Page 138 of Bound By Darkness

Moria rubbed her hands. “It’s nothing.”

“I really should be?—”

“You were in the tent when I left to get Naexi. What threats did Iyanna make against Ivan while I was gone? Is there something I don’t know?”

Moria sighed softly. “Iyanna said he needed to keep the personal business out.”

“Personal business?”

“I know you and Ivan are close. And I know what you did yesterday. Iyanna made it clear.”

Heat crept into my cheeks. “Why does that matter? It’s not her business how I spend my time outside of our contract.”

“I’m sorry. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Fin glanced to me, his eyes wide.

“Oh shush, Fin. Out of everyone you should understand.”

Fin grinned, an arm laying over my shoulder as he jerked me into his side. “It’s about time! You’ll have to tell me all the details so I can pester Ivan with it.”

“Gross,” I said, but couldn’t help the smile across my face as I pushed him off of me.

Moria stared between the both of us. “So it is true.”

“He’s still a piece of shit, but he’s changed.Mostlychanged,” he added.

Those words lit my heart. Fin and Ivan had grown closer since their first meeting. It made me more than elated to find the two of them relying on each other again.

“Don’t tell him I said that though,” he said as he glanced to me. “I’ll never live it down.”

I grinned. “Sure. Sure.”

Moria sat down, her arms crossing over her chest. “You seem happier.”

I took a seat beside her, my hands grabbing hers. “I am, as I hope you are, too.”

Moria stared at me, the corners of her mouth slightly turned down. She was hiding something. Her mouth and eyes gave it away as she stared at me. It vanished as quickly as it appeared.

“What happened to you since leaving the prison?”

“I got kidnapped by an assassin, met a witch who told me my prophecy, discovered my casting is connected to Cethales, and ended up here with a blood oath attached to Iyanna.”

“Sounds like a normal day for you.”

I rolled my eyes, a grin lighting mine.

“And she met me,” Fin added. “I liked her from the start.”

Laughter flowed from her. “That has to be a lie. She’s not very charismatic.”

My lips pursed together at Moria’s remark, my eyes narrowing. Clearing my throat, I gestured to her. “What about you? How did you escape theprison? How did you end up here?”

Moria blew out a breath. “My father shipped me off to Galar. He told me I’d learn my lesson there, but instead I was chosen for experiments.”

Fin and I stared at her. “Experiments?”

She nodded. “They’ve developed weapons, Thalia. Weapons reducing casters to ash using the black minerals we used to haul at the prison grounds.”

“Black minerals? You mean Purog?” Fin asked.

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