Page 4 of Bound By Roses

“He is…” She sighs. “He is the same. You may visit if you would like. The Regent is in there with him now.”

“Still?” Rhett asks.

She nods, and there’s something morose about it. “He has been with him all night. Perhaps you can convince him to rest.”

“There’s no convincing Merrick of anything, but yeah. I can try.” Rhett moves for the door and I avert my eyes just before he opens it. I doubt I could see inside from here, but I can’t take the risk. This may be my fault, but I’m not ready to take responsibility for it yet.

Quinn slides off the bed with ease and seems to have no trouble putting weight on his leg, thanks to whatever creature produced that slime. I follow his gaze to the door where Aurelia stands. Her arms are crossed and draped over them is what looks like a new set of clothing for Quinn and I.

Oh, I hope I’m right.

“I see you finally took care of that leg,” she says when we join her. “Now you must get cleaned up. Today has been hard enough without the two of you walking around like stark reminders of battle.”

CHAPTER TWO

QUINN

“We might need a map of this place,” I say. We’ve been walking just steps behind Aurelia for far too long. Truthfully, it’s likely been only a handful of minutes, but there’s an uncomfortable air between us.

Aurelia snorts a laugh that could also be a scoff. She looks as if she might comment, but then her face flattens and her eyes resume their hard stare on the path ahead of us.

I can’t help but wonder how many times my mother walked these very halls before she abandoned her homeland in exchange for a life with my father. Even the room Abby and I are staying in once belonged to her. I couldn’t bring myself to care last night when my heart felt like it was pierced by a million tiny shards of glass, but now? I think I want to know about her life here.

She’s a traitor to these people because she left them to die in a war that should never have happened, but she saved some of them, too. I don’t want to pass judgement on her for things I don’t fully understand. All I know for certain is that she was taken from me too early because she chose not to return to her home. Chose not to return to these people.

They may not wish to speak of her, but even if I have to sift through this entire city to find even the faintest trace of her, I will. I want to understand her and the choices she made, and I’m not sure how long I’ll have to do so.

The image of a veil wraith taking the form of my mother forces its way into my mind and brings with it a small stab of heartbreak—and a much larger bolt of fear.

The veil wraiths are another problem I’m not quite ready to face.

Jade sacrificed himself to save me last night, but does that mean I’m truly safe from the wraiths and their promise of death?

Jade told me that seeing a loved one in the veil meant I would be dead within the year, but I knew he was lying. I could feel an invisible blade dangling above my head, readying to fall at any moment, and despite my assurances to Abby that I’m not going anywhere, I still very much feel it swinging above me.

I need to find out more about the wraiths and what this means for me—and I’ll have to do it without Abby catching on. I don’t want to keep secrets from her and she’ll be pissed if she ever finds out, but I can’t burden her with this. Not when she’d cried simply because I bled a little. She told me to take my safety more seriously, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.

I’ll do everything I can to heed the words Evan had spoken to me when I saw him in the veil.

I will live for her. For Abby.

Nothing else matters.

We come to a stop at a solid door. It’s not transparent like many of the others in this hall, and neither is the room itself. The sudden promise of having Abby alone has me swallowing. Ever since our bond reforged, I can hardly keep my thoughts pure. I’ve nearly jumped her twice already, and if Aurelia doesn’t hurry up and get that door open…

The metal squeaks as Aurelia turns the wheel attached to the very center of the door. There’s no other sign of a handle, so that must be it.

“This is the bathing room. I do not think it has been used for some time. I would say it is all yours, but I suspect the dragons will make use of it as well. My people need only swim.” She continues to spin the wheel until something clicks and the door swings wide.

The walls of the room are glass, but they resemble a frosted window in the dead of winter and are nearly impossible to see through. Perhaps a siren swimming along the outside could see that someone was in here, but it would be nothing but a blur.

The room is odd, to say the least, and unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s quite large, and could therefore be used communally, though I have no plans of sharing with anyone other than my mate. The floor is even and flat for only about four feet on all sides of the room before it becomes a set of long stairs in a perfect square. Nine steps deep on all sides, it flattens out once again, leaving the very center of the room as if it were the washing basin—yet it’s bone dry.

“This is probably a stupid question, but how are we going to get the water in here from out there?” I point to the wall to my left. The glass looks blue with the ripples of water behind it. It’s impossible to tell the time down here—at least for me—but I can only assume we’re nearing midday based on the amount of light trickling this deep into the waters.

Aurelia walks a few steps to a lever on the wall. She slides it to the left and… It begins to rain! Water falls from the ceiling directly above the center of the room and begins collecting in the basin's heart.

Aurelia turns the level back, and the water stops. “Do not forget to turn it off or you will flood this room.”

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