by Alexia Black
I blinked. He didn’t want to be guarded when there was someone out there trying to kidnap him for god knows what?
“You are saying you don’t want bodyguards?” I repeated his words just to be sure my ears were still functioning.
“Ignore him,” Travis said. “He doesn’t like being around people.”
That was understandable but did he really hate it so much that he had rather risk being kidnapped or maybe even killed than have security.
“Yeah, he doesn’t know what he is saying, ignore him. We are keeping the guards,” Daryl said.
Aiden didn’t say anything in reply but if the way the corners of his mouth tightened was any indication, he definitely knew what he was saying and it seemed like Daryl and Travis knew too. All of them were hiding something big regarding Aiden. Was he worried the rest of us would figure it out if he continued being under scrutiny? What secret was so big that he had rather face demons that risk it being revealed?
* * *
After dinner I followed Aiden back to the couch, my mind whirling with too many problems and not enough solutions. First things first, I needed to find a way to break this bond. Just as I was starting to read, my phone pinged with a text from Bart.
Anonymous tip. Found demon portals. Sealing taskforce sent.
That was fast; almost too fast. But maybe that was me just being paranoid. Lucky breaks could happen.
Looks like Aiden was going to get his wish granted soon.
I tucked my feet under my legs and focused back on my book. The book on soul mates started with an intro to Kshara.
What in the fates?
Most books I had looked through never even mentioned Kshara and here was a full intro dedicated to it. Who knew I would find out about myself in a book about soul mates? These books were definitely not from my home library. Did the house have a secret library?
I skimmed through the first few pages. It was stuff I already knew. Kshara were offspring of dragons and one half of twins. As the dragon souls fought for dominance in the womb, one soul always won. The winning soul usually sucked out the power of its twin along with its life force. Hence, most such pregnancies resulted in one stillbirth. The Kshara rarely survived birth, much less childhood. The other twin ended usually ended up with double the strength. Yeah, yeah I already knew that. Didn’t they have anything new to add? I flipped a few pages and continued onto the next chapter.
Kshara are dangerous and it is advised to kill them immediately if they survive childbirth. I couldn’t contain the scoff that escaped me. The only danger we were was to the clan pride. After years of eavesdropping conversations between my parents and grandma, none of this information was new to me. I also knew grandma had tried to kill me when I was born, dad had almost agreed but mom had put her foot down. Probably the only time she stood against her terrifying mother-in-law. I honestly didn’t get why anybody would try to kill us. We died easily enough on our own.
Bored, I continued flipping. Fifty pages of description on different methods to kill Kshara later, a paragraph caught my eyes.
What makes them so dangerous is the void in their soul. It thirsts for power to grant it stability. This is also why every Kshara, without fail, are always granted a soul mate by the universe; a way to correct the power imbalance. Long before, they were heralded as saviors of clan, and were known as Anugrahi-the blessed.
We used to be called the blessed?
The Anugrahi were pampered and revered for they were chosen by the universe to breed and strengthen the clan numbers; a great feat in the time of constant war. But as generations passed, the truth was revealed, they weren’t a blessing from the Fates but a blight sent to destroy us. A malicious and twisted curse upon the dragons.
Why would the Fates randomly curse just the dragons if according to Selene’s great grandmother they were the most devout?
Foreboding filled me. I didn’t want to read the next paragraph. I had a feeling I was going to understand how we went from being the blessed to the cursed.
Due to the void in their soul, the soul mates of the Kshara were always the strongest in their clan. The Fate’s way of balancing power. But, the Kshara rarely lived long, the oldest was a child who lived twenty one years after his birth. With their death, they brought the death of their mate too. With the death of their strongest warrior, clans were weak to outside attacks. The birth of a few Kshara per generation would cause the death of their strongest warriors within a few years. With some Kshara being bonded to dragons outside their clan, it was a time of great sorrow for the strongest warriors.
Soon, a decree was passed unanimously among all the dragon clans to kill the children upon birth before they came in contact with their soul mate and formed the Soul mark. This historic decision was taken in the light of extinction of the light dragons and the endangerment of the Aether dragons and wind dragons.
Fuck.
I closed my eyes. No wonder grandma had wanted to kill me. I was sure she didn’t know why exactly we were cursed or she wouldn’t have let mom stand in her way, she just knew I would bring harm upon the clan if left alive.
I pressed my forehead against the leather pages. I knew we weren’t to blame. Our only fault was being born. Logically, I knew even if we weren’t born, many dragons would’ve died due to the great wars and territory battles.
The powerful were always feared.
Just a hundred years ago, Max’s father had slain the last Aether dragon. Something a Kshara had no part of. Violence would always be present even without our existence but not to the extent where entire clans went extinct. Without their warriors to protect them, the civilians among them, even with their shifting abilities were at the mercy of the attacking clan. I couldn’t help but feel guilty and angry at my own existence.
I should’ve never left my room. I should’ve never been freed. I should’ve never met Aiden.
The only reason I was alive today was because over the past millennia the idea of what a Kshara could do was lost. Just the echoes of the decision the ancients had taken to wipe us out remained.
I blinked back my tears and opened my eyes. Silver eyes met mine. Aiden was crouched beside me, kneeling on one knee.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I am fine,” I pulled on my cheerful façade. “All this translating is making me go cross eyed. Get back to your work, I am going to take a quick nap,” I said and pulled the book up, hiding my face behind it. I forced myself to slow down my breathing and count down from thirty before I started spiraling.
“Okay,” Aiden said. He didn’t sound convinced but both of us knew where we stood with each other. We were strangers, that a twisted fate had brought together and we will continue being strangers. But, damn him for catching me at my worst moment.
My head was killing me, my body itching for the touch of my soul mate but I withstood the pain. Damn this stupid curse. Like, I was going to let it jerk me around as it pleased. It can go to hell. What I needed was a nap instead.
Chapter 11
I woke up restless. My skin clammy and my heartbeat skittering like a rabbit’s. I was not much of a morning person but it was harder than usual to open my eyes. I blinked the sleep away and focused. My watch showed 4 am. My previous day’s nap had turned into, well, not a nap it seems.
Why was I on Aiden’s bed? Did the couch magically transform into his bed while I was sleeping? The more logical part of my brain told me Aiden must have carried me to his bed. I ignored it. Couches magically transforming into beds was less embarrassing to think about.
Speaking of Aiden, where was he?
I didn’t have to peer in the darkness to locate him. The room was completely lit, with two bodyguards standing sentry near the door and window on high alert. There was no way the shadow monster was going to get in undetected again. This was the first time I’d experienced things from the client side, and I had to say, waking up to two pairs of eyes staring at you was a wonderfully creepy way to start your morning, even if they were your bodyguards.
Aiden was sprawled on a chair beside the bed, asleep. His eyebrows were drawn together, expression severe. This was the most amount of emotion I’d seen on his face in the past two days.
My heartbeat sped up again. My gut churned in fear. The feeling I had woken up with was getting worse. I recognized the start of a panic attack.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and forced myself to slow down my breathing. I thought of myself in a crowded sidewalk, invisible among the thousands of pedestrians, safe. You are safe, I chanted to myself.
But nothing was helping, not even a little bit.
I turned towards Aiden, the bond pulling me to him like a magnet. His eyelids fluttered, like he was having a nightmare. The soul bond tugged at me painfully, I winced. No, not the soul bond, something more sinister.
I forced myself to walk towards him on shaky legs. “Aiden, wake up.” His eyes screwed tighter in pain. My heart felt like it was going to give out, the pain was crescendo-ing like an evil symphony. The power that was piggybacking on our bond embedded its claws into my soul. Whatever was happening to me, I knew Aiden was at the center of it. I needed to wake him up to stop this.
One of the bodyguards crouched beside me.
“What’s the problem?” She tried shaking him awake even though her skeptical eyes were on me.
“Don’t know,” I managed to mumble, out of breath. “We need to wake him up.”
My vision was blurring, “Aiden, please wake up.” I slapped his thigh. Aiden woke up with a start, the sudden movement making me lose my balance. I fell back with a thump.
He met my gaze, blinding white instead of silver. The grief in them shook me to my core. But, grief was too tame a name for the emotion that shifted in his eyes. His eyes held a loss so deep I had no words to describe it.
He took a few seconds to be aware of his surroundings. Inhale. Eyes shut tight. Exhale. Eyes wide open. His pupils were silver again and his face emotionless.
My heartbeat normalized in an instant. My vision stabilized. I stopped sweating.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
For a long moment he said nothing, just looked away. Everything about him was muted, his posture, his expression, his breathing.
“Nothing. Sorry for waking you up,” he said to me.
“What happened? Did you feel any demonic energy?” The guard asked. That was what I wanted to know too because whatever it was that had clawed at me, it wasn’t the soul bond.
“Nightmare,” he replied, voice cold, gaze warning me not to prod.
“Ah,” the guard made an understanding noise and went back to her position.
“If you want to go back to sleep, take the bed,” I offered.
He shook his head. Even if he had gone back to his usual expression of imitating a wall, it was obvious that the remnants of the nightmare still clung to him.
“Then let’s have breakfast.”
He looked at me like I was a weird specimen, at least that’s what I think his slightly narrowed eyes meant. It was hard to guess what he was thinking but my almost neurotic obsession with observing people was coming in handy. It was becoming easier to read him.
“You owe me breakfast. C’mon.” I tugged his arm. He reluctantly got up. We brushed side by side and then took turns waiting outside the bathroom while the other used it.
Aiden ruffled through the cabinets in the kitchen and picked up a mix.
“Pancake?” he held up the box.
I nodded. I didn’t want pancakes so early in the morning. But, the guy had a nightmare; I wasn’t going to stop him from indulging his sweet tooth.
“Tea or coffee?” I asked
“Water.”
I made a strong cup of coffee for me and poured a glass of water for him. He placed the finished pancakes on the table and sat opposite to me, drizzling chocolate and whipped cream over his tower of pancakes till it was completely submerged under it. I watched with horrified fascination as he systematically decimated the pancake tower without even a smudge of the cream or chocolate staining his mouth. By the time I was halfway through my breakfast, he was already done with his.
He waited for me to finish eating. His gaze was far away, fingers tapping his thigh rhythmically as he hummed a random song. No sign of his earlier panic could be seen, the grief, the loss, everything was carefully withdrawn behind his mask. He held himself straighter than usual, which, considering his usual military posture, I didn’t think was possible. The only time I saw him even slightly slumped was when he was lost in his songwriting.
I wanted to ask him questions. Why did everything seem to happen around him? And what was that power that had leached through the soul bond? But I knew he wouldn’t answer such a question, especially when there were so many ears listening in on our conversation.
I stuffed the last piece of the pancake into my mouth. “Aiden…,” I started, wondering how exactly I was going to phrase the question without alerting others.
He saw that I was done with breakfast, took our plates and started washing them as if he knew exactly what I wanted to ask. By the time I noticed and ran over to help he was already done. The plates were spotless. I sighed and dried them with a towel. I put the plates away and turned towards him.
“Aiden.”
“Aiden.”
“Aidennnn.”
Damn it, stop walking away. What was he trying to win, a speed walking competition? His long strides ate up the ground and I followed helplessly, the damn soul bond not letting me stay more than a few feet away from him. Did that idiot keep forgetting about the soul bond in his hurry to avoid me or did he want me to die of pain? Two guards followed us at a distance.
Aiden didn’t slow down. He went straight to the inbuilt gym area and started warming up, pointedly ignoring me. I really hoped one of the ways to sever the soul bond was punching your soul mate in the face, because I would gladly do so. I took in a deep breath. Do not punch him, I muttered to myself. He is not worth breaking your knuckles.
I did an exaggerated sigh and shook my head, letting Aiden think that I had given up on pestering him. Oh, let him bask in his few moments of peace. No one in this world could outstubborn a Blazewood.
I started warming up beside him, accidentally elbowing him a few times. But it didn’t faze him in the slightest. I decided to take a break from pestering him and actually work out for a while before making him talk. If it was going to affect my life, I wanted to know.
I climbed on the treadmill and put the settings at a steep incline. My muscles thanked me for the sweet burn. I hadn’t realized how much skipping my training and just working the past few days had affected me. I could feel the ever present anxiety subside. My mind felt safer knowing that I wasn’t completely helpless.
I had tried to explain it to Sam once. She had nodded as if she understood. But, she hadn’t known back then what it was like to be truly helpless. The training I had received, gave me an advantage, however slight it was. For the rest, I had to depend on cheap tactics to win. Fighting head on wasn’t an option for me no matter how hard I trained. I wonder how Sam was doing with her training. I opened my chat with her. The messages remained unseen.
Dejected, I was closing the chat when it hit me, I could just text Aiden instead of directly asking him. Honestly, I was so dumb sometimes. Why hadn’t I thought of this earlier?
I stopped the treadmill. “Hey, give me your number.”
He gave me an unimpressed stare. “No. Our bond will be breaking soon; we don’t need to keep in contact after that.”
“As if I want to. Don’t flatter yourself. I have a few private questions. If you want me to ask them in front of everyone, I don’t mind.” I coolly returned his stare, “Your choice, Mr. Rockstar.”
Aiden analyzed me for a few seconds then extended his phone to type in my number. I saved my name as Soulmate with a heart next to it, just to annoy him. And if the way his eyes had darkened was any indication, I had succeeded. He immediately changed it. I peeked over
to see that he had deleted the heart and put in a reaper emoji next to it. Oof.
He texted me a single question mark. I chuckled at my screen. At least our rusty conversation skills were something we had in common.
?
Your nightmare,
I sensed it through the bond
That bond is very inconvenient.
preaching to the choir
Sorry I woke you.
It’s fine.
I think you will also get woken up a lot
from my nightmares
He looked up at me, his expression soft.
I could see he was typing but no texts came for a few minutes. Was he writing an essay?
Did you see it?
Is that what he had been typing for so long?
Nope
Just sensed it
I don’t think the bond can do that
Are you sure?
Ofc not
I didn’t even know this thing came with so many bloody rules!
He smiled seeing my message. Technically, not a smile, just a slight curve at the corner of his lips that made his dimples pop.
Soooo
?
Going to tell me what that other power was that piggybacked on the soul bond?
He stilled. The smile wiped off his face.
Did it hurt you?
Yeah
I’m sorry. I thought I had better control.
I don’t want to intrude on your privacy or anything
don’t really care about your secrets
But
how bad is it gonna be?
It was a few minutes before he replied.
It can kill you.
I almost wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. It was like we were both destined to kill each other. Soul mates, my ass.
Why would it kill me?
It doesn’t need a reason.
u can’t control it?
I can.
then?
Not always. As long as I keep my emotions in check, it won’t hurt you.
So, his powers were tied to his emotions. Is that why he always kept such a tight reign over himself?
Is it affecting me because I’m your soul mate?
