Page 158 of A Baron of Bonds
I quirked my head and chewed on a slice of pear.
He really was hiding something from me. It kept trying to spill out of him, locked back into place, but slipping at times when he looked at me.
It must have been something with the trials. Something he couldn’t tell me, likely because he was my Baron during them, not my companion.
“Well, I wish you the best of luck today, Karus,” Mychael grinned my way and a murmur of agreements were sent out across the table.
I nodded and said my thanks, suddenly ready to be done. The whole one, maybe two cinnamon buns I’d eaten sat doughy in my stomach with half a pear.
Rev cleared his plate and I rose saying, “Shall we?”
He stood as well, grabbing one more piece of thick bacon. He held it out to me. “Yes, but eat this last thing for me, will you?”
Rev heldmy hand as we walked through Felgren. We didn’t say much—me thinking about what I’d face, him probably thinking about the same.
We walked for some time, and I wasn’t sure where we were going. I didn’t ask. We finally broke through the pathway, and I recognized the massive burned maple tree atop the rocky outcropping with the gentle trickle of a stream running down the black stones.
Since my display of power over seven years ago in this place, the seeds I had produced had sprouted. Long, gangly saplings lined the shore, a bright green trunk growing from the burnt remnants of the great maple tree.
I surveyed the area while the memory of that fateful day slipped into my thoughts. It had been a cold awakening that my power was not all lovely and warm.
A brilliant flickering green portal hummed on the edge of the tiny stream.
He squeezed my hand in his. “This is the first place you really showed me what you can do. I set up the trials here to remind you that you are great, you are powerful, and you are beautiful, Karus.” He nodded to the broken tree, the one I’d killed in fire. “But you also hold a darkness inside. Use everything you have to get through these trials.”
I swallowed hard, nodding.
“Remember, nothing in there is real. Each one was set up by me for you.” He cupped my face. “I followed every rule I had to. Every single one. If I strayed even the slightest, the trials would fail, regardless of how far you were in them.”
“I feel like I should be more worried than I am,” I laughed nervously.
“You’ll be fine. Just remember for me, nothing that happens in there is real out here. You can do this.”
I nodded again and he pressed his lips to mine, taking his time with each kiss, heating my blood as he was meant to do.
“I love you, Karus,” he whispered on my mouth.
I kissed him one last time. “I love you, too.”
I smiled, feeling the need to reassure him and not myself, looking into his eyes so black, I could see my reflection on the surface.
I let go of him and stepped toward the portal, flicking my fingers at my side, my feet bouncing, ready to face my first trial.
I rolled my shoulders and turned my head before I stepped into his portal, grinning and promising, “I’ll see you on the other side.”
I saw the mournful eyes of the man I loved staring back at me and ignored any inkling that what I was about to face would be my undoing.
Chapter 66
Karus
THE IUMENTA TRIAL
I tumbledout of the portal.
They always seemed to spit me out, regardless of how I entered.
I fell to my knees, jabbing into sharp wood. A piece of it broke off, piercing my skirts and my skin. “Dammit,” I muttered to myself, pulling the three inch spike out of my knee.
