Page 175 of A Baron of Bonds
Should I reveal the rhyzolm he’d found and his father would be satisfied enough to leave?
Should I injure Byn himself? Surely that would be satisfying as well as productive.
The problem was, none of those courses of action had to do with being a Baron.
I had learned in my studies and from watching Revich—even Heimlen—that the Baronship was about power. It was about precise training, searching for those who held powerful magic and helping them become more useful on the isle.
A Baron was a guide, a pathway, taking something unshapen that held potential, and molding it into something great.
The squelch of mud was sickening as two of the roots separated from the ground they’d grown into, leaving a dark, open space underneath the tree. There was a similar opening at the other end so that his parents could crawl through the entirety of it while they searched for rhyzolm.
Byn and Heirah pushed their wedges deeper into the mud, securing the opening as Rev brought the lantern closer.
His father went first, grabbing his spade, crawling underneath the root as it dripped its layer of silt. “I’ll search to the left, you to the right.”
His mother bent as well, ducking her head to follow.
“Don’t go,” I whispered through Rev.
She grinned back at me murmuring, “I’ll see you on the other side.”
Fuck.
Her last words to Rev, my last words to him as well before I entered the trials, churned my stomach. I wanted to grab her skirts and pull her away from what I was convinced were her final moments.
Rev was never going to see her again.
This is where she’d die, buried underneath a marsh tree, searching for the very stone that he was so adept at using.
I didn’t need to panic, I needed to save her.
I needed to save Rev from this memory.
Rev stayed bent, his lantern lit, guiding his parents to their deaths.
I saw the slip of the spade. I saw the way it slid ever so slightly to the left, beginning to fall away from the root it was tucked under.
I took control of Rev’s body once again, his hands shooting out to catch it, pushing it back down.
A Baron was a shaper, someone who could see the potential, the power in others.
I searched for that piece in this little boy.
I found it, hidden in what I could only call a cavern, a damp, dark place in his mind, and I burst the cavern door open.
Pulling from what I knew he would become, I gathered his power from Felgren and it shot forth from his hands in a blazing blue light, trailing underneath the tree, lighting the way and holding the roots above his parents as the wedge holding the entrance finally snapped in two.
In Revich’s memory, this had been the end.
This had been the moment he lost the woman who loved him, but I could save him from that.
His power held strong as his mother screamed at the sound of the break, the marsh tree groaning, swaying slightly while his parents rushed to the opening on the other side.
She emerged and rushed to him, squeezing his little body tightly and crying, her tears streaked with mud. Byn followed, catching his breath on his knees, eyeing his son with an awe I doubted Revich had ever seen.
“You are so powerful, Little Love. You saved us. You saved us from a sure death.” She hugged him to her chest again, her hands sliding over his hair.
I watched the scene as I was pulled from Revich’s little body, a brilliant flickering portal nearby, waiting for me to leave.
