Page 175 of Severed Heir

I stepped closer, jaw tight. “Oh, shut up.”

He shrugged. “What does the folklore say? A true love’s kiss will wake her. Shall I fetch your brother?”

I didn’t have time for games. And judging by how Kian reacted when he saw the caskets, I’d probably have two unconscious guards in here if I’d gone looking for him instead for help.

“Enough. Please.” My voice shook. “I’m begging you to help.”

Rok sighed, then snatched the vial from my hand. “Cintron is rare. It only grows in one realm. And that realm is barren. If anyone finds out where you got it, questions will be raised.”

“And if Lorna doesn’t wake,” I said quietly, “who’ll be left in charge of executing me?” My voice broke on the last word.

He tossed the vial into the air and caught it with a lazy flick of his wrist. “I will,” he said. “Lorna was my superior.”

My pulse spiked. “Do you hear her thoughts? Is she… will she die?”

Rok stepped closer, fingers brushing Lorna’s wrist. “Pulse is steady. After a few years as a guard, you pretty much build immunity to every poison Verdonia has to offer.”

Relief rushed over me. “Good.”

“If you’d stayed at the institute, you would’ve been bonded to a rider line. I hear Lorna’s thoughts. Charles’, too. But I can shut them out. No one questions a quiet mind during sleep.” He gave a small smirk. “We’ve got about four hours before Charles starts trying to flirt with her again. He’s embarrassingly persistent.”

“Can he not hear you now?”

“Our bond’s charged with power. I choose who hears me and when.” He paused. “Though most of the time, I don’t bother. Too much noise in the mind.”

I closed my eyes. My thoughts were spiraling. “Is it possible to break a bond? Say you left this place?”

His expression darkened. “Yes and no. That’s what makes the bond sacred… or dangerous.”

“And what about if someone dies?”

“If someone died then the bond would break,” Rok said. “But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be reforged.”

The breath caught in my throat. “Even if they were... brought back somehow?”

He arched a brow. “You’re talking about your brother. I was against Callum’s idea to test your power how he did.”

“No. It’s just… wouldn’t their bodies be gone?” I couldn’t shake the smell from that cabin, thick and clinging. Malachi’s mind wasn’t fully there, and I knew it.

Rok’s eyes sharpened. “You’re easier to read than you think. From what I understand, necromancers heal the soul and body together. Think of healers, just more advanced.”

I nodded toward the bruise darkening his jaw, needing to change the subject. “You should put ice on that.”

He studied me for a long moment, then gave a dry laugh. “You don’t trust me and you shouldn’t.”

“If you siphoned a mind reader’s quell,” I asked slowly, “could you see their memories?”

He just stood there, arms crossed, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “The mind reader used his quell on you,” he said quietly. “And you want to know if he changed something.”

My silence answered for me.

If Damien didn’t die that night... that meant I had two lives left to save. And I had touched Klaus…

“Something like that,” I said. “But I would never ask you for that. I have nothing left to give you.”

Rok’s expression didn’t change. “We barter well, Severyn. All you must do is ask. And I’ll give you my price.”

I scoffed. “No more bartering. You had my shadows for weeks. I could’ve been training them.”

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