Page 6 of The Bound Blood
Our training bond was what the school wanted. And I follow the rules.
Sanctioned. Justified. A formal arrangement so I could “train” her, keep her from spiraling out of control. It was supposed to be about safety. Containment.
But it isn’t that anymore. It’s grown into something else. And somehow, he knows it. My stomach drops.
“You will sever it,” Father says again. “Before it roots itself deeper.”
“I didn’t ask for the bond,” I say, voice raw. “The school made the call. The council approved it. Her magic chose me.”
“They approved a training bond,” he snaps. “What you’ve formed is something else.”
I push myself up, ignoring the burn in my shoulders, the way my limbs shake from the shift. “I’ve done what they asked. I’ve trained with her, kept her stable. She needs me.”
He steps closer, and the air thins around him. “You’ve kept herclose.That is not the same thing.”
“She needed someone.”
“Youneedto stop lying to yourself,” he says coldly. “This isn’t about training anymore. That girl has gotten under your skin, and you let her. Now, you need to cut her out. Or I’ll do it for you. Do you understand?”
The bond pulses, not liking the threat.
Not just a training tether anymore. Not some sanctioned arcane leash the school wrapped around us for safety and structure. It’s grown roots—deeper, wilder, morehersthan it ever should have been.
It lives in me now. Wrapped around the pieces I don’t show anyone. Soothing me even when I'm alone.
For a moment, I imagine what it would feel like to sever it. To rip her magic from mine, to purge the warmth I still feel low in my chest. To be empty.
My throat tightens. My breath stutters. It wouldn't be pleasant.
I could do it. I’ve done harder things for my clan. For my father. For honor.
But this…this would break something I don’t think I could fix.
“I can feel her,” I say quietly. “Still. Like she’s just on the other side of my skin. Almost like we are one person. I don’t think I can sever it without harming myself.”
My father doesn’t move. The silence hangs between us, his disappointment in all the words he isn’t saying.
“She trusts me,” I whisper, almost pleading with him.
Father’s voice turns to ice. “Then she is a fool. And so are you.”
The bond pulses again, and this time, Iseeit.
A thread of gold flickering in the air between us, humming softly as it stretches across the infirmary—disappearing past the drawn curtain that separates our beds. I can’t see her, but I don’t need to.
She’s close.
I can feel the heat of her magic brushing against mine. A subtle thrum in the silence, a whisper in my chest:I’m still here.I reach out without thinking, fingers brushing through the space where the bond glows. It doesn’t burn. It calms. It anchors me in a way that nothing ever has before.
My father presses his lips together as he watches me. As if he can read my mind and heknowswhat I’m considering. “You will do this,” he says, quiet and final. “For the clan. It is not a discussion.”
My jaw tightens.
For most of my life, that would have been enough. One command. One expectation. I would’ve obeyed, no matter what it cost me. But not this time.
Not withher.
I shake my head, slow but steady. “No.”
