Page 53 of Bound By Blood
Buttons whimpered, wriggling in her arms.
"I'm sorry, baby," she whispered, clutching him closer as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
He licked at her cheek, whining in response.
It had all been ridiculous. A foggy dream with no basis in reality. And Quinn was right. She didn't trust Ryul enough to risk that bond and give him that wish. Why should she be anywhere near him?
She brought disaster and hardship on the people she loved. That was all there was to it. She'd been a fool to believe even for a moment that there was any possibility for anything else.
Buttons growled, his hackles lifting up. He stared past her shoulder.
"Wh—" She started to turn.
Something cracked her across the back of the head. Sparks exploded in front of her eyes.
She collapsed, Buttons sliding out of her arms. Her eyelids slid shut, his furious barks filling her ears.
Run, Buttons. Run fast.
Then everything went black.
SACRIFICE
Adull pain through the back of her skull woke Erryn. Heat flared against her face as something crackled and popped nearby. A fire, maybe? Wood fire based on the scent.
Cringing, she opened her eyes. She lay on her side, her arms bound in front of her and her ankles tied securely. Whoever had done it knew what they were doing too. There was hardly any give in the thin coarse ropes, but they weren't so taut that they would easily snap or break.
Buttons was nowhere to be seen. Her attacker had put her in a cave, a damp chamber with a single oil lamp fastened crudely to the jagged rock wall. Someone had hewn at this place, leaving pick marks and gouges throughout. Several passages broke off from this room, and a chill emanated from the farthest one.
A small fire burned in the center of the room, the breeze apparent as it drew the smoke out. Perhaps the opening was just on the other side of the bend? That faint yellow light might even be sunlight. Perhaps morning sunlight?
She shifted her weight and strained to look behind her and then to the side, her heart hammering faster. Someone was behind her. A pheasant feather glistened in the low light.
Traelan? She blinked then twisted around to better see. Was it really him?
It was! The once impeccably dressed traveler lay on the ground beside her. Green ropes bound his wrists together and his arms to his sides as well as his legs and ankles. Bruises marred his face and neck, and several charms had been bound tightly to his face. His skin welted and burned beneath those charms. His hat sat on his head at an awkward angle. When he saw her looking in his direction, he managed a wincing smile.
"When I said I'd see you soon, I did not intend it to be under these circumstances."
"What happened to you?" she asked thickly.
“Right place, wrong time. One of my questions answered. Far higher price to pay than I anticipated.” He winced as he shifted his hands. His fingers flexed. Uneven lines ran along them. He glanced back over his shoulder, then lowered his voice. “Listen carefully. Don’t drink anything they give you, and don’t eat anything either. If you cooperate enough, they might not try it, but don’t agree to anything. They’re going to try to make you walk up the staircase and through the doorway in the air.”
She blinked. Her head pounded. This didn’t make sense. The staircase? The cursed staircases in the air?
“And whatever they tell you, I don’t actually want to eat your soul.”
Stiffening, she tried to focus on him. Had he really just said that? Was he joking?
Footsteps scuffed across the stone. A shadow loomed on the wall, and the air chilled. An older man with a braided ash-blond beard entered. His face was weathered and lined, his face and arms heavily freckled with several blue-grey scars curling across his shoulders and biceps amid multiple tattoos of strange symbols, bladed weapons, grey wolves, dark wolverines, and silver eagles. Two swords hung at his side, and a great wolf pelt draped his broad shoulders. He held a dull-tipped spear in one hand. Beads and leather ties looped beneath the head.
“Perhaps this sacrifice will please you and you will cooperate, kytobar.”
Kytobar? She froze. That was what Traelan was? She remembered hearing about kytobars a long time ago, but she'd never met one. Nor had she expected to. Or wanted to. They were powerful magic practitioners that ate humans, elves, fae, and the like to gain their powers and maintain their skills among other things, but they never came this far north.
“I don’t want another sacrifice,” Traelan responded. “All the sacrifices in the world won’t change the nature of those staircases and those portals. I'm not helping you. You've disrupted quite enough already, Ilvan.”
Ilvan met Traelan's gaze without flinching. “We have shown you the proper respect, kytobar. If you do not comply, you will force our hand. You can be made to suffer more.” His gaze moved to her next. “And, you, make friends with this one. The more he likes you, the more likely this will work and others will not have to die.”
