Page 28 of The Bound Blood
“Then let me earn it back,” he says. “One step at a time.”
He doesn’t ask for forgiveness.
He just waits.
It encourages a little flicker of hope to bloom inside my chest. And I want to trust him. I fold my arms, the spell lines still faintly shimmering on the floor around me, a quiet reminder of how close everything is to slipping through my fingers.
“I’m not sure if I can,” I say, voice even. I’m not sure if it’s strength or if I’ve just run out of tears.
“I should’ve told them to go to hell the second they ordered it,” he says. “I should’ve—hell, I don’t even know. Everything’s felt wrong since the moment they brought you here.”
I raise an eyebrow. “But you still let them.”
His jaw clenches, and I see the flinch he tries to hide. “I didn’t think they’d actually go through with it. I thought… I thought we’d have more time.”
“Time to do what, Raiden?” My voice sharpens. “To stand around and debate if I’m too dangerous to be trusted? To argue about who gets to decide if I’m worth saving?”
“No,” he says firmly. “Time to find another way.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to make sense of the knot in my chest. “Then why did you come yesterday just to tell me they’re breaking the Veilbond? Like I didn’t even matter to you?”
He looks away, jaw clenched.
“You fought beside me, Raiden. You were there. And then, suddenly, you’re just…gone. Saying this is what’s best, like you’ve already made peace with it.”
“But I didn’t make peace with it.” He sounds broken.
I swallow around the lump forming in my throat.
“I froze. I didn’t know how to fight them without making it worse for you. And that’s on me. I thought staying quiet would buy us time. Instead, it gave them permission.”
“They don’t need permission. They are the Council, it’s sort of been proven that they are the ruling faction here.”
A beat passes. The air between us buzzes faintly—like something fragile, threaded with magic and hope.
“You have no idea what it’s been like,” I say softly. “Being treated like a weapon or something dangerous when I didn’t even know magic was real before coming here. I sealed the Rift, Raiden. Iprotectedthis place. And they locked me up for it. This is not the good place.”
He takes another step closer, the wards buzzing between us. Close enough that the Veilbond flutters beneath my skin, awareness threading its way through me like a pulse that doesn’t belong entirely to me.
“I saw what you did,” he says. “I saw how much it cost you. And itkillsme that I wasn’t there when you woke up.”
“You’re right, you weren’t there,” I echo. “None of you were.”
“I’m here now.”
I open my eyes. He’s right in front of the rune line now, his hand hovering just over the shimmer of it like he wants to reach for me but knows better.
“I can’t undo what’s been done,” he says, quieter now. “But I can stay. Iwantto stay.”
I study him for a long moment. He looks tired. Not in the usual way, but in the way people look when they’ve been haunted by every bad decision they couldn’t take back.
A pause. Then?—
“I spoke to Professor Marris,” he says. “She’s doing everything she can to protect you. But she can’t do it alone.”
My breath catches. “You’re working with her?”
“I am now.” His mouth twitches like a smile is trying to form but doesn’t quite make it. “You scare her. But you also give her hope. She’s betting everything on you.”
