Page 116 of Haunted

“I no longer know. Weeks.”

She gasps. “Kenrik, forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive. I’m at peace, having seen you once again.”

I can’t stand anymore. I cannot let this go on. I move from the shadows. “Such touching, heart-wrenching words. Niawen, you love this man.” I step closer toward where she kneels over his broken body. “What of our love? What of our child?”

She doesn’t look at me. She’s lost in Kenrik’s horrified expression.

“You’re with child? Niawen?” Kenrik mumbles. “Tell me that’s not true.”

“I can’t.”

“That’s right,” I say. “You gave me the vows of love. We united our light. You lay in my arms night after night. Our love is binding.”

She stands and rounds on me but isn’t bold enough to meet my eyes. So unlike her. “Why would you doubt? Why would you torture Kenrik? I gave you my soul. You saw everything in me. And even after we bonded, even after we promised to share everything, to never hide anything from one another, you kept secrets anyway. You should have told me about Kenrik before you tortured him. I could have reassured you I was going nowhere!”

“I warned you.” So many times I warned her.

“Of course you warned me!” she screeches. “You’re dangerous. You’re half-darkness. ‘Niawen, you can have a clean slate. You’re free to do as you wish. But I need you. I need you. Please, Niawen. Please.’ You enslaved me with your words. You tortured me! I had nowhere left to go, and you used that for your purposes.”

Yes, I used you because I was desperate. “What’s wrong with needing each other? We were made for each other, Niawen. You and I. The same.”

“No! We were never the same. You made me think we were.” She shakes her head. “Lies. All falsehoods. You can’t possibly know what real love is. People don’t live for others to love them. People live to give their love away. Which is what I was doing!” She turns from me and drops beside Kenrik. “Leave me, Caedryn. I’m going to heal Kenrik, and then I’m taking him home.”

“I won’t allow that.”

“You will if you love me.”

Kenrik reaches for her, and she turns her face into his caress. “You’d come with me?” he asks. “You would stay with me?”

“I can’t. I’m bound to Caedryn,” she says.

Yes, I say. You are bound to me, my love.

Let me take him away, she begs. I’ll return to you.

“You can’t stay with him,” Kenrik says. “He’ll hurt you. He’ll turn his rage on you one day. And on your child.”

I’d never hurt you or our child, I say. I’ve wanted you for so long. Niawen, believe me. You know me. You knew who I was and whom you were binding yourself to. You swore you’d help me through my nightmares. Our love is unconditional.

“Look at me, Niawen. I can’t move my legs!” Kenrik yells. “He did this!” Kenrik’s emotions crash into her. I stumble back from the force.

“You feel my pain, don’t you?” he asks her.

She nods.

“Tell me how to free you from Caedryn. Niawen, tell me. I will do it. Surely there’s a way to break the bond.”

“There’s not.”

“You told me light discerns light,” Kenrik says. “You told me emrys see with their light. That’s how you found the enemy. That’s how you knew the villagers were being attacked. You heal with your light. Everything about you uses light. You united your lights. It holds you bound to Caedryn, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Kenrik’s voice lowers. “Without light, you’d be free.”

I narrow my eyes. What’s he getting at?

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