat squeezing tight in fear.

  When Lyr saw her chest rise and fall, he could breathe again.

  Rubbing his temples with his fingers, Lial slumped in a chair beside her, his pallor almost as striking. He glanced up at Lyr, and a scowl twisted his face as he noticed the gash on Lyr’s chest. “Miaran. Can I not leave you alone for any length of time?”

  “Don’t start,” Lyr said, dropping into the other chair and taking Lynia’s hand. “Norin was working for Allafon. If I’d realized sooner, none of this would have happened. We all paid for my failure, didn’t we?”

  For once, Lial didn’t give a sharp retort. “I’m sorry. Lynia’s healing was difficult, and I am not certain I have the energy to do much for you.” He sighed. “Alerielle sewed you up? Iron must have been involved.”

  “Yes and yes.” Lyr’s eyes slipped closed, his grip tightening on his mother’s hand. But not enough to hurt her. Never that. “How bad is it?”

  “Parts of her spine were completely shattered, and there was a great deal of internal damage.” Lial’s hand shook as he brushed a lock of hair from her face. “I’ve stopped the bleeding, healed her organs, and begun work on her spine. But that is the most delicate of all things to repair. The damage to her spinal column alone was extensive.”

  Lyr’s breath caught. “What are you saying?”

  “I think I can ensure that she walks again, but it will be a long journey, even for one of our kind. It will not be easy.”

  “You think? But elves—” Arlyn began, then cut herself off. Startled, Lyr glanced up to find that she and Kai had stepped up beside him. Her face pinched as she struggled to find the words. “Elves can heal from just about anything. Can’t they? It’s what I’ve always heard.”

  “Our innate magic fixes many things,” Lial answered softly. “But we are not gods. No matter what some humans believe.”

  An odd note in Lial’s tone caught Lyr’s attention. A hint of grief he hadn’t expected. The healer tended to avoid Lynia and had for as long as Lyr could remember. But the look in Lial’s eyes as he stared at her. The way his hands shook. Could he be in love with Lynia? Lyr’s eyes widened. Surely not.

  “Lial?”

  The healer looked up, his gaze sharpening at the question in Lyr’s voice. “It is not for you to know.”

  Lyr nodded, accepting both the acknowledgement and the rebuke, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Lial and his mother? He really did not want to consider that. “But she will live?”

  “Yes. And if you care to live?” Lial’s eyebrow rose. “Go rest.”

  Back in their room, Arlyn wrapped her arms around Kai’s waist, pulling him close. Her heart, still heavy from seeing her grandmother, ached with the pain radiating from her bonded. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” His breath ruffled her hair. “No.”

  Her hair. Her hand went to her braids, now in disarray, as she jerked away. “Gods, we’re covered in blood. Father’s. The guards’.” She shuddered. “Allafon’s. I can’t even think about this. Come on, let’s clean off and find some new clothes. Anything but these.”

  Later—much later—they lay together in bed, Arlyn’s head on Kai’s chest. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She offered him the only things she could. Comfort…and her love. Kai jerked in surprise as she passed both along their bond, and her lips curved against his chest. “Whenever you are ready.”

  “How?” His hand sank into her unbound hair where it twisted around her waist. “I don’t understand how I’ve come to deserve your love.”

  Arlyn chuckled. “Maybe you haven’t. But you have it anyway.”

  A spark of humor flickered to life in the middle of his grief. “Fair enough.”

  “And?” Her heart pounded, and she bit her lip. “Maybe it hasn’t been long enough for you to feel the same.”

  “Arlyn, you have to know I love you, too,” Kai rushed out, voice cracking. “But I don’t even know who I am anymore. How can you? My true father could be anyone among the Sidhe.”

  Frowning, she lifted herself up to meet his eyes. “Are you kidding? By all of your gods, I don’t see how you could do worse than Allafon. But even if your real father is worse, what does it matter? I do know you. I’m part of you. None could know you better.”

  “If we have children…”

  Arlyn rested her arms against his chest as her lips turned up again. “Then they’ll be a wonderful blend of our mixed blood.”

  Relaxing, Kai hugged her close. “Yes. Perfect.”

  The only sound heard in Lyr’s study was the dripping of the water clock. He slumped in his chair behind the desk, waiting for Moren, and wished he dared take another nap where he sat. But he had to focus on his duty to the estate and the protection of all. No matter if his muscles shook with fatigue or his chest burned with unrelenting fire.

  At least Moren had sent word that cleaning up Allafon’s mess—both literal and figurative—was taking longer than expected. Two hours of rest allowed Lyr to sit upright without the threat of passing out. Barely. Even with Eradisel’s help, his energy regeneration was sluggish. Cursed iron. If not for his relationship with the sacred tree, he probably wouldn’t be awake.

  Maybe he deserved the pain. The weakness. How could he not have seen Allafon’s treachery? Norin’s? Lyr had trusted Norin to investigate his father’s and Kai’s attacks, had believed in his captain’s lack of success. Had Norin himself murdered Telien? Lyr would have to ask his mother what the traitor had told her, if anything, once she woke. The thought of it pushed bile up the back of his throat.

  And Allafon? He had always been dark, openly resentful of the Dianore family. Still, there were many such resentments among Moranaian houses. Lyr had not expected it to turn to treachery. He had not known how far Allafon had gone, turning to long-forbidden blood magic spells. Kai had stopped their foe the only way he could have without knowing a counter-spell. Instant death. Had Allafon seen the attack coming, he would have released his power at once, killing them all. Lyr could hardly fathom a hate so intense it had led Allafon to such extremes.

  How could he have missed such a thing?

  As he sensed the portal flare to life, Lyr leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and tried to conserve as much energy as possible. He’d asked Kai and Arlyn to meet Moren there at the time he’d given, saving Lyr from that. Standing for long was not advised. Not if he hoped to make it through this meeting.

  At the knock on his door, Lyr straightened, forcing his expression blank and calling for them to enter. Kai, Arlyn, and Moren stopped in the middle of the room, Moren bowing without hesitation. He had changed from his blood-splattered clothes into a tunic and vest fit for the formal occa
sion, and his long, blond hair was held back with a gold chain. Lyr studied him for a long moment and was pleased to find no evidence of tension in the other’s demeanor. His newest lord was either adept at hiding his nerves or was confident in what he had to report.

  Bracing himself against his desk, Lyr stood as Arlyn and Kai shifted to flank him. At least high formality would not be expected under the circumstances. “Callian ay’iyn Dorn i Morenial Treinesse nai Oria, I greet your presence here.”

  Moren gave a quick salute. “I thank you for allowing me to come before you, Myern. My House has much for which we must atone.”

  “Indeed. You may not long remain the Dorn of Oria if you cannot explain your actions to my satisfaction.” Lyr held the other’s gaze. “Morenial Treinesse, did you work with your father to bring harm to the people under your care?”

  “Though my father believed otherwise, none of my people were harmed by my word or deed.”

  “You seem to know a great deal about Allafon’s crimes, yet you have reported nothing to me or, to my knowledge, my father before me. I will hear your explanation.”

  Moren straightened almost imperceptibly, his expression resolute. “I cannot say with certainty when my father’s madness began, though it must have been some time before my birth. I know he was obsessed with my mother, made her claim to be his bonded or risk death. Still, I did not suspect the depth of his evil until Kai’s birth. Mother’s death was suspicious, but I could never prove he ordered her murdered. I started to scrutinize his actions then. It was difficult, as he had no trust for me, but after two or three hundred years, I convinced him of my loyalty. During that time, he did nothing overt. He often spoke of his hatred for your father and your House, but I did not see any indication of further action.”

  “Did you warn my father of this?”

  “I did not. Many speak words of anger or dislike in the privacy of their homes. I found no proof of any kind of plot. I wondered when your father died, but by all accounts, it was an accident.”

  Lyr reached into a drawer and pulled out the knife that had been used on Kai. He held the pommel up as he gestured the other forward. “Do you recognize this seal?”

  Lyr’s brows lifted at the string of curses Moren let loose. “Oh, indeed. I have been trying to trace its origin for some time. Where did you get it?”

  “Your brother pulled it from his body after someone tried to kill him. The same seal was on the sword used to murder my father. You know of the seal but not of these events?”

  “I learned of the attempt on Kai’s life after the fact. I tried later to warn him to leave, but that clearly did not work.” Moren gave Kai an irritated frown before turning back to Lyr. “Myern, trying to spy on my father was no easy task. His hatred of you was so great that I dared not come to you. Instead, I did my best to discover what he planned. Most recently, he’d started working with a few half-bloods he’d found, though I could not say from where, who were able to do magic around iron. He also commissioned two cloaks that could slip through wards, one of which I have. I think he has been working with another, but I am uncertain.”

  Moren let out a deep, frustrated groan. “Though I’ve caught sight of that seal on missives, I have yet to discover who sent them. I was close. I had gone to follow a lead not long after warning Kai, only to return, unsuccessful once more, to be forced to stop my father in his attack on you. Now I have nothing.”

  Lyr shook his head. “How did it come to this, Moren? Why did no one come to me as they should? Five hundred years is a long time for such madness to go unchecked.”

  “Fear. He killed those who opposed him, or he held their loved ones captive. He told them it was under your command. After a while, they believed him.” Moren’s composure slipped, and his face pinched with sadness. “I helped those whom I could when I could, but my father was perverse beyond imagining. Those I failed will always haunt my dreams.”

  “You have failed no one.” Lyr set the knife on his desk and leaned forward. “It is the responsibility of this House to ensure all on this branch are cared for. It seems that over time we have become complacent. I shudder to think how many others could have hidden such madness. Perhaps the old form of oath-bonding should be used once more.”

  “Maybe so.” Moren’s gaze slid back to his brother. “Forgive me, Kai. In my attempt to earn father’s trust, I was a poor brother to you. I do not know your true father’s name, for mother refused to tell me any but the smallest of details. She would only say that the key is the silver chain she left for you. Find its original owner, and you find your father.”

  As Kai pulled the chain in question free from his tunic, Lyr stared down at the small knife. So many questions unanswered despite all they had learned. “Do you know about the poisoned energy affecting Earth and the underrealms?”

  “My father was involved, but he told me little. I will search his papers for any information I can find.”

  Lyr stifled a groan. He had nothing but Moren’s suspicions that another had been involved. He wanted to believe Allafon had acted alone. But he couldn’t. “Get me everything.”

  Moren nodded. “As soon as possible.”

  “Thank you. It seems we all have a great deal of work ahead.”

  As the other elf departed, Lyr plopped down on his seat. Maybe it couldn’t be avoided. Maybe the elves would have to return to Earth after all.

  As the sun rose over the horizon, Arlyn looked down at the village nestled in the gilded valley. It was empty and still, the inhabitants gathered on the hill that sloped down from the large dais where she stood with her father and Kai. Before them, a line of Moranaian nobles stretched, prepared to give their blood-oaths.

  The preceding week had been a harried one as her father sent messages to all under his command. No small number. But Arlyn needed no special talent to read the anger that seethed under Lyr’s calm exterior. It flared into his eyes every time Lial carried Lynia in to dinner. Every time Kai’s brother sent another useless report on all he hadn’t found.

  If another elf was behind Allafon’s actions, their identity had died with him. Would the poisoned energy remain? She’d had precious little time to ask as they’d all scrambled to prepare for the influx of nobles. Later, Lyr had said, once Braelyn is secure. We’ll plan later. But she knew he lingered in his study until all hours of the night, brooding over the issue.

  Kai might have to go to Earth himself to investigate, and if he did, she would be at his side. But Arlyn would return to Moranaia. Even with all the strangeness, despite the struggle of learning their ways, she would always come back. For the first time in her life, she fit.

  And wasn’t that what she’d always wanted?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ever since finding a copy of The Hero and the Crown in her elementary school library, Bethany has loved fantasy. After subjecting her friends to stories scrawled in notebooks during study breaks all through high school, she decided to pursue an English degree at Middle Tennessee State University. When not writing or wrangling her two small children, Bethany enjoys reading, photography, and video games.

  For more information, please visit www.bethanyadamsbooks.com