Page 153 of Bound By Darkness

Deception

THALIA

Rage.

Pure rage flowed through my body as I watched Kaydn step into the light.

“You traitor!” I screamed at him, at the blank expression on his face.

Rage seeped further into my heart as it channeled and funneled everything into fuel.

Love. Hate. Grief. Happiness.

Everything swirled within as death and darkness fed upon my heart like a feast, devouring every happy and sad moment I’d shared with him. Every story, every moment within twisted like a serrated knife.

“Traitor!” The woman screeched, laughter echoing in the tent as her hands raised in surrender. “Oh grow up, Thalia.”

A snarl rose from my throat. “I am going to kill you both.”

“Oh dear. I’m terrified. Except, you’re in chains with no way out,” she cooed, her voice drifting through me.

“Kaydn, if you’d be a dear and grab my book.”

“Sure,” he said, his eyes avoiding mine as he walked over to the back of the tent. His hands reached down, picking up aleather-bound book as he sat it on the table. It could only be one item.

“Finish breaking the wards. That’s an order while I catch sweetheart here up to speed.”

Kaydn was breaking the wards?

But how?—

Flipping the pages, his voice rang out, ancient and cold. The Language of Old.

The bastard knew how to read it.

“Quit gawking. It isn’t lady-like for someone of your stature,” she said as she stepped around the table, her frame slithering up to mine.

Her gloved hand brushed the hair from my face.

I spat at her, my teeth barring as I stepped back. “Do not touch me. I will tear those gloved hands from you?—”

Intense burning filled my head as I hunched over, a scream leaving my lips as the scorching continued.

She grabbed my hair, yanking me to stare into her masked face as the burning slowly subsided. “Try it again and I’ll light every precious memory you have on fire,” she snapped.

My head still spun from the intense heat. It was different from anything I’d experienced. She tossed me back, my feet barely managing to catch myself as I straightened.

Smoothing her cloak, she cleared her throat. “Now, be a dear and stay silent. We have much to discuss.”

Kaydn’s voice lamented in the room, the incantation nearing its close as his voice rose and fell in lulls.

“You will be coming with me and sweet Kaydn here to the rebel base. I have need of your casting. You will train with me, expend your casting for me, and fight for me.”

“Never,” I spat, my head still slightly dizzy from earlier.

The woman chuckled. “Oh, I’m sure you will.”

She snapped her fingers, tent flaps flying open as two bodies were shoved into the tent.

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