Page 116 of The Blackened Blade

A fated mate.

A bond stronger than any other in this world.

I turn back toward his voice, a small smile stretching my lips before my shoulders quickly fall again; the elation leaving me as I stare at the grey cement bricks in front of me. And a weight of sadness blankets me.

Even though my soul wants to sing with joy at finding its other piece, I’m overtaken by the reality of our situation.

I have a mate; a piece of my soul probably just inches from where I sit…but we’re stuck here. Trapped in this never-ending nightmare.

I can hear his voice and listen to him sing…but will I ever see him or be able to touch him?

My face falls into my hands as a sob begs to break free from my chest, but I try to hold it in. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t cry.

He would hear me, and I couldn't do that to him. He needed me now. And I had to be strong. Whatever I felt, I’m sure he did too.

We suffered enough in here. At the very least, when we’re together, we could be each other's strength and comfort.

I lean the back of my head against the wall as silent tears stream down my cheeks.

A small hum begins to play from Zraels cell, the tune flowing into my ears as I listen with a sad smile tilting my lips.

My mate and I. What did we ever do to deserve this?

* * *

Zrael slowly explained over the following days how he had known I was his mate. That from the first time I had sang along with him he had known.

He had told me he was a Siren; one of the very few of his kind left and that through singing they were able to find their mates.

Over time, he told me how he had been taken here during a fight trying to protect a friend of his. He told me he was here around a year before I arrived and that his voice hadn’t always been so broken and hoarse and that it was once like velvet. He made a small broken chuckling sound at this.

He said the only time his voice sounded ‘normal’ was when he sang because it was a Sirens voice, and that their songs were laced with pure magic.

When I asked why I hadn't been tranced he chuckled, telling me not all of his songs had to use powerful magic, and that it was also different with a mate.

When I had asked how his voice had become the way it was when he talked normally, he said it was what they did to him. They tried to exploit his ability and power, and it left him like this. He fell quiet after saying it, a heavy atmosphere falling over us both as I remembered my own sessions.

For almost five years we sang to each other and talked about a place of our own together far away from here. A dream away from all the pain and hell we lived each day in the Facility.

He pulled me through my darkest days. It was with onlyhisvoice,hissongs andhissupport that I lasted as long as I did here. He built up a strength in me I never knew I could have and showed me a love so pure and unconditional, I knew that anything I felt before wasn't real love.

The bond we had was stronger than anything I had ever felt…or ever will again.

That day…the day they took him from me…will be a memory and pain that will forever be etched into my soul.

The only sounds that day were my screams, my sobs, and my pleading with him not to leave me. They took a part of me away that will never be whole again without him.

My beautiful soul and lost siren.My Zrael.

I’m pulled from my memory and thoughts as an ache splits my chest, tears trickling down my cheeks as his voice calls my name.

How I managed to exist without him for almost a whole year after that, I don't know.

All I recall was my raw screams, trying to take out as many guards as I could when they came to me, and a lot of bloody fights.

Each day I woke up cursing my existence, cursing the Facility and why death would keep alluding me. I wanted to join him and leave this hell. I didn’t want to breathe another day in a world where he longer existed.

But each time I came close, I would hear his broken voice in my head telling me to fight. And to live for him and the dream we had together.

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