Page 63

Chapter

Forty-One

ARA

The following day brings what I predicted, a bond mate for my best friend. It was a little different from Mariel’s bonding yesterday, just like Myrsky says. Every species has its rituals. Now Calix stands in front of me, the sunlight accentuating the frown lines on his brow.

“Are you sure?” Calix looks at me and back at Aella, his newly bonded Strix, torn.

It is normal for newly bonded riders and their birds to be lost to the world around them for a few hours.

Your souls will intertwine. It’s like suddenly there is this new part of you, and it’s completely normal to explore it.

You’ll need this time to solidify your bond.

Professor Myrsky’s words come back to me, and I remember the distracted way Mariel behaved.

“I’ll be fine.” I wave him off. Thankfully, I feel much better today. “See you at the gathering point.” I smile, but I doubt I will reach it on wings.

Maybe birds steer clear of cursed ones.

“Here.” Calix hands me his waterskin. “Be careful, okay?” He hugs me before he rushes back to Aella like a kid on the solstice. I’m happy for him.

They take off and spiral higher and higher until they are gone from sight. Only then do I let my shoulders slump.

I failed.

It’s the last day of Picking, and not one bird has shown interest in me. What now? Is going along with my family’s plans even an option? The thought of not marrying a stranger is pure relief, but leaving all of this behind, leaving Tate, makes me sick.

Even if you had bonded, it would have come to this.

I don’t have time to wait for next year. My markings are creeping down my arm already, and it won’t be long until someone sees them.

The day isn’t over yet.

I’ll have to make my way to the gathering point, even if it’s on foot. So I take a deep breath, pull my shoulders back, and head off into the woods.

I haven’t gone far when snapping twigs alert me to someone’s presence. I twist around, and there stands Livia.

“Now, who do we have here?” Livia sneers at me. Great, just the person I don’t want to see. “I’ve been looking for you, you know.”

This is not good.

“Why? Forgot your name again?” I sound much braver than I feel.

I look around, and my heart pounds when I see two people looming behind her. One is a rider, and the other isn’t.

My blood runs cold.

I search for a way out while I try to keep the trembling in check. I’m much stronger than I was a day ago. The poison is finally gone from my blood, but I’m very aware of how weak I still am.

My hand wanders slowly to the dagger at my side while my eyes take in the other man accompanying her. A stranger. Something about the mismatched armor he wears rattles my memory.

“You’ll get what you deserve, you little misfit. Not so brave without your big strong friend, are you?” Livia mocks me, stepping closer. “That is the one you were looking for, isn’t it?” she asks, pinning me with her gaze.

What?

“Let me get a closer look,” the stranger says, stepping up to me. He reaches for my helmet, but I take a step back.

The rider behind them fidgets. “You don’t need me here, do you?” he asks, and Livia chuckles.

“No, we got this,” she says. Without another word, the rider turns and walks away.

Well, no help from him then.

“Don’t be shy,” the man croons, making Livia chuckle again. He jumps forward, pushing me hard, and I stumble into a tree behind me. Before I find my footing again, he grabs the helmet, lifts it, and throws it to the side.

Livia gapes at my hair. Her eyes widen, then her whole face contorts in fury.

“You bitch.” She backhands me, but I dodge the fist she follows up with. I sweep my tongue over my lip, taking in the coppery taste and the slight sting, while I get my arms up to protect my head. She swings at me again, and I kick, aiming at her knee.

“Don’t take my rejection so hard, Livia. I’m just not into girls.” I have no idea why I taunt her when she already looks ready for murder, but her enraged scream is satisfying.

The man steps back, crossing his arms like he settles in to watch a show. Whoever he is, he obviously doesn’t care if either of us gets hurt.

Livia comes at me again and again, and it doesn’t take long until I’m winded.

She’s good and not worn out by battling poison like me.

Her fists find their targets more and more often, and I’m tempted to draw my dagger.

But if I do, she will, too, and a blade will do much more damage than her fists. So I refrain.

Our fight moves us onto a clearing. That I don’t have to watch out for trees is the only positive thing about my current situation. There is a small fire set up and it looks like someone spend some time here.

They waited for me.

Livia keeps hurling insults and accuses me more than once of murdering Gorgon. Since that doesn’t get a rise out of me, she spouts allegations about me fucking Calix, Joel, and Tate, and gets quite creative with it, too.

But I stay quiet, not because I’m so smart and above it, but because I’m simply out of air. My legs feel like jelly, and my heart gallops like it wants to burst out of my chest. I’m exhausted.

She pushes me, and I stumble back, my hand grabbing for her and latching on to a necklace around her neck. I fall back, and the chain snaps, landing in the grass beside me when I land on my ass.

“She’s all yours,” she hisses, glaring at me but addressing the man.

“Well, thank you for softening her up a little,” he says with a smile while he steps up.

“Make her suffer,” she demands, and the man chuckles, sending a chill down my back.

“Oh, I intend to.” He looks down at me. “Get up.” Magic flows over me, compelling me to get up. Fuck. His gift is influencing.

I expect my curse to rise like a wave, but instead, it’s only a trickle. It stops his gift, but when I look for it, the normally big ball of coldness inside me is no more than a grain of rice.

The poison must have drained it.

I rise to my feet, and for the first time, I’m truly scared. His magic presses in again, and the curse flickers. I never thought I would see the day I dreaded being without it, but I do. Without it, I’m not only weakened but also vulnerable to his magic. Shit.

“Stand still,” he commands, and this time, I’m compelled to do as he says.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

It goes against everything in me, but I hold my curse back. I will deplete it completely otherwise, and who knows when I’ll need it.

“And if anyone sees us, you will tell them you want this. You want me.” The memory of the only other person I encountered with this gift pops up, and I shudder inwardly while my body stays still as the man commanded.

I’m not helpless. I only wait for the right moment . I repeat the words over and over to stifle the panic crawling up my throat.

“Well, that is handy,” Livia declares, startling me. Somehow, I thought she had already left. She steps closer and slaps my face with so much force that my head would have turned if the man’s gift hadn’t held me in place.

Pain explodes in my cheek. She smiles, grips my shirt, and tears it down the middle. “Look at that, you are a whore, and now you look like it, too.” She steps so close that her breath brushes my ear when she whispers, “You deserve everything that comes for you.”

Her gaze darts to the man standing next to us, then back to me.

“I would love to stay and watch him torture you.” She grins.

“But some have been picked, so my bird is waiting, and I have to get to the gathering point before I’m late.

” She walks away but stops and turns back again.

“Oh, and Deputy Commander Foley sends you his regards. Have fun,” she chirps before heading into the forest, leaving me alone with the stranger.

Tate

We circle above Mount Albión. Its snowy peak concealed in a cloud, but my focus is much farther down anyway. I’m using Daeva’s view to inspect every moving shape down in the forest and every huddled form on the back of a bird, looking for Ara, but I don’t see her.

“Have you heard of anyone bonding her ?” I ask Daeva, but she answers in the negative. Either she hasn’t bonded yet or Daeva simply didn’t hear about it. I hope it’s the latter.

While we continue circling, I see a rider ascending from the forest below. He doesn’t have a body with him, which is strange, and I try to ignore the nagging dread coming over me.

Foley wouldn’t send a rider to kill her, right?

“Her friend just arrived at the gathering,” Daeva informs me. Whether she’s talking about Calix Ilario or Mariel Tethys, they must know more. I want nothing more than to turn around and demand answers, but I can't since I have to stay up here.

“Can you ask his bird about Ara?” I beg Daeva, and her conscience turns away from me while she does as I asked. We glide over the gathering place, and I bite my tongue, waiting for her answer.

“Freshly bonded are worse than chicks, ” Daeva grumbles.

“When they left, she was well, she says.” She relays some images, and the coloring and distortion, next to showing Ilario, tells me they are his bird’s view.

Ara looks thin and fragile with a sheen of perspiration on her brow.

Fuck, she must have been sick or something.

“Only a few more hours and you can dote on her all you want. She’s upright and walking. That looks good enough for me,” Daeva lets me know.

Damn straight I will look after her. She will be a rider by the time she gets back and, therefore, no longer off-limits.

What if she doesn’t bond?

The thought pops into my mind without warning, and dread pools in my stomach. I don’t know the answer to that. We never talked about that possibility.

What if she decides to leave?

We keep circling, but I get more and more anxious. Why isn’t she bonded yet? Why has no bird snatched her up?