Page 28 of A Baron of Bonds
He shook his head. “That’s not how my portal magic works. Only one living heart can enter each portal before it closes, and I cannot make another for a while. It takes a certain kind of power that I have not completely mastered.”
I thought about the black portal the Blightress had lured me into. She must know portal magic Rev did not.
Tangling my fingers into his, he brought them to his lips, leaving delicate kisses on each of my knuckles. “If you go, I will be able to follow in a day or so. At least I’d know you’d be safe. I cannot leave without righting things here.”
“You think I’d leave you now?” I scoffed, “You think I’d leave you to get through all this mess on your own?” I shook my head and shrugged. “Chain? Leash? You’ve got it.”
He pulled me back to his chest, the portal closing in a loudthwap.
“Ready?” he murmured into my ear, kissing my temple.
I moved to his side to face the dais he had kept us hidden from and slid my hand into his, pulling my hair back from my face. “Next to you, Baron Revich, I’m ready for anything,” I said with a tired soul, but renewed confidence.
He smirked and our crackling walls began to fall.
He let them down slowly, and we both watched as our enflamed enclosure melted away, revealing what we would have to face, but what we could face together.
Part Two
Chapter 18
Saelyn
I was almost seventeen,and I lived for Viridis.
Actually, I lived inside of Viridis. I had been so clever to pull together four of the silky benches, each an entirely different color, all with the claws and talons of varying monsters. I liked to imagine that the bestial feet intricately carved into the four legs of each bench were creatures who watched over me as I slept.
Pah-Pah disapproved of my occasional choice of rest, but did not tell my mother. She had grown anxious, jittery, and difficult to speak to in the last year and did not need to be bothered with where her daughter chose to sleep.
She still held immense power and wielded it for our people, but it seemed rote now. It seemed as if we all were there, but she was not.
We no longer took long walks in the forest together. We no longer ate breakfast each morning side by side to plan out our days. I’d watch her do her duties and wring her hands together, squeezing them until they turned white.
To cope with this change in my mother, I spent more and more of my days in Viridis. I had learned even more control of my magic and practiced among the great courtyard each morning, afternoon, and evening. The only person who everreally noticed my absence was Pah-Pah, who made sure I was fed and still scrubbing my teeth each morning and night.
If anyone had been my caretaker, it was him.
“You’re like a father to me, Pah-Pah.” I told him one morning as we sat together in my favorite hall.
He grinned wide and chuckled. His wrinkled, dark face lighting up in my admittance. “You know, Sae, you’ve been as much a daughter to me than any I might have had a part in making. Life is funny that way. I did not know I would have you to care for one day, but here you are, beautiful as the first day I cradled you in my arms.”
I slumped into my hand, my elbow resting on my knee. He had brought hard cheese and apples for our first meal of the day and I munched contentedly on a slice of the crimson fruit that I had layered with a chunk of crumbly cheese.
Mouth full and manners lacking, I asked, “What should we do for my birthday? It’s coming up with the next silver moon and I think you and I should celebrate.”
He stiffened oddly.
“What is it?” I stopped my chewing and straightened, intrigued by his sudden seriousness.
“I had forgotten it was so close. How many days is it now?”
“Thirty-seven if you count the rest of today, which I suppose we must.”
He nodded. “Yes, we should have a special celebration. Do you have anything in mind?”
I grinned, but not too wide. I didn’t want him to say no to all of the ideas I had planned.
“I’ll think of something. We can plan a whole day and night of it.”
