Page 46 of Bound By Darkness

Fin laughed, low and hollow. “Sure,Ivan.”

“Enough!” I pressed a hand against my temple as I tried to subdue the utter roaring in my head. “I can’t… I can’t do this.”

The room fell silent as both pairs of eyes floated to me.

“I’m going to the inn.”

Ivan froze. “Half-breed?—”

“No. Clearly, both of you have years of trauma needing to be sorted out… alone. Do not follow me.”

Fin’s lips rose in a sly smile. “Good. He will only bring bad news.”

I ignored his remark as I stormed out, the hinges creaking before the door slammed shut.

“Ma’am, as I said, you have to pay to get a room,” the attendant stated. “Kindly leave, or I’ll have to remove you.”

Slapping my hands on the counter next to a pot of ink, I glared at him. “Look, please give me a room for tonight. I’ll clean it myself before I leave and even do work around here.”

The attendant’s eyes narrowed as he pushed the too-tiny glasses to the bridge of his nose. “Get out of my inn.”

“And go where? It’s the middle of the night! There’s nowhere for me to go,” I pleaded. “Look, I’ll take a couch. Anything.”

The attendant waved his hand in the air. “Check the stables,” he said before diving into the books on his desk.

He utterly ignored my presence as his pen scratched the parchment paper. Each scrape of the pen heightened my anger as his bony fingers held the edges of the page?—

My hand drifted toward the ink pot as I bumped the bottle. Ink coated his accounting books and fingers in a wave of black.

“Whoops. My mistake.”

The accountant cursed as he furiously wiped the excess ink from his fingers. I couldn’t hide my smile as I exited the building into the humid air. It didn’t last long as I surveyed the emptied streets. I had no place to rest as my bones ached witheach step to the fountain.

I desperately needed sleep as I stumbled toward the wooden benches around it. One would have to work as a bed.

Rubbing my arms, I yawned as moonlight cascaded over the sleeping town. It would have been beautiful if I cared, but exhaustion consumed me. My legs sighed as I crashed onto the unsteady bench, my body molding to the wooden frame bent in the middle.

Something hard poked my side as I shuffled to remove the unwelcoming feeling. Shoving my hand into my pocket, my fingers ran over the gemstone. The gemstone?—

My fingers pulled out the blood stone I’d stolen from the witch as I examined it in the moonlight. It reflected hues of green and black. A peculiar combination for such a rare gem.

Turning it over in my hand, it glimmered as if it collected the starlight from above. It was drawn to me, and I to it as if it wished to call into my heart—Ah, darkling, I am home.

Rumors of blood stones were common among the Fae. Some said it increased the ability to wield casting while others said it showed you your everlasting bond. Siorai—your twin flame carved from the same stone.

It seemed… alive. Possessive as dark whispers echoed around me.

Shoving the gemstone into my pocket, the whispers silenced as if I’d imagined the entire thing. That was something for another night.

Alone, I finally had time to process everything. From my kidnapping to living with Gwen—to arriving in Arilyn where I rested now on a bench in the middle of gods-knows-where.

I ran a hand over my face as I groaned. I knew it had been a mistake to follow Ivan. Gwen severely misjudged her son and his current antics.

The slapping of hooves against stone tore my gaze from the bejeweled sky. The bench creaked as I stared at the lone rider, an exasperated sigh flowing from my lips. Not even here, on a bench, was far enough away to prevent him from finding me.

He slipped from the horse, a pack attached to the black creature. Stopping a few stones in front, he rummaged in the bag before taking out a food parcel. “That’s twice you’ve run off now. If I would have known what a chore it would be to keep you contained, I might have chained you to me.”

“At least this one I did myself,” I muttered as I snatched the item from his fingers. “And you wouldn’t even last a second if you were chained to me.”

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