Page 64 of Soul Forge

Sypher’s eyes lowered, focussing on the grass instead of her face. “I’m assuming she told you what an awful creature I am?”

“I’m pretty sure she was lying to me.” She bent to block his line of sight, forcing him to look at her. “Tell me what happened. I’ve heard her side. Now I want yours.”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I do. I’m apparently the only person around here whodoesn’tknow.”

He ran a hand through his pale hair. “Gira only knows because Lillian played the victim and told him her side, much like she did with you. I had to set him straight, or he was going to try and behead me.”

“And Julian?”

“...That’s different.”

“How?” she challenged. He opened his mouth to retort, then closed it again. “You can trust me, you know.”

Sypher sighed, lowering himself down into the grass and gesturing at the empty space beside him. The balmy air stirred Elda’s blonde locks gently when she sat next to him, Saeryn’s warm climate a far cry from the chill wind rushing through the rocks of Falkryn. They were surrounded by lush greenery and bright pink flowers that smelled of sweet honey.

The red in Sypher’s eyes glowed when he looked at her. “Tell me what she told you.”

“She told me you were bonded for seventy years and that you were in love, or so she thought. By her account, she gave herself to you, and you left her alone and heartbroken. She wants to fix your relationship.”

He shook his head slowly. “She hasn’t changed her story at all. I’m starting to think she really believes it.”

“Then what did happen?”

He exhaled heavily, shoulders hunching. A pang of sympathy settled in Elda’s chest.

“When I met Lillian, she was happily married and had two adult children.” He bowed his head. “I spent seventy-one years bonded to her. The fae naturally have lifespans similar to the human race, and her family was already grown. When she was chosen, the magic of her Spirit rejuvenated her, as it does allwielders, leaving them immortal at the peak of their physical maturity.

“She became young, and her family grew old. I watched her grieve for her husband and both of her children when their time came, leaving her behind with nobody but me and her endless life.” He plucked a blade of grass between his gloved fingers and crushed it. “I thought she’d hate me, but she went the opposite way. She stuck to me, convinced herself shelovedme. Her love went beyond grief and changed into something else.”

“Did you have a relationship with her?” Elda asked quietly.

He shook his head. “I never thought of Lillian like that. I didn’t understand the danger of her affection at first, so I brushed it off and tried to get her focussed on her training. When we argued, she started to use the Compulsion to shut me up. It escalated fairly quickly once that began.”

Elda frowned. “She stopped the Cenet Uprising. Were you struggling with her during all of that?”

“I was,” he nodded, his eyes haunted. There was a long pause before he managed to speak again. “She won that battle not long after she Compelled me to sleep with her.”

Elda’s breath stuck in her throat, her eyes rounding. “Sheforcedyou?” The question came out in a hoarse croak. She was thrown back to the hallway in the palace, helpless beneath Horthan’s roving hands and the rage in Sypher’s voice when he found them. She understood why he’d been so driven to help her even then.

“She convinced herself that if I spent one night with her, voluntary or not, I’d have some sort of epiphany and realise I loved her too.” His fists were clenched tightly, the leather of his gloves straining over his knuckles. “I’ve never felt sopowerless.”

“Oh, Sypher,” Elda whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

His voice turned rough, teeth gritted in a mixture of anger, anguish, and shame. “I couldn’t doanything. The control of theCompulsion is absolute. It’s woven into the fabric of who I am. It controls my body, and all I can do is watch things unfold until my wielder decides to free me again. She took what she wanted.That’swhy I left the second I was able.”

“And she tried to make you out to be the villain,” she realised, fury settling heavily in her heart.

“She did. Ihateher for it. She took my dignity, my choice, my free will. In that moment, my life didn’t matter. Everything I’ve done, all that I’ve faced – it’s all worthless the moment a wielder decides they have a better use for me. I’m a tool. Aweapon.”

“Not to me.” The pain in his voice left her shaken. How anyone could leave a person soutterly shatteredwas beyond her. “Is Lillian the reason you can’t stand being touched?”

His laugh was short and unsteady, the edge to it sharp enough to draw blood. “Partly. One revelation at a time is about all I can manage.” His frown deepened, bordering on agony. “Whenever anyone touches me, I get flashbacks that make me sick.”

“You let me touch you after my oath,” Elda murmured, appreciating the enormity of the gesture anew.

“I didn’t know how else to convey what it meant to me.”

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