Page 6 of The Blood that Binds Us

I laugh once without humor. “I suppose I don’t blame you for not trusting me.”

We approach the gate separating the castle from Blackreach, and two armored soldiers bow to Sin as they call to the guardroom above to raise the portcullis. We head through the small tunnel opening where a second portcullis is raised for us, and we step into Aegidale’s wealthiest city. I take note of the two flanking towers positioned high above the gate and lower my eyes quickly, not wanting to be caught staring at any given post too thoroughly. Leaving through this entrance unscathed will be near impossible. I have to keep looking.

“Do you keep work in Innodell? Aside from helping your father,” he asks.

I nod. “I help run an inn.”

Cosmina’s parents owned the inn, and as a partial owner herself, she allowed me to work there to earn my keep, but I also know she wanted to keep a watchful eye on me during the day. Returning to the cabin in the woods with me every night wasn’t necessary, but she always did. Cosmina uprooted her life for me, and when asked about it, she dismisses it as she simply felt that she should. She is only a handful of years older than me, but she was like a mother to me. And as I got older, our relationship blossomed into a sisterly bond stronger than any iron chains.

“How are you liking your position? I understand it was assumed your father would be next to serve,” I ask him, wanting to switch the topic off of me.

“Do you wantmyhonest answer to that?” He throws my earlier question back at me.

I mimic the hand gesture he had given in return, and a tight smile pulls at his mouth.

“It’s bloody tiring.”

“I am sure Legion has been keeping you busy,” I say in an attempt to sound understanding, but he snickers at my response.

“Those pissants are annoying at best, but they’re certainly not difficult to squash.”

If there is one thing the Black Art and I agree on, it is that Cathal and his followersarea bunch of pissants.

“I agree they need to be stopped, even if I can understand some of their motives.”

Sin shoots me a sideways glare as we step through the first trees of the Spiritwood forest, the woods that run along the east border of Blackreach. I only know of its name because once the forest meets the Malachite River, it becomes the Autumnhelm woods on the other side of the bridge. The nestling of trees I noticed inside the castle’s borders must have once been connected to Spiritwood before the kingdom built part of its keep through it.

“I don’t agree with the transcendent laws. I think it’s ludicrous to impose restrictions on them,” I continue.

“The restrictions are there to protect the people of Aegidale.”

“Protect them from what?”

He exhales sharply. “From those that would rather see this isle crumble and fall before they bowed to a Black Art.”

I shake my head. “You’re describing Legion soldiers, not transcendents. You cannot judge an entire race by the actions of a few radicals.”

“They areallabominations.”

“Abominations? You can throw magic from your hands, but because they were blessed with another skin, they are abominations?”

“They arethieves,” he spits.

I plant my feet and turn to look at him. He mirrors so that we stand chest to chest.

“Have you considered they have resorted to thievery because no one will allow them to earn an honest living? Because everyone is too frightened of them, because of the prejudices Ephraim and your father modeled, and thatyouseem content to continue.”

He leans forward so his head towers over me, the tips of his long hair almost touching my shoulders. “They are unfit for society.Animalsthat cannot control their own impulses.”

“That is not true,” I whisper. I don’t need to brush his collective to feel the explosive energy rolling off him, and to know I have crossed a line with him.

“Bold of you to question my authority to my face.” The venom dripping from his words tells me he is not impressed by it.

I feel the arrow before I see it.

It is laced with magic—stirring my own as it whirls towards us. Towards him.

Closer.

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