Page 74 of Tethered In Blood

The surrounding air hummed in the silence.

Oberon’s chest heaved. His knuckles were white around the hilt of his sword. He didn’t move or take his eyes off the corpse.

I swallowed hard. My fingers trembled as I wiped the sweat from my brow. My skin felt too tight, and my voice was unrecognizable when I spoke. “What was that?”

Oberon let out a frustrated breath. “Veilbound,” he muttered. He yanked a cloth from his belt to clean his blade. “Or something close enough to it.”

His voice was steady, but tension rolled off him in waves. I willed myself to breathe, to comprehend the thing in the field, the laughter, and the symbols carved into the doors. The thing looked at me the same way the one in Silverfel had. It wasn’t a coincidence. “What does it want?”

Oberon looked at me, his silvered irises still glowing. “I think it wantsyou.”

22

Eden

MYTHROATFELTtight,parched from the heat, the run, and the tension. The eerie silver gleam in Oberon’s eyes hadn’t faded. His fingers remained curled around the hilt of his sword, knuckles taut, his entire body braced as if he expected another attack.

I shook my head, forcing my voice to stay steady.

Think.

Focus.

“That thing came after us both. You were standing right there.”

His jaw tightened. “It only looked atyou.”

A chill scraped along my spine, and I wrapped my arms around myself. My gaze drifted back to the twisted corpse sprawled on the ground. It was unnatural in a way that made my stomach churn. The flesh was withering, skin sloughing away in patches as black bile oozed from its slackened mouth. The stench of decay clung to the air.

The sigils beneath the body, carved deep into the dirt, were obscured by the foul sludge coating them. But beneath it, something moved.

A sudden crack split the silence. The ground beneath the corpse shuddered.

I flinched and stumbled back. Oberon’s arm caught my waist, yanking me away just while the ground beneath the Veilbound collapsed. A sharp gasp stuck in my throat as the corpse sank and dragged downward. The ground gaped open, bile bubbling as the land itself came to life, swallowing the body whole.

My pulse pounded, the scene unfolding before me feeling too surreal, too impossible. “That’s—”

“Not normal.” Oberon hadn’t let go of me. His voice was a deadly calm, despite his tension, a slow-burning energy in the way his muscles remained rigid. His firm grip on my waist lingered, as if he were trying to ground himself in the aftermath.

The tremors stilled, the bile ceased bubbling, and the ground settled as if nothing had happened. But the sigils remained, glistening beneath the grime.

Oberon’s chest relaxed before he eased his arm from around me. Losing his warmth left my skin tingling. He crouched, ran a hand over a carving, and smeared away the remaining filth. His brow furrowed as his eyes traced the symbols with unnerving focus.

“These aren’t just warding sigils,” he muttered. His voice was low and distant. “They’re binding marks.”

Binding.

“You think something was trapped here?”

Oberon remained still, fingers pressed against the soil, before he lifted his gaze to mine. “Not something,” he corrected. “Someone.”

“Someone?”

Oberon’s gaze drifted back to the sigils, his fingers tracing the grooves with reverence, as if the mere act of touching them might awaken what lay beneath us. The way he moved with such caution sent a fresh wave of unease coursing through my veins. He didn’t just read the symbols. Hefeltthem. “These marks don’t just bind.” His silver eyes flicked up and locked onto mine with quiet intensity. “They consume.”

A chill slithered through me.

He sat back on his heels and gestured toward the etched stone. “Warding sigils repel. Binding sigils imprison. But these?” His voice darkened, laced with restrained fury. “These are meant todrain.To strip something, or someone, of everything until nothing remains.”

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