Soulbound (The Return of the Elves Book 1)

by Bethany Adams

  Lial’s other eyebrow lifted to match the first. “Soulbound? That was fast. Did he find her during his mission?”

  “Not exactly.” Lyr let out a breath. “He found her after he returned. She’s my daughter.”

  Lial choked on a surprised cough as his gaze shifted to the bed. “Well.”

  “Heal her. Then we’ll talk.”

  Lial’s mouth tightened, closing off the questions that lingered in his eyes, and strode past Lyr to the bed. The healer paused to pull in more energy, and some of the color returned to his face. A few more breaths and he stretched his hands out over Arlyn. Blue light flowed from his palms as he hovered them along the length of her body, finally returning to settle his hands across her head.

  Lyr had to look away from the flare of light, but Arlyn’s soft moan drew his eyes back just as the glow faded. She blinked up at Lial for a moment, her expression blank, before shoving herself upright. The healer stumbled back as she pushed at him, her other hand going to her chest. Her frantic gaze darted around the room until it landed on Lyr.

  “What? Who?” Arlyn’s hands gripped her head, and she let out another moan. “God, make it stop.”

  With a furious look at Lial, Lyr took the healer’s place at her side. “You are still in pain?”

  “I think my skull is trying to strangle my brain.”

  “Move,” Lial snapped, nudging Lyr out of the way. “I couldn’t heal the pain until she was awake. The mind is a tricky thing to work with.”

  Arlyn’s mouth fell open as light flowed from Lial’s hands to surround her head. But she didn’t argue. From her expression, the tension eased, and her body relaxed. As the healer pulled back, she rubbed a hand across her face, then stared at it as though some of the blue might remain. “Wow.”

  “Might I recommend learning how to use a transportation spell before you try it again?”

  “Enough, Lial.” Lyr’s hands clenched. “Ayala Arlyn does not deserve your ill-humor. She knows nothing of this world.”

  The healer’s eyes widened at the title. “Ayala, is it? I believe you promised me an explanation.”

  “She is my child with Aimee,” Lyr bit out. “I did not know of her until this day.” He glanced to the window, the sky beyond lightening with the dawn. “Yesterday now.”

  Lial snorted. “That’s your explanation?”

  “Later. Have you forgotten Kai?”

  Arlyn’s eyes widened, and she swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Kai!”

  Lial grabbed her shoulders. “Steady, Ayala. You should rest. I have seen to him.”

  “Let go of me.” She pushed at his hands, but the healer held firm. “I am not a child to be told to rest.”

  “I just healed—”

  “Release. Me.” Arlyn bit out. “Or I will gut you while you sleep. With my steel knife.”

  Lial let go and stepped back, hands lifted. “Gods save me from the Dianore line,” he muttered. Lyr almost grinned at that. He, too, was an ofttimes-difficult patient.

  Arlyn slipped past them, not even sparing a glance for the healer. Lyr frowned as he followed her to Kai. What had happened in her past to cause such a strong reaction to Lial’s hold? Lyr would have to make it his business to find out. Later. His heart twisted to see Arlyn sink down beside Kai, much as she had in the clearing, and lift a hand to his cheek. Her face was pinched with an odd mixture of worry and confusion.

  Lial joined them. “I believe he will live. If we can keep him still between my workings, he should heal well.”

  “I’m not even sure why I care this much,” Arlyn whispered. Her eyes met Lyr’s. “Whatever he did to me must be powerful.”

  Lial ran a hand across his drawn face. “She doesn’t know?”

  “She came from Earth,” Lyr answered. “Kai was going to tell her of his foolishness upon his return.”

  “What?” Arlyn’s eyes narrowed. “You obviously know what’s going on. You should have told me earlier.”

  Lyr’s jaw clenched as frustration poured through him. “It was his to tell. I did not want to ease his burden by taking some of it from his shoulders.”

  “Still—”

  “Enough,” Lial interrupted. “We need to get him settled, or he won’t survive to face your wrath. Where should I put him? The guest tower he usually stays in is too far.”

  “Next door is fine.”

  “No!” Arlyn tensed, her fingers tightening around Kai’s arm. “Leave him in here. I’ll watch over him.”

  “Are you certain, Ayala?”

  “I know it’s stupid, but I don’t care.” A frown creased her forehead. “For whatever reason, I need to know he is safe. I have to know.”

  Lial’s brow lifted in question, and he looked to Lyr, who nodded. “Very well.”

  Ralan stared absently out the window of his estate as the sky shifted toward day, highlighting his land in a dull, blue-gray tone. He winced at the encroaching light. Although he had seen hundreds of thousands of dawns, both on his home world and here on Earth, now each one reminded him of his failure. Another dawn closer to losing his beloved Eri.

  He spun away from the window and began to pace the length of his spacious bedroom. Ralan had tried everything he could think of to save her. He spent months at a time here, away from the pollution of the cities, feeding Eri the regenerative energy her own body seemed unable to gather. For a while, infusing her weekly had seemed to work. But now, at nearly seven years old, she was so ill she spent most of her time in bed. He sustained her fragile life with nightly infusions of the natural energy he gathered and purified.

  Finally, Ralan had given in, had used his gift of Sight to see what needed to be done. And there was only one thing left, one choice that would ensure she lived.

  He would have to return to Moranaia.

  He’d sworn never to go back, but he had no choice. The magic was wrong here. Ralan had lived on Earth for more than three hundred years without difficulty, but lately even he had to filter the energy with care. The humans argued over pollution and global warming, but while that was certainly a problem, this gave the impression of something else. Perverted magic. If his child were to live, they could not stay. He no longer merely suspected as much. He knew.

  Soon, he’d have to move on from this lifetime, anyway, or glamour himself to appear older. Hardly worth the effort, no matter how much he enjoyed being a fashion designer. And not just the process of creating but also the reactions of the humans. Ralan had heard it whispered that he preferred the company of men, as though designing clothes should have an effect on his sexual orientation. Why did humans treat sexuality like a fragile thing that would change at the least provocation?

  The joke was on the men who avoided such jobs. Ralan worked with some of Earth’s most beautiful women, and few of them would hesitate to strip at his command. Though he never dated the models who worked directly for him, it was no hardship to find companionship. What male could complain about that?

  His pocket vibrated, causing Ralan to jump as the phone buzzed against his leg. Frowning, he reached for it. He’d made it clear during the last several months that he was not open to social engagements due to his daughter’s illness. Thankfully, few bothered to contact him even during normal hours. When he pulled the phone out, Mandy’s face lit up the screen. His assistant must be working early.

  Ralan smiled at the almost frantic tone of her text questioning one of the designs for the Paris show in a couple of months. She’d worked on this one mostly by herself, and it would be her first look to go down an haute couture runway. Ralan’s thumbs tapped quickly across the glass in a short, hopefully reassuring, reply. Mandy would be able to take over for him when he left if he could only build her confidence.

  A whimper sounded from his daughter’s room as his phone vibrated a reply. He tossed it on his bed, knowing from experience how poorly electronics fared during energy work, and rushed from the room. As Ralan opened Eri’s door and ran to her side, she sat up in her little, canopied
bed, golden eyes wide and chest heaving. “Laial,” she whispered.

  “Hush, tieln.” He sat beside her and gathered her trembling form into his arms. “I am here, precious one.”

  For hours, he rocked her, smoothing his hand down her long, black hair. He whispered words of comfort in Moranaian and in English and fed her as much rejuvenating energy as he could gather and purify. Even when his own body grew tired and strained, he continued. Until finally, as morning shifted toward noon, she slipped into a normal sleep. He tucked her back beneath the covers and sat in the chair he kept by the bed.

  As he closed his eyes and prepared to gather more energy into himself, Ralan knew he could no longer deny it. He would have to contact Lyr, and soon. Ralan squeezed his hands against his skull, the ache of purifying the natural magic burning his channels after such extended use. Lyr would have to send Kai to guide them home.

  Though Kai’s face was in shadow, Arlyn’s eyes had long adjusted to the dim light well enough to make out his features. Carved cheekbones, a strong jaw a male model would kill for, tanned skin, gorgeous black hair—God, he was hot! A lock of hair tangled across his forehead, and Arlyn finally gave into temptation and brushed it aside. Her fingers tingled and burned where they made contact with flesh. She jerked her hand back with a gasp.

  Soulbound. That’s what she’d heard over and over since waking in pain. His pain. Arlyn clenched her hands in her lap and worried her bottom lip with her teeth. The word sounded serious. Like a wedding. Like more than a wedding. She glanced down at the pendant resting on the nightgown her grandmother had offered to replace Arlyn’s blood-soaked one. The metal seemed to glimmer against the thin fabric in the dim, morning light. Whatever Kai had started by giving the necklace was serious business.

  Arlyn had to know more. Had to know why she’d threatened to gut a man for keeping her from Kai. She’d hated being restrained ever since elementary school, when bullies had almost beaten her up because of her ears, but she had never had such a strong reaction before. She was just that drawn to Kai. Even now, she had to grip her fingers together to keep from caressing the lines of pain and tension from Kai’s mouth. Her toes curled against the desire to lie down beside him, rest against him. She was sure she could give him energy if only she understood how.

  Blaming him for the bond would be too easy. The anger that had been in Lyr’s eyes and the shock that had registered on the others’ faces told her well enough that Kai’s actions hadn’t been proper. If she were less honest, she could let it go at that. But the connection between them had coursed through her well before he’d offered the necklace. He might have been tricky about its purpose, but she’d known, somewhere deep, that it had been more than a talisman of protection. She had taken the pendant anyway.

  Her initial denial of the bond seemed silly after last night, and not just because she had experienced Kai’s pain. Arlyn would have been concerned for others hurt like that, too. Anyone would. But that all-consuming drive to save him had taken her like fire. Lyr claimed she had transported them here. He wasn’t around to argue with, but she still shook her head. No way.

  Yet something had happened, and Arlyn had no idea how else they could have returned to her room in time. And the pain in her head when she woke had been more intense than a normal headache. Could she have been that desperate? On Earth, she’d managed to spark a fire with her meager power. That was it. Besides making her way through the mists, she had shown no other signs of the kind of ability she would need to transport three people. Maybe her link with Kai held more answers. If she only understood more.

  “Stop worrying, mialn,” Kai whispered into her mind, so softly she almost didn’t hear.

  “Kai? I thought you were sleeping.”

  “Your concern reaches into my dreams. Talk to Lyr if this bothers you so. I cannot stand you so upset.”

  “He would tell me?”

  “He would do anything for you.”

  Kai slipped back into a tenuous sleep. As much as Arlyn wanted to stay, as much as she wanted to wait for him to explain, he would not rest with her there, not until she calmed her mind. Though she doubted Kai’s last assertion, she had to ask Lyr. Would he give her an answer? She wanted to believe her father cared for her that much, but it was too soon. He had given her little in her life so far, and all of it, except for her life itself, had been given within a day.

  Arlyn found Lyr in his study, slumped in a chair nearly hidden by a bookcase, his face turned to the last moments of sunrise visible through the opposing window. He stared unseeing, not seeming to notice the glorious colors, but her breath caught as she paused. The trees in this spot were thin enough to reveal the valley that dropped away to the east of the estate, and the light skimmed in a beautiful display across the floor of the vale. Magnificent.

  “Do you see such beauty so often that it no longer holds meaning?” she murmured.

  Shaking free of his thoughts, Lyr turned to look at her. “No, I am rarely here this early. Usually, I am either resting or enjoying one of my own pursuits, not working on estate business. But when Kai stays here, he always sits in this spot to view the sun rise over the valley. His father’s house has no such view.”

  “Then maybe you should enjoy it.” She stepped closer, stopping by his chair to watch the sun creep higher.

  As the colors of dawn began to fade, he smiled. “Thank you for that. I sat here because Kai does, but I was so lost in worry I forgot to notice why it is his favorite spot. You are more elven than you realize. Literally, perhaps.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “My original intent was that it’s a very elven thing to admire beauty even in the middle of a crisis. But it reminded me of a speculation I’d had.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I have to wonder if there is more to your bloodline. Either your mother wasn’t entirely honest, or she didn’t know.”

  With a gasp, Arlyn spun away, pain cleaving her chest. “I knew you would not accept me. I should have expected no less.”

  “Arlyn, wait.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed gently until she turned. “I know you are my daughter. That is not in question. But you see, the Dianore line does not have the power of teleportation, at least not until now. It’s mostly found on the Taian branch, and they guard it jealously.”

  Her brows pinched. “If I’m your daughter, then where do I get it? If I was the one who did the spell in the first place. I’m still not sure I believe it.”

  “Oh, it was you.” Lyr released her hand to rub his fingers against his temples. “I still ache from it. The spell was wild. Untrained.”

  “So it’s some kind of human magic?”

  “It felt elven. Moranaian.” His gaze captured hers. “We need to find out why.”

  Arlyn’s teeth ground together. “Mom never lied to me.”

  “If she had our blood, she might not have known.”

  “Wouldn’t you have noticed?”

  “Not necessarily. I do not have the skill to test another’s bloodline, only to detect my own, and she did not have any particularly obvious elven traits.” His face twisted with pain. “Which is unfortunate. If it’s true and I had known, I would have been more likely to risk bringing her here. The healers could have cured her.”

  “Maybe not,” she murmured.

  “You saw how easily Lial helped Kai. Could a human doctor repair a wound so quickly?”

  “No,” she answered. “But her grandmother loved to cook on cast iron. It wasn’t until after she met you that she avoided it. If she was part elf, she might have inherited the allergy and never known.”

  “Oh gods, I remember that now. She offered me some kind of bread out of one of those pans before she knew better. I half feared she was trying to kill me.” Laughter filled his eyes at the memory before pain stifled it. “All those years, she could have been eating poison.”

  “I’m not sure anyone could have helped.”

  “I suppose it does little good to consider it.” He averted his gaze
and rubbed a hand across his brow. For a moment, he sat in silence, a range of emotions flickering over his face, before his expression closed and he drew himself up. The pain lingered in his eyes, but he said nothing more about her mother. “Will you permit Lial to do a deeper test of your bloodlines? If you have more hidden talents, we need to know.”

  “What does it matter?”

  “Uncontrolled magic is a danger to all.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “You said you’d stay to learn more about this part of your blood. Looks like you’re going to get more than you bargained for.”

  “Great,” she muttered. “So you were as surprised as I was to appear in my room.”

  He laughed. “You cannot imagine. I have never been teleported before.”

  “Really?” she asked, her voice full of doubt. “Surely, you know someone who can do it.”

  “Well, yes, I know you,” he teased. At her frustrated groan, a true smile lit his face. “I wasn’t joking when I said the Taians guard the talent. It’s one of that branch’s greatest prizes.”

  “And what does our branch prize?”

  Lyr paused, tapping a finger on the arm of the chair. “Our guides, as we have the bulk of them, followed by our scouts, diplomats, and warriors. The Rieren branch holds our greatest craftspeople, our inventors. Not that all of these talents do not and cannot exist in other branches; as more time goes on, these traditional distinctions become more and more blended. But the Taians can be difficult.”

  “What about you? This family?”

  “We keep order. I am a general of one of three segments of our military. Scouts, called sonal, are usually part of that. Diplomatically, I am in charge of dealing with Earth and the fae who are closely connected to that world. A fairly boring job until just recently. Events have been escalating, and poor Kai has been having to work hard as my Taysonal. My right hand, you might say. Of late, he’s away on diplomacy as often as he’s here.”

  “Kai? A diplomat?” Arlyn snorted, remembering how careless he’d seemed. “Right.”