From Spirit and Binding

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  I remembered bleeding from the same spot where Lyric had bled. I’d thought maybe I had been hit by a rock or a piece of shrapnel or even gotten nicked by a sword. That wasn’t the case. I had bled because of Lyric’s mortal wound. In the same spot as mine.

  It was said that between soulmates, a mortal wound on one showed up on the other, and that they were the only two who could heal each other.

  The one without the original wound wouldn’t die, and wouldn’t suffer as deep a wound, but the original could only be saved by their soulmate.

  Shock registered within me, and my hands clenched even as I fought my internal battle.

  “Ah, I see you’re coming to the realization you should have come to long ago. Yes, Lyric is your soulmate, but she will never be yours in truth. The curse will make sure of that. You’ll never be able to truly recognize her, or want her or love her. She was able to save herself because of who she is. She doesn’t need you. She never did. And she never will. The two of you together would be nothing. It will never happen.”

  I fought against my bonds, trying to push away the thoughts of what hurt and could never be, and tried to think of only freedom.

  I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything.

  “Why?” I ground out, grasping at anything I could.

  He ignored my question. “You were promised to me by Lore,” The Gray continued. “Yes, he was one of mine. He got too greedy. So, in the end, he deserved what he got. He was weak. I am not. He was my third, but now you will be.”

  “I will never be yours.” I couldn’t be. Just like Lyric could never be mine. I didn’t know why that thought came to me at that exact moment, but it was all connected within the boundaries of my mind. I might not love her, could never love her, but I’d do anything for her. And not just because she was the Spirit Priestess.

  That phantom hand gripped my heart again, and I knew it was the curse, the one that would ultimately kill me and take everything from me, ounce by ounce, bit of soul by bit of soul.

  The Gray smiled, and I could only see that because he moved his head ever so slightly so the lights coming from somewhere hit his face.

  I couldn’t see who he was, got only the impression that there must be beauty there, even with the beast.

  “You will be my third. Not second, as you’re not ready and will never be. But not lowest either, because I know what you can do for me with your connection to the Spirit Priestess and your realm.” He paused. “I suppose you should meet your contemporaries. The ones who will help me go to the Maison realm and rule as I should have done long ago. That will come later. There are more chess pieces in play. You are but a pawn. Soon, you will be a knight. And the rook and the others on my board of the Maison realm will soon come into my shadows. And then I will rule. Alas, we’re not there yet.”

  He snapped his fingers, and two shadows merged together and then split apart again before coming towards me.

  They were shadows no more. Instead, they were two men with broad shoulders and dark hair. And wicked eyes.

  The Gray gestured to his left. “This is Durlan, former Earth Wielder, now a Dane because of your family. You cost him everything, and now he’s mine. He is my second. He will teach you exactly what you will do as my third.”

  Durlan grinned at me, and though the man had once been an Earth Wielder, I could see the fire within his eyes. The pure hatred. The anger.

  I fought against my bonds again, but there was nothing I could do.

  Nothing yet.

  “And Garrik, my fourth.” The Gray gestured towards the other man. “A former Air Wielder, and now a Dane. Yes, the Obscurité and the Lumière have finally come together, but under my rule. They are my court, my warriors, and you will be mine, as well. First, we have a few things to talk about.”

  I heard the smile in his voice again, and Durlan grinned while Garrik just looked at me blankly. I didn’t know which expression scared me more.

  “First, we shall play.”

  And at The Gray’s words, the lightning came, and I screamed.

  Chapter Three

  Lyric

  * * *

  Someone shouted for a healer, while others screamed one thing or another, but I pushed their words and the sounds of their voices—anything and everything—from my mind.

  I fell to my knees, the sharp sting of bone and rock digging into my skin painful, but I didn’t care.

  I couldn’t care.

  Not when Rhodes was in front of me, his eyes open, those silver pools pulling me in. He lay on the ground, his head in his grandmother’s lap. Lanya knelt beside him, her dress covered in mud, dirt, and blood, but she was still graceful and beautiful. The Lady of Air bent her head over her grandson and wept, wiping his face with her fingertips as if she weren’t sure he was real.

  I wasn’t either.

  How could Rhodes be here? How could he be alive?

  I’d seen him take the full power of the bone-magic-infused Air his father had sent toward his chest. And while the now-dead Lord of Water held two types of Wielding, Air and Water, he’d also used the stolen bone magic to increase his might. That meant Rhodes had taken the full impact of a blow of untold magics and Wielding, directly to his heart.

  Yet, he lived.

  “How?” I gasped, my heart beating so hard it echoed in my head. I hadn’t even realized I’d said it aloud until Luken gave me a wide-eyed, watery look.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Rosamond whispered as she sank down to the ground next to me. “First, we need a healer.”

  “Lyric,” Rhodes gasped, and something squeezed my heart, a hand reaching in and not letting go. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, but I couldn’t cry. Not then. Not when we didn’t know why he was back, how he’d survived, or if this was only a mere moment before reality crashed in and everything faded again.

  A time when Rhodes would indeed be dead.

  And Easton would still be missing.

  No.

  No, I couldn’t think like that. Couldn’t think at all.

  I leaned closer, cupping his face. His skin was smooth, wet from the ocean I thought had taken him from us. How…? I still didn’t know what had happened, but we didn’t have a lot of time. We had to make sure Rhodes was safe, and then we needed to go home.

  Rhodes…was he the Lord of Water now? Or even the Lord of Air, if lines of succession went to the next male heir rather than staying with a woman? I didn’t know. It hadn’t been in any of the books I’d read. And, once again, I felt as if I were falling behind in a world I hadn’t been born in, yet had been tasked to protect.

  “Rhodes,” I whispered. “You’re here.”

  “Lyric.” His words came out on a breath. And then he closed his eyes, and my heart lurched.

  Hands pulled me away, and I found myself leaning against Wyn as one of Lanya’s healers hovered over Rhodes’ prone form.

  I sucked in deep breaths as Wyn held me, the two of us seemingly in the way of everyone who knew what they were doing. I felt so lost again, and I hated it. I hated all of this.

  “I can heal,” I said into the silence, trying to think. “I…I have healing powers.” Not just with my soulmate, not only with Easton.

  I winced at that thought, trying to ignore the ache and confusion I felt.

  Wyn rubbed my arms, sending warmth through me. “Let them do what they were meant to do. We know you can heal, we’ve seen it, but you used so much power to protect us all. Recover a bit before we move out on our journey.”

  The others moved quickly, two healers working in tandem over Rhodes’ body, and I shook myself out of my reverie, standing up with Wyn at my side.

  I couldn’t just hang back and watch, couldn’t do nothing when we already had plans to move, to make our way to the Obscurité Kingdom.

  I had questions. So many questions.

  As if she knew exactly what I was thinking, Rosamond came to stand in front of me, her face pale, her eyes wide, and her hands clasped in front of her.

&nb
sp; I didn’t know her as well in reality as I felt I did in my heart.

  We had spent so much time during my first trek to the Maison realm, searching for her because the Negs had captured her on the Obscurité knight’s orders. She had been the main reason I’d first stepped foot into this realm, and yet I only knew her through our letters, and the time before I had known the truth of things. What magic was.

  So, while I felt as if I knew her now, I didn’t know all her tells. I didn’t know if she would welcome my touch or my comfort.

  I couldn’t just stand there while she looked so lost. As the Seer who could divine the future grieved the fact that she wasn’t able to See this because she couldn’t See those that were close to her.

  She couldn’t See her brother, couldn’t See what had been happening to her mother.

  She hadn’t been able to See exactly what her father had been up to when he killed so many in order to gain power.

  All because she shared blood with them.

  Now she was here, and Rhodes wasn’t dead. We had to be grateful for that. I couldn’t let myself feel anything more about it, though. Not when I couldn’t really think at all.

  Decision made, I took two steps forward and opened my arms.

  “Rosamond?” I asked, my voice soft.

  She blinked away tears, her light brown skin shining under the sunlight as it hit the tears she had let fall.

  “I couldn’t See…” Suddenly, she was there, in my arms, her head nestled on my shoulder as I hugged her tightly, trying to give her comfort, even though I wasn’t sure I could give any at all.

  “It’s okay,” I whispered, running my hands over her hair, the soft, dark curls skimming through my fingers. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “I know. It has to be,” she said, pulling back from me.

  She wiped away her tears again and then rolled her shoulders back.

  Rosamond was about four hundred years old from what I remembered. She had seen countless days pass, had seen so much more than I could ever imagine, and yet I was the one to comfort her. Or maybe I was the only one who could understand in that moment and had the time and comfort to give. After all, everyone else had something to do, getting ready for our move and what had to happen next.

  My gaze traveled behind Rosamond for a moment, across the ashy and barren landscape that had once held a castle. A large estate that had housed the Lord and Lady of Water and their children. That had employed servants and countless others who had served the lord and his small court.

  Now, thanks to my Fire, the Water Estate was gone.

  I had burned it down in my rage, in my need to protect my friends, the family of my own making that I was trying to build. Those I loved. The uncontrollable element within my veins had overpowered the other three, with the final one still locked within my soul. I hadn’t been strong enough to hold it back.

  I had destroyed the estate and the land surrounding it when the Fire within me became too much and almost cracked through my skin, trying to overtake everything.

  I hadn’t killed with my Fire—at least not the innocent.

  Since I had first stepped foot in the Maison realm, I’d killed far more than I ever thought possible.

  All to protect a realm that might not want me in the end.

  Because not everybody wanted this change.

  Some didn’t want me to protect the realm and bring it together.

  Yes, there was a prophecy, one that said I would be the one to save us all.

  And yet I didn’t know where I fell within that divination.

  Not anymore.

  “I still don’t know what happens next,” I said, rolling my shoulders back, much like Rosamond had earlier.

  “I don’t know as much as I should either,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

  “Then you can be like the rest of us for once,” Wyn said, but there was no sting to her words. She was just being practical. Because that was Wyn.

  Rosamond nodded, her gaze far off in the distance. “I suppose you’re right. I know I still need to go with you to the Obscurité Kingdom. I believe Rhodes needs to go, too. I didn’t know what that feeling was inside me before. I felt I needed to be there. That if I followed this path, the next vision would come, I just didn’t know anything else. Not until we saw him in the water.” She paused. “I didn’t See any of this, and I never want to see that image again in my mind.”

  My body shuddered, and I nodded. “Will he be okay to travel?” I asked, turning around to look on as the healers and Rhodes’ grandmother worked.

  “I believe so,” she whispered. “Either way, he must come.”

  There were questions to be answered, though. “Is he the Lord of Water? Or the Lord of Air? How does this all work if you’re taking him away from the Lumière Kingdom?”

  “I think my uncle will make decisions for us,” Rosamond said, looking into my eyes even though it didn’t look as if she were truly seeing me. Maybe she was actually Seeing. “I said before that I don’t believe it’s Lumière versus Obscurité anymore. Not the way we thought for centuries. There are those pro change, and those against. One thing I do know, we must all be together so we can be as one and finish your training, unlock your final element, and figure out where the King of Obscurité has gone.”

  I swallowed hard, pain ratcheting up my body as my heart split in two once more, my hands shaking. “Where did he go?” I whispered.

  “He’s been taken before,” Wyn said, her voice soft.

  I whirled on her, my heart stuttering. Fire slicked up my sides, but I tamped it down, though not before Wyn’s eyes widened. None of my friends stepped away, though. Not one. “Excuse me?”

  “I thought it was Lore. But he’s gone. I wasn’t there when he died, we were on patrol, but I know Lore is dead.”

  I stepped forward, and Rosamond put her hand on my elbow so I wouldn’t get closer to Wyn. She could likely sense the anger coursing through my veins.

  “I know Lore is dead. I killed him myself.” I snapped the words, but Wyn didn’t pull back, she didn’t even flinch. She was a warrior, after all. She could probably take me out with one hand movement, by just using her Wielding while I learned how to use my four. I was a weakling physically and in the magic department. They were all so much stronger than me.

  “I don’t know where Easton goes, and I don’t even know if he’s actually been taken before, or if maybe he just disappeared because he needed time to himself. A couple of times when we were younger, he was suddenly gone, and I thought perhaps it was training. But now that I look back on it, I just don’t know. We will find him. He is my friend, my king, and he needs to be with his people. So, we will go to the Obscurité Kingdom, and hopefully, he will be there. I hope this is just a horrible dream, and he just disappeared to get ahead of us or something.”

  “It doesn’t make any sense, Wyn.”

  “You don’t think I know that? Nothing about this makes sense. But we can’t just stand here and wallow. We need to do something.”

  “We do,” I said. “We do. And I hate being lost, but it seems that’s how I’ve been feeling for the past year.”

  “Well, our entire realm has been feeling that way for centuries because of the fighting. Now, we need to piece it together. And you’re part of that. I hope to the gods that Rhodes is, too. That Easton is, as well.”

  “We will go to the Obscurité Kingdom like you said. We’ll bring Rhodes with us, we will bring Arwin’s body. We will bring some of our own. Grandmother will go to the Air territory and ensure that we have allies there. But the Water territory? I don’t believe it’s ours anymore. Not the way we need it to be.”

  Rosamond visibly shuddered and then took a staggering step to the side as color leached from her face. “We need to go. We need to be quick. There won’t be a lot of time.”

  Before I could say anything to that, the bracelet that Alura had given me when I was in the human realm burned on my wrist.

  “Ouch.”
I gasped, looking down at the two symbols that glowed. Fire, and Earth.

  The two elements of the Obscurité Kingdom. Easton’s two. Representations of the place I now called home because I needed a home.

  “This is Seer magic?” I asked, remembering what one of Easton’s uncles had said back when we were in the Obscurité Court. Whenever something glowed on my wrist, it told me where I needed to go. Alura had been the one to give the jewelry to me, but she wasn’t a Seer. Rosamond was.

  I stared at the girl who was my friend, even if we weren’t as connected as I was with Wyn or even the others I had traveled with before.

  “I made that centuries ago and gave it to a girl named Alura when we were standing on the street, and you first came up to us. That time we went hiking. I gave it to her because I knew she needed to be the one to give it to you. I never knew why, only knew what I had to do. It’s not easy Seeing parts of futures that don’t make sense because they’re a tangled web.”

  She took a breath.

  “It’s not my Seer magic glowing on your wrist. It is centuries of knowledge. The magics themselves pulling you towards where you need to go. We must begin our journey to the Obscurité Kingdom. We will go with your Teagan, my Rhodes, with Wyn, Luken, and a few others. We must go now. Rhodes is alive. I believe because of the bone magic.”

  I nodded, my whole body shaking. I had known that Seer magic was important, but the urgency in her voice worried me. “The bones went with him to the ocean, and they sang to us when we went through the sea towards the Air territory before. They opened that portal and saved us. Didn’t they?” I asked, not knowing who might answer.

  “That’s what I felt,” Wyn said, looking down at her hands. “I just didn’t know it at the time. Not until we saw the bones and skulls on the sea floor. Their souls are crying out, they need closure.”

  “I am taking care of that,” Lanya said as she walked towards us. “We are getting Rhodes set up on a cart so you can take him to the other kingdom. He will be safer there than here, I believe,” she said. There was such sadness in her tone that I wanted to reach out and hold her, but I wasn’t sure if that would be welcomed.