Page 5 of The Blood that Binds Us

“Not exactly,” I mumble.

“It’s hard getting comfortable in a bed you aren’t used to. But that’s a fine room you’re in, you have Sin to thank for that.”

Sin? A fitting nickname.

“Don’t mention it,” Sin says from behind me.

I spin around, startled I didn’t hear him approach. He leans with his shoulder hugging the kitchen threshold, dressed in a burgundy leather tunic and brown trousers. In the morning light, I notice just how strongly he resembles Dusaro with his long, black hair and copper skin, but Sin’s green eyes are in stark contrast to his father’s dark ones.

“I trust Ms. River has taken exceptional care of you thus far.” He saunters over to the wide-stretched counter and leans down to kiss her on the forehead.

I wipe the surprise from my face before either of them notices. “Exceptional indeed, Your Grace.”

River reaches up to pat the side of his arm. “Breakfast will be ready within the hour,” she says in her sing-song voice.

“Miss Wren, would you care to join me for a walk? Since you are to be here for the foreseeable future, I thought you might want to see the grounds.”

I would be a fool to believe him. He wants more information from me, unconvinced I am who I say I am. Smart man. I would question me too.

I pull my shoulders back. “Certainly, Your Grace.”

A walk means visibility of the keep. Perhaps he wants to see how much I assess his security, baiting me with a walk to study my attentions outside the castle. He offers a polite smile and motions with his chin for me to follow him.

I’ve never been to Blackreach before, Aegidale’s leading city and home to the land’s most elite estates. I was born in Innodell, a modest city southeast of Blackreach, across the bridge that separates the capital from the rest of Aegidale. After my parents disowned me and Cosmina found me starving on the quaint city streets, she brought me to Morrinne and her chosen family that homesteaded out in Autumnhelm, the dense woods north of my hometown. Cosmina worked at the local inn and was one of Morrinne’s few friends, often setting aside supplies left behind from travelers to give to her when she would make a trip into Innodell for resources.

Morrinne and her family were like me, outcasted by a society too dangerous to live in. They are transcendents, born of magic, but a different kind than mine. Shifters of physical form, they can shed their human skin and manifest again in the shape of something else, something more animal. No two transcendents share identical second skins, but they are all beautiful—and terrifying if you are not privy to the knowledge they maintained their sense of self, despite their altered physical forms.

Ephraim’s reign brought more and more prejudices against them, instilling fear in the cities that they were something to be frightened of, abominations of nature. He went as far as to enforce curfews on their kind, ensuring they were not out prowling after dark, and encouraged the execution of any who broke that unforgivable law. Legion claims it is transcendents they fight for, but Cathal’s army has as many mundane soldiers as they do shifters, probably more. I never met a person with more disdain for authority than Cathal. He merely exploits his transcendent ancestry as a means to recruit other shifters, to supplement his lack of soldiers with brawn. But I know better—Cathal just really hates anyone that tries to tell him what to do.

Legion’s harsh strategies include recruiting others by force, coercing children into their ranks, and an ends-justify-the-means mentality. Morrinne and her family—myfamily—wouldn’t dream of joining such a malicious group. They instead keep to themselves, venturing into Innodell for work and resources but always returning to the cabin in Autumnhelm at night, away from those that would try to provoke them. It is not uncommon for the prejudiced to try and bait them into shifting, to give them a reason to report them to kingdom guards and light their pyres.

Sometimes I wish I was a transcendent so I could shed this skin, even for just a few minutes. The transcendents are at least tolerated so long as they follow their rules, but I am something worse, more feared, and irrevocably forbidden to live by kingdom law.

Sin guides us to the large courtyard spanning the front side of the castle. He walks next to me as we stroll past the neatly groomed hedges and manicured bushes, offering details every few steps about the general layout of the surrounding sides of the castle not visible from the path we walk. Budding flowers of pink, purple, and pearl poke through the greenery, preparing for spring’s renewal. The potent colors of the grounds are sharp against the stone gray of the castle’s exterior.

“What are your impressions of Castle Scarwood?” he asks.

I choke down a laugh. “Do you want my honest answer to that?”

Sin motions with both his hands for me to proceed.

“I think the castle is beautiful. The grounds are clearly well cared for,” I say, waving to a freshly clipped hedge near us. “Your handmaid is arguably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. But you must forgive me if my impressions are a bit clouded. I didn’t exactly plan on being captured and now being held so far from my home.”

“Fair enough,” he says with a shrug of his wide-set shoulders. “But you should know River isn’t a handmaid. She’s the housekeeper, and this place would fall apart without her running it, doing everything at once, delegating the chores to the servants.” The admiration in his tone suggests he views her as more than just head servant too.

“Fair enough,” I echo his response.

“So, tell me, how did Legion manage to get their thieving hands on you anyway?”

There it is, the subtle questioning I expected. It is why I rehearsed my story several times before falling asleep, and again while getting dressed this morning.

“I was running an errand for my father. He had a delivery that needed to get to Baregrove and also business to attend to in Innodell, so I offered to transport the goods for him. I should have stopped to camp when the sun was setting, but I wasn’t far and wanted to get there in one day, so I kept riding. They rode up on me so fast, I didn’t really understand what was happening until they were pulling me off my horse and onto one of theirs.”

Sin nods, but his face remains expressionless, giving no indication of whether he believes me or not. I don’t dare slip into his collective right now and risk that same rush of pain I felt last night, if that strange, intense emotion still lingers in his body. Not when there aren’t others to distract from my reaction in case I slip up and reveal it on my face. I can only blame it on my shoulder for so long.

“I will need my shoulder tended to today. The bandage is beginning to soak through, and I will need something to ward off infection. Unless you would allow a healer to see me.”

He glances over to me and at the stained bandage peeking out from the boxy neckline of my dress. His jaw tics once, and he quickly averts his eyes. “I’ll let River know you need herbs.”

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