Page 42 of Bound and Beguiled

When she felt she’d made her point, she stepped back and Mouse lumbered forward.

He said nothing.

Finally, unable to hold back my curiosity, I peeked over my shoulder to look at him. The Ogre stood, tree-trunk legs spread and planted, arms crossed over his shining, muscle-bound chest—glaring at my mother. She looked near to fainting. He didn’t move or say a word for a full thirty seconds. Then he grunted, turned his back on my mother pointedly, and rejoined the others—but not before he gave me a big ol’ wink.

I wanted to laugh, cry, and hug him so hard he couldn’t breathe. I’d do all three when this was over.

The speeches from Franklin’s escorts were practiced, flowery, and complete bullshit. When the last one finally stepped back—he’d hadfiveof them present in a stunning display of over-compensation—I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath.

“Tereza Dvorak.” The Keeper’s melodious voice flowed over the crowd. “Before Ymet and all those gathered here, you have come to be bound to this man, Franklin Parrish. Speak now your oaths.”

Franklin’s eyes burned into me as I lifted my arms, displaying my bands and the proof of my worthiness. My stomach, which had begun roiling halfway through the litany of his “perfection”, quieted. Everything stilled, as though the world held its breath.

“I invoke the right of Witness.”

Pandemonium. Over the questions, gasps, and Franklin’s muttered cursing, the Keeper’s words rang like a bell.

“Granted. Speak your truth and be heard.”

“This is ridiculous!” my mother screeched. “Stop this nonsense before you shame the family more than you already have!”

Every Keeper’s head snapped to her. They spoke, a dozen throats working as one. “Witness has been invoked. You will be silent, or you will be silenced.”

Franklin lunged at me. I jerked away, falling to my butt in a spike of panic, but before I could do more than hold up a staying hand, a screech blasted my eardrums. Mared fell from the sky, claws outstretched, carrying him to the ground amid a thunderous flapping of wings.

I scrambled back, then gasped as a great beast shot past me, leaping into the fray. After much growling and thrashing, Mared launched herself back into the sky, leaving Franklin pinned to the ground beneath a snarling Kynan. Franklin bled from several long gouges, scarlet blood staining the white linen in a perverse imitation of the marriage robes he’d never wear.

“Speak, child,” invited the Keepers in that otherworldly chorus.

I knelt before them and closed my eyes—knowing in my bones that Kynan would never let Franklin touch me—and spoke.

I explained about breaking off my relationship with Franklin, only to be convinced by him and my mother to give it one more try—after which I was even more adamant that it was over. I told them how shocked I’d been to discover I was pregnant, since Franklin had been receiving the contraceptive blessing direct from the Temple. Beneath Kynan’s snarling weight, Franklin thrashed as I exposed him for bespelling me and lying to the Keepers in an attempt to force me to carry his child.

Angry murmurs spread through the crowd when I spoke of how he’d stalked me after I ran from him—terrorizing me with threatening notes, dead animals, and bloody vandalism.

They rose higher when I shared that my own mother had belittled and bullied me when I went to her for help, until a single harsh word from the Keepers silenced them.

In the quiet, I shared the things Widow had discovered when she dug into his sins. The wizard who’d sold Franklin a potion to nullify his contraceptive, and later the hex that allowed him to ensconce me in the Temple. The secret accounts where he funneled money skimmed from the community’s coffers. The poor girl who’d sobbed to me on the phone, apologetic and terrified. She wasn’t even twenty, had no family of her own, and she’d had no idea Franklin was engaged. He’d stopped returning her calls when she told him about the baby.

There were other things. Private, painful things that I wouldn’t share so openly. But as I looked up into the eyes of the Keeper—eyes that glowed with the undeniable presence of a god—I saw the knowledge of them burning there.

It felt as though I talked for hours, kneeling on the hard stone. When the words finally stopped I felt hollow, but neither my throat nor my knees ached.

“TRUTH.” The word of Ymet thundered from the throats of their Keepers.

I shuddered, my body collapsing in obeisance. I could see only the ground and my own arms, but I heard the echoing thud as—behind me—the Bound fell to their knees as one.

“COME FORTH AND BE JUDGED, FRANKLIN PARRISH.”

The sound of running footsteps cut off abruptly, and Franklin screamed. “No! I can explain! She twisted things, you have to believe me. She’s a bitter, hateful sl—” He choked, a painful, ragged sound.

“DO NOT SULLY MY PRESENCE WITH YOUR LIES. FRANKLIN PARRISH, YOU ARE FORSWORN.”

Somewhere behind me, someone sobbed quietly. Sympathy was the last thing I’d expected to feel at that moment, but his mother’s tears tugged at my heart.

“YOU HAVE BROKEN THE MOST SACRED VOWS.”

A sharp cracking sound followed Ymet’s pronouncement, and I sneaked a look up in time to see one of Franklin’s bands shatter into a rain of sparks. He writhed in agony as he hung suspended a foot above the ground, but no sound came from his wide-open mouth.

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