Page 18 of Twisted Bonds

I shoot him a look. “We must find them,” I say, ignoring his comment. “Have you seen this method of travel before?”

He inherited quite a bit more Chroma than we did, it seems. I’ve never seen transportation like he used, stepping out of nowhere. What is this creature?

“It reminds me of the Portals between realms but also not. It’s… different somehow.”

My hand scrubs down my face, pulling the skin as taut as my body feels. Blowing out a frustrated breath, I say, “Yes, that was my first thought, too. I wish I knew she was safe.”

On instinct, I reach for our bond. I find it easily tucked away in the sacred corners of my mind. No twinkle of amusement or even fear pulse from the threads that bind me to Mira. It’s muted and gray, like she’s being shielded. But at least I know she’s alive.

“He must have something planned for her.”

We both feel the weight of that and share a look.

The Third’s face is drawn tight. “What does he want with her?”

“Aside from the obvious?”

“Can you make sure I know what the obvious is?” he says with wide eyes.

I blow out a breath. “She is a beautiful woman, our mate, and she’s the Vessel, used to create Dan’thiel once again. I’m sure that swine would love to use her and bend her to his twisted will.”

It is strange. Once, I thought of Dan’thiel as myself. Now, however, I feel distinctly… like I’m talking about someone else.

“Does he want Dan’thiel to be made again?” The Third asks.

The way he says it, he must also consider the High Elf prince to be a separate entity. I cannot think about what that means for us right now. All I can focus on is finding Mira.

“If he did, why wouldn’t he also take us?”

I turn back to the Third. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t we all need to bond in order to complete the merge back into Dan’thiel?”

The Third, for all the fluff in his brain, has a point. “Perhaps he doesn’t want us to merge our soul shards. Perhaps…”

My eyes widen. I remember the Second. Not in a real way, but on a deeper level. Instantly, I knew him and felt an understanding when he stepped into the clearing. Knew his soul. It’s darker than the rest, holding the most hidden parts of Dan’thiel’s personality. The parts we each deny in ourselves.

“What?” the Third asks breathlessly.

“Perhaps he doesn’t want to become Dan’thiel at all. He already has his Chroma back. What if he plans to—” I cannot bring myself to say the word “-hurt Mira in order to prevent that from happening.”

I see the moment the Third figures out what I’m saying. His eyes go round, and water builds in the corners. “No. No, he can’t…”

“He could, Third. We must find her before he does.”

“Where the hell are they?” He cries, fear and rage burn through his tears. My mind races, flashing with possibilities.

“The Second smelled like Yurghen to me, too. And yet he channels without a bond. Is it possible that he was this apprentice we’ve been looking for? Perhaps that’s the knowledge he sought from Yurghen, to channel Chroma without the Vessel. Maybe something more. Something more sinister.”

He could be anywhere. Where would he have gone? Perhaps in the port city of Helios Gate, where there are enough criminals to drown his misdeeds in. I snarl. The Third shoots me a glance. “What? What is it?”

I take a deep breath, my fists aching as I clench them. “The only lead we have is that he seems to use the Portals to get around. Where’s the one place around here that is brimming with Chroma?”

The Third’s eyes widen. “The Sacred Grove.”

I nod, my pulse a deafening thunder in my ears.

Without another word, I turn on my heel and sprint east towards the Sacred Grove, the place where Chroma flourishes, where the Veil between realms is thin and portals pop in and out of existence at random. Anything is possible there, and yet it’s so heavily guarded.

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