Page 188 of The Stolen Throne
Relief punches from me, and I cover my face with my hands. He’s still part of me.
Reven crawls over to lean on one elbow beside me, pulling my hands away so I can look at him, his face a mask of terror.
I put a shaking hand to his cheek. “What?”
He swallows. “I think we made a mistake.”
80
The Healed
I shake my head hard, and I don’t stop because he has to hear me. “Bonding was not a mistake. Don’t say that.”
He drops his head forward, not looking at me, and the bone-deep worry he’s trying to hide from me but can’t anymore because of our bond is like ice freezing the shadows inside me.
“I did that just now,” I insist. “I kept your shadows inside me. Eidolon’s pieces are still in you. None in here.” I tap my chest.
His fear—pulsing at me not only in my scars but now through the fine lines on my arms, my forehead—doesn’t ease even as he lifts his gaze, then threads his fingers into my hair, intent on me. “It’s too late now.”
That doesn’t make me feel any better.
“We’ll deal with whatever the repercussions are when they come.” Resolve wraps around his fear, squeezing it out. Hard where fear was cold. “I’ll find out for sure.”
He thinks that last bit.
I poke him in the chest with a single finger. “If you think you’re going to go off and find the answers without me, think again.”
His eyes widen a fraction before his brows snap down over his eyes. “Again, that will take some serious getting used to.”
Pounding at our door has us both jerking, then looking at each other. No one knows we’re in here.
“Who is it?” Reven calls.
Silence, followed by three knocks, a pause, then two knocks. Tziah. Her signal.
“Hold on.”
Reven helps me up, then holds out an arm to keep me behind him as he opens the door. I roll my eyes while at the same time hiding a secret little warm glow—that he can probably feel anyway—because the gesture is kind of sweetly protective. Then he opens it wider to reveal that it really is our friend in the hallway. Alone.
Hands flying, signaling faster than I can keep up with, she clearly wants us to follow. I catch her sign for Vos and then something about power.
The king’s power.
Vos and Tabra.
Reven and I hit that realization about the time Tziah hurries away, clearly expecting us to follow.
I’m not sure if Reven is grim about how we got so wrapped up in me and then us that we forgot them, or I am. He was right, though. This bond thing is going to take some getting used to. Even loving him as much as I do, I’m not sure I want him in my head and emotions all the time.
We burst through the open doorway behind Tziah.
My heart lifts like a bird taking wing. “Whoa.”
Vos is standing in the center of the room, healthy and strong in a way that is making me realize that he was worse than he let on. No more ashy skin. No more cough. Now he’s practically glowing with good health.
“I must say.” He grins. “Coming to this place was a ruby of an idea.”
If the king’s power could do this to Vos, then…
