Page 40 of The Queen’s Shadow

“There will be a shockwave and a release. We should get Jeremy out of the room, and I would advise shielding, and doing your best to contain the blast.” He looked at Cerenah. “It will be an adjustment.” He told her.

“A welcome one, I’m sure.” She allowed herself a tiny, cautious smile. He smiled reassuringly back at her.

“Aye.” He replied.

“Alright, everyone out.” I said, excitement thrumming through me. “Let’s do this.” I beamed at Cerenah, who was looking at me like I was a shining beacon of light in an endless storm.

Dossidian, Conrad, Meredith and Jeremy exited the room, but Rycon stayed back. I glanced at him, and he crossed his arms over his chest, watching Cerenah carefully.

“I’m staying.” He said. I shrugged.

“Suit yourself.” I replied before turning back to the slave.

“I’ve never done this before,” I told her. “So I apologize in advance if it hurts at all.” She looked surprised at the fact that I would apologize for such a thing, and my heart hurt for her.

“Here goes,” I said, spinning Bond Breaker in my palm again, in an attempt to shake off some of the nerves.

I found the meditative state of ‘Eriene’ and allowed my aura to expand and brush against hers. I nearly gasped out loud as my yawning expanse of twinkling stars and tiny planets brushed up against the slavery bond that coiled around her.

Her own aura was damaged and crippled beneath the bond, as if she had been crushed for so long that her energy had been permanently warped and bent in an unnatural way. A lick of anger flared through me at the cruelty of it, and I struggled to maintain my focus. I forced the hot rage deep down inside of me, reassuring myself with the fact that I was ending it today.

I was going to free her.

I wrapped my power around one of the rings of the slavery bond and pried it away from her. It bucked and thrashed against me as I stretched it outward in an attempt to get a clean place to cut. I didn’t want to accidentally miss and injure her already significantly damaged aura.

The bond writhed and squirmed in my metaphysical grasp like an angry snake and I let out a hiss as it struck out at me.

That was the final straw.

Without wasting another second, I drew back Bond Breaker before bringing it down, slicing the blade directly through the invisible thread of magick. It severed easily, like a knife through butter.

I was grateful for Dossidian’s warning about the aftershock. I was ready and prepared to contain the explosion of energy that erupted. I did my best to prevent it from tearing apart the room or injuring Rycon and Cerenah.

Cerenah screamed such an agonizing wail that for a moment I worried I had cut her. I braced against the storm of energy as her screams slowly morphed into laughter and then back into sobs. The power whipped around us and the snakelike coil of the slavery bond released her before disappearing and fading away into nothing. She collapsed to her knees, caught in a twisted loop of manic sobs and blissful laughter.

I dropped down next to her as the energy faded and I lowered my shields, laying a hand gently on her arm.

“Cerenah! Cerenah, are you okay?” I asked, and she looked up at me with red rimmed eyes, and a tear splotched face. Suddenly, she reached out to me. She was quicker than I had expected her to be and I balked at the sudden movement. Rycon tensed, immediately ready to launch himself between us. I gasped at Cerenah’s movement, worried for a moment I had made a mistake.

I relaxed almost immediately, however, when she wrapped her arms around my shoulders. She buried her face into me before simply falling apart. Her sobs wracked through her with such violence, I feared she would choke on them.

Rycon paused, then relaxed, as I circled my arms around her too, holding her close.

“Thank you, thank you,” she whispered over and over again as she clung to me, holding on as if she were worried that if she let go, she might float away.

“I’ve got you,” I murmured back, holding her tightly. “You’re safe now. You’re safe.” I told her, hoping that this time, I would be able to keep my promise.

After Cerenah had recovered, the three of us made our way to the common room to find the others. My heart fell when I realized Conrad and Meredith were waiting with packed bags. I frowned at Dossidian, who also had a small bag packed.

“You’re free.” Dossidian said, beaming at Cerenah, who nodded, smiling at him openly. I had removed her shackles the moment she had felt strong enough to stand, and though she seemed tired, she was glowing with happiness.

Despite the state of things, it felt wonderful that I had been able to set this one thing straight. I had done at least one good thing. I hoped Amon would visit me again through the trace soon, so that I might tell him the news.

“You’re leaving already?” I asked, eyeing the magick folk and their packed bags. “You’re going with them?” I asked Dossidian.

“Aye,” Dossidian responded. “We’re leaving shortly. First, I need to meet a few of our generals. I want to give them orders to begin harvesting the shadowstone you found beneath The Eye. If we can get production on the shadowstone weapons moving, we will have an extremely powerful bargaining chip when building allies with the other courts. I cannot think of one court that would not jump at the chance of experiencing true freedom again.”

I nodded. I couldn’t agree more.