Soulbound (The Return of the Elves Book 1)

by Bethany Adams

  Arlyn’s body burned. With anger. With pain from where the guard gripped across her wound and from the cut on her neck. She would be damned if this asshole killed her father so soon after she’d finally found him. Or Kai, the love she’d never expected to find. Whatever it took.

  “Any ideas?” she sent Kai.

  “Love? You can’t just think that and—”

  “Later. After we’re all out of here alive?”

  His sigh caught Allafon’s attention. “Does this bore you?”

  “I’m waiting for you to tell us all your plans,” Kai drawled. Though she couldn’t see it, Arlyn knew he was grinning. “Or is that later?”

  “Be quiet.” Allafon waved a hand at the guards. “If either of them speak again, slice their throats.”

  “When my father turns, pretend to faint. It will not see you free, but it will provide distraction.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “Elven women rarely faint, but they’ll expect a human to be weak.” He sent amusement along their bond. “Be the damsel for a moment. Then prove them wrong.”

  Arlyn rolled her eyes. Who would fall for such a simple, clichéd trick? But then, she wasn’t on Earth, and she didn’t have enough experience in elven combat to stand a reasonable chance of getting herself free. Might as well try. So she waited until Allafon turned back to her father before letting her body go limp. The guard stumbled against the wall in surprise, not prepared to hold her entire weight. He turned her in his arms and gave her face a slap. She barely managed not to flinch.

  At the sound of a sword being drawn, followed by a grunt of pain, sweat broke out on her brow. But Arlyn didn’t open her eyes. If Kai were hurt—well, she would sense it, wouldn’t she? Then the guard dropped her, and she had no more time to worry. Allowing herself to fall, Arlyn barely managed to keep her head from cracking on the floor. She lay still as he stepped over her, waiting until her captor was about to put his back foot down before grabbing his leg.

  Opening her eyes, Arlyn pulled hard, toppling the guard off-balance. He stumbled into a blow that had been meant for Kai and went down with a gash to the stomach. But he wasn’t dead. She scrambled for the knife he’d dropped before his searching hand could grip it. Time seemed to slow as her eyes met his until even the sounds of Kai fighting and Allafon’s laughter blurred to nothing.

  Her stomach heaved against what she had to do. She’d never hurt anyone, not really. Maybe this man was innocent. A pawn. Then his eyes filled with hatred, and his mouth turned up in a snarl as he struggled to rise. Taking in a shaky breath, Arlyn summoned her combat magic, followed her instincts to the best point of attack, and plunged the knife deep.

  The squish of her blade slicing through his throat, the crack as it severed his spine—Arlyn lost it, throwing up on the floor where she knelt. Allafon’s cackle cut through the sudden silence. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

  Trembling, she looked up, taking in the scene. Lyr had slumped against his chains, frighteningly still. Kai stood panting over the body of the other guard as he pulled a sword free. Where the hell had he gotten that? Shaking her head to clear it, she met Allafon’s crazed eyes. He still held the iron knife, and if he was worried at their success, he didn’t show it.

  “Well, come on.” Allafon turned back to Lyr. “See if you can get to me before I kill him.”

  The madman lifted his arm for another strike. Arlyn struggled to her feet, still shaking, as Kai started forward, but neither of them was close enough to make it. As Allafon started to swing, her heart seemed to stop. But he never connected. He let out a shout of pain as the knife dropped from his fingers, the shaft of an arrow sticking from his wrist.

  She followed the path it must have taken to find a blond version of her bonded standing in the frame of the door with his bow nocked. Arlyn drew to a halt, uncertain now where the true threat lay. Was the newcomer pointing his next arrow at Allafon or Lyr? She glanced at Kai, and the blank shock on his face didn’t offer reassurance.

  “Moren?” Kai whispered.

  Allafon took one stumbling step toward the newcomer. “What are you doing?”

  “Stopping you. Your madness has gone too far.”

  “My son. My only son.” Allafon stood there for a moment looking bewildered before fury consumed him once more. “Even you have betrayed me!”

  A sudden, mad gleam in his eyes, Allafon pulled the arrow free from his wrist without a single flinch. He stared at the blood pouring forth for a moment before lifting his arm to let it drip over his head. Arlyn heard Moren’s swift intake of breath and felt an influx of panic from her link with Kai. The scene, beyond creepy, filled her with a deep sense of dread. Then she heard their enemy begin to chant under his breath. Energy built in the room, an ominous force that twisted into muscle and bone. She shuddered at the dark pulse flowing around her.

  Moren pulled back on his bowstring, but Kai shook his head. Allafon lowered his arm to let the blood fall on the smooth stone beneath his feet. The madman closed his eyes for a moment as the tone of the chant shifted to a pitch that made Arlyn want to scream. When his eyes started to open again, Kai sprung. The sword bit through his father’s neck in a single blow, and Allafon’s head rolled to a stop near Moren’s feet as his body slowly crumpled. The malevolent energy cut off as quickly and cleanly as the blow had fallen.

  Her stomach heaving again, Arlyn bent over, hands on her knees. She allowed time for several long, deep breaths before forcing herself to straighten. Blood pooled on the floor and splattered the walls. In the middle of it all, Allafon lay, the red of his overcoat blending in until he looked like an odd, gruesome flower. Moren stood frozen, bow now lowered, and stared down at his father’s head. Kai’s eyes were closed, his sword dragging the ground as he pulled in gasping breaths. His agony and confusion brought tears to her own eyes.

  Then Lyr groaned, and they all rushed into action once more. Arlyn tried not to step in the blood as she hurried to her father’s side. Barely conscious, Lyr slumped against his shackles. His wound was bleeding profusely with no sign of the clotting that should have already started. She turned at the sound of ripping, and her eyes widened to see Moren holding out a piece of his own tunic. Before she could accept it, Kai reached out to take the cloth and press it to Lyr’s wound.

  “Convert the iron, mialn, so we can take him down.” As Arlyn complied, Kai looked over at his brother. “Is Alerielle still healer here?”

  “I have summoned her.”

  Once Arlyn finished, Kai wasted no time unlocking the shackles. He and Moren worked together to lift Lyr, carrying him from the room to a bench in the Great Hall. Several warriors ringed the room, shifting uncertainly as they noted the blood tracked across the stone floors. At a gesture from Moren, they relaxed. Three bodies slumped in the corner, but she didn’t bother to ask how or why. Her attention was drawn to her father. He had grown so pale his skin almost looked translucent.

  An older woman strode through the doors and approached them without hesitation. Even as she unfastened the leather kit she carried, she nudged aside one of the gawking soldiers. Her gray eyes were gentle but determined, her expression soft but intense. With hair completely white and deep wrinkles molded into her skin, she was the most ancient elf Arlyn had seen. She could only imagine how many millennia the woman had lived, how many wounds she had treated.

  “What has been wrought here, Ayal Morenial?” she asked as she knelt beside Lyr and pulled out a needle and a spool of thread.

  “I am the Dorn, now, Alerielle,” Moren answered with a bow. “My father is no more.”

  “About time,” the healer muttered. She began to stitch the gash on Lyr’s chest with a skill born of long practice. “Foolish of you to allow this to go on as long as it has. He should have been disposed of after poor Elerie returned, sooner even.”

  “Honored Elder,” Kai started, his expression hesitant. “Father…Allafon said that I am not his son. Do you know more?”

  She gave hi
m a brief but direct look, barely pausing in her work. “You are not. I presided over your birth myself. In her agony, your mother confided in me. Allafon was not her bonded. Your true father was.”

  In the midst of the greater crisis, Kai found himself struggling with his emotions and his desire to know the truth. There were so many things that were more important—his friend’s health, finding others loyal to Allafon, the state of Braelyn—but he couldn’t focus on any of them. He wanted to question the healer, to learn if her claims were fact. He had been so concerned when Lyr hadn’t known his new name after he had bonded with Arlyn, but his old name was the greatest lie. Her words would remake him. Her words would set him free.

  More than five hundred years of guilt and pain, of not understanding why his father hated him, and now Kai finally knew the answer. So simple and yet so complicated. Nothing he could have done would have pleased Allafon. Nothing. No action, no accolade could have overcome his blood. That bit of relief did not stop the pain. His mother was still gone and his true father still unknown. He had no idea who he was anymore.

  “Did she give my true father’s name?”

  The healer shook her head, her eyes full of sorrow. “She feared for his safety if Allafon discovered that she’d told. But I do know he was of the Sidhe.”

  Lyr’s groan reverberated through the hall. Though Alerielle had already closed the wound, Kai was still surprised she had allowed her patient to awaken. The pain had to be excruciating, yet the healer helped Lyr sit up and lean against the wall. His head fell back against the stone, and his breath came in gasps. But still he met Kai’s eyes.

  “We must return to Braelyn. Did Allafon’s shields come down upon his death? Can we use the main portal?”

  Kai checked through his key to the estate, a key that had apparently been limited. He hadn’t known about the room where they had been held. “Yes, but you should stay here with Moren. You’re badly injured.”

  “Braelyn is my responsibility, as is the protection of Eradisel. More than that, my mother could be at further risk.”

  Kai turned to his brother. “Do you need help finding others who might have worked with our fa—with Allafon?”

  Moren shook his head. “I know every traitor on this estate. Most of them are already dead.”

  “We have much to discuss,” Lyr said, giving Moren a pointed look. “It seems you know a great deal about this plot. Had I the leisure, you can be certain I would be questioning you immediately. For now, I must demand you give your oath of loyalty as was done in old.”

  “You have always had my loyalty,” the other answered in a calm voice.

  “You’ll excuse me for not taking your word for it.” Lyr struggled to his feet and leaned heavily against the wall. Though he swayed, he stayed upright. “Morenial Treinesse, do you swear your oath to me as Dorn of the lands of Oria, third branch beneath the authority of the Myern of Braelyn?”

  Moren pulled his knife from his belt and sliced it across his palm without flinching. He turned his hand down to let the blood drip onto the floor in front of Lyr. “i’Bey’i’dahn ay mor kehy ler ehy tai’i narano key merdial Beyar Braelyn.”

  With some difficulty, Lyr bent down to touch the blood, rubbing it symbolically into his skin as he rose. “i’Tehyn te narno. You are now to be known as Callian ay’iyn Dorn i Morenial Treinesse nai Oria. Report to me when Oria is secure.”

  Even as the energy sang through the air, Kai shifted to brace Lyr as he stumbled toward the portal. Kai had never seen a formal oath-bonding before; it was an old tradition rarely used after millennia of peace. Bound by my blood, my being is sworn unto the House of Braelyn. Moren’s essence was now bound in service to Lyr and his heirs, and if he tried to act against that oath, he would experience pain like no other, pain of blood and soul. At a raised brow from Arlyn, Kai sent her a mental explanation as she ducked under Lyr’s other arm, giving more support.

  Kai triggered the spell that would return them to Braelyn. The archway flared with light, then settled to show the main room of the estate. Instead of the two they had left, five guards blocked the way forward with others standing at attention around Eradisel. Their faces betrayed no emotion, but they must have been surprised by the sight that greeted them. Not only was Lyr clearly injured, but they were all splattered with blood, their clothing torn. Still, the guards hesitated for only a moment before stepping back to allow them through.

  As Lyr stepped back onto his own land, a blessed surge of energy, much of it a gift from Eradisel, filled him. It was not enough to heal him or to remove the bulk of his weakness, but he found himself able to stand on his own once again. He sent silent thanks to the sacred tree as he walked to his second in command, standing next to a somber Ralan. None of the guards looked injured; in fact, he doubted they had even seen battle. Not so much as a scuff marred their armor.

  “Koranel, report,” he snapped, his energy and patience too thin for politeness.

  Though his eyes widened slightly in surprise, the guard merely saluted. “Prince Ralan ordered us to protect the gate after your mother…”

  “Was gravely wounded. I felt it,” Lyr said, sparing Koranel from having to deliver the news. “What happened?”

  Shoulders slumped, Ralan moved forward. “It was Norin. Your mother was reading in the library tower when he went to get her. To take her to Allafon. In the struggle, she fell and pulled Norin down with her.”

  Lyr frowned. “Who was the witness?”

  “I was.” Ralan averted his eyes. “I found the future strand moments before it happened, too late to change the bulk of it. Had I not forsaken my talents, had I looked sooner, I could have stopped this. I’m sorry. Lial believes she will live, but her good health is not certain.”

  “Seeing the future does not make you responsible for the actions of others. Some things are meant to be. Some must be. You, above all, should know that.”

  “Knowing and feeling are often estranged.”

  Lyr nodded. “Too often. Where is she?”

  “Lial’s workroom.” Ralan took a step back, his gaze narrowing on Lyr’s chest. “Gods. Looks like you need to go there yourself.”

  “I’ll probably live.” Lyr shrugged. And tried to ignore how dizzy the movement made him. “I trust there have been no other threats?”

  Koranel shook his head. “No, Myern. All has been quiet, save Norin’s betrayal. If any others have been working for him, they have not been foolish enough to make themselves known.”

  “Keep extra guard around Eradisel. The others may return to their normal duties, but tell them to remain vigilant.” Lyr headed for the front door, the fastest way to the healing tower, then paused to look back over his shoulder. “If Morenial comes through the portal before I return, have him wait in my study.”

  Arlyn met his gaze. “May I come? I’d like to see her.”

  He opened the door wider. “Of course.”

  Lyr gritted his teeth, forcing himself to take another step. Then another. Lial’s workroom wasn’t too far from the bulk of the estate, but it could have been a day’s journey for the effort it required. After being so perilously drained by the iron, Lyr should have rested. But his mother had always been there for him, and he would do no less for her.

  When a seer said her good health was uncertain—

  His throat tightened as he cut off that speculation. It would do no good to wonder, and there was no way to know if Ralan had Seen something dire. He might even have been repeating Lial’s words. Lyr would have to find out for himself. If he didn’t pass out in the middle of a walk he would normally take in a couple of minutes.

  Lyr heard Arlyn and Kai shift closer. His daughter’s apprehension slipped through his shields, and he winced. He wasn’t fooling anyone. “I can make it.”

  He didn’t miss her soft huff. “If you’d let us support you, the walk would be easier. Better yet, go rest.”

  “Not without seeing Laiala.” Though he stumbled with the movement, Lyr spared her a quick
glance. “And I cannot afford to show too much weakness. Especially if Norin had allies yet to be revealed.”

  Arlyn snorted. “You aren’t fooling anyone.”

  Lyr’s lips curved as she echoed his own thoughts. They were more alike than he could have imagined. “So you’d stay abed like you were told if I were injured? I doubt it.”

  Kai’s soft chuckle filled the sudden silence.

  Another wave of dizziness spun Lyr’s head, and it took him a moment to realize that his body had shifted as well. Rough bark bit into his back. Gasping against a surge of pain, he leaned his head against the tree and closed his eyes. Miaran. He was never going to make it to his mother like this.

  “Fine,” Lyr muttered. “I concede.”

  He expected some teasing, especially from Kai, but they said nothing, only moved forward to help. Arlyn ducked beneath his left shoulder and Kai his right. Lyr grimaced but let them support some of his weight, and they started toward the tower at a much faster pace. His muscles trembled with every step. Actually trembled. He couldn’t recall ever being so weak.

  Finally, they drew near Lial’s workroom. The square building was small compared to some, but it had come to be called “the tower” over the years. Lyr had always wondered if people referred more to Lial’s temper than the height of the building. Gods knew it was as bad as capturing a tower to seek healing after doing something foolish.

  Kera stood in front of the door, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Her sharp eyes scanned the area, and though her expression didn’t change, Lyr had no doubt she’d already assessed his condition. He would trust few more than Kera to guard his mother during a crisis. No one would make it through so long as she lived.

  “Myern,” Kera said, saluting.

  Lyr inclined his head. “Thank you for watching out for Lady Lynia.”

  “It is my honor.” Her expression darkened. “Too bad I wasn’t guarding her in the library.”