Page 25 of A Baron of Bonds
Geyrand reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “And the Prince? Is he to attend this meeting as well?”
Captain Yarah glanced to the guard beside her who shook her head once. “The Prince is occupied elsewhere.”
Rev.
Rev.
Rev.
I repeated his name in my thoughts as the doors opened, and we entered the great foyer of the castle. The familiar scent of fresh-cut blooms, mint, and chalk met my nose.
Little had changed in seven years, and chills swept through my heated body as I picked up my pace, my breath desperate to escape my lungs, my legs beginning to overtake the captain’s lead.
My feet knew the way, and as a surge of power radiated across my skin, I knew I could not—would not—be stopped.
“Wait!” the captain yelled, her hand reaching for my arm. Static met her fingers and she pulled back in a yelp as I picked up my rosy skirts and began to run.
I flew past the main staircase, careening left.
Rev.
I passed the halls that lead to the kitchens and the secret one that led to the guard’s chambers.
Rev.
I heard the clank of running armor behind me and picked up speed, my boots pounding on the gray stone as I dodged servants and off-duty guards alike—my ravage through the castle upsetting more than one tray and bundle of linens.
Finally, the crimson doors to the throne room loomed ahead, and I could not even yell his name for fear of pausing even the slightest in my desperate pursuit of the man I loved.
I sent my magic out ahead of me in a sparking ball of power. The doors burst open, each slamming into the walls of the gilded hall, their hinges groaning at the violence.
I stormed inside without falter, a hurricane of great wind and strength, unyielding in my pursuit across the tiled floor. Green swirls of power radiated from my fingers unbidden and uncontrolled.
“WHERE IS HE?” I thundered, my eyes darting all around the massive room, unable to focus on any one face, unable todiscern if I knew any of the people I had burst upon. A woman gone seven years and a woman changed stood before them all, uncaring about her past, looking only for her future.
The Queen was surrounded by her royal guards immediately. I recognized her at least. They drew their swords as if they could stop what I had started.
Rev.
He stepped down from the dais with ease as if he’d been patiently waiting.
He strode toward me as if we had all the time and means in the world to reunite and live—live for each other, live for what we believed in and believed we could do for this world.
I could no longer move, my boots were adhered to the floor, my legs pillars of iron.
I could no longer breathe as my lungs collapsed and I exhaled in anguish—a cry of relief, of absolute guilt. My magic spun from me to greet him first, tangling around his body like a tether, pulling him forward.
He moved swiftly with the gait he’d always used. I laughed thinking of all the times I’d been annoyed by his pace and now I could not get him to move any faster.
His eyes were black. The blackest I had ever seen and they stayed on me without heed of the guards moving to pull him back—without bothering to move from my own as one guard approached to pull him around.
Revich’s azure strike of power sent the guard sliding across the floor on his backside while flames, the color of a dimly-lit sea, burst through the mosaic floor in straight lines toward me. They formed around my body to enclose me into a room of his making. The only space still open from his enclosure faced him as he continued forward, closing the gap between us that had been far too wide for far too long.
His cage of solid blue magic closed around his back and above us. I heard the shouts and screams from the throne room as the last of the noise and view was cut off completely, solidifying us in our room of his making.
“Rev!” My voice broke as he reached me, pulling me to his chest. I sobbed, my hands gripping the back of his shirt so tightly, my fingernails bent in the pressure.
I could do nothing else.
