Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) (16 page)

Tell me. I swear to God, Micah. Tell me what’s happening
, I interrupted again.

Damn it, man, I don’t have time for this. They are coming for me and if I’m to stop them from killing each other, I can’t be doing this right now. You take care of your business and I’ll take care of mine.

And then, he was gone.

T
his is
what I get for taking charge. For signing up to be the one who taught them how to use their power and allowing Bale to show them how to truly fight. I ducked as a bright blue fireball erupted above my head and the top half of the door exploded. I crouched, still inside the stall in the barn where I’d taken refuge to try to help Amelia and Aidan.

“We know you’re in there, Prince. Just come out. We don’t want to hurt you…much.” I heard a high-pitched laugh and knew it was Melinda. “No one can defeat the Hunters. We finally get that. So, we’re taking you back. We’ll give the Queen her baby boy and she’ll spare us.”

I slammed my fist into the dirt floor. Melinda had started all of this. I had made such progress since we’d been here, but she’d slowly poisoned enough of the AniMages to cause problems.

“Don’t make us come in there for you,
Prince Mikail
. Your Hunter doesn’t understand we won’t actually harm the women and children, so he continues to fight a worthless fight. Elias is exactly the traitor we always knew he was, ready to abandon us when it became convenient. Let’s take care of this quickly and it can end.” I didn’t recognize the male voice, but it didn’t matter.

“You don’t understand what you’re doing,” I yelled. “You think my mother will want me back? She won’t. You think she’ll reward you somehow? She won’t. She hates you. She will welcome you into Cresthaven and the Hunters will never allow you to leave again. This is madness. We are here to fight for each other, all of us, not against each other.” I tried to talk some sense into them while I reached out to Bale. They tipped their hand by confirming what we assumed when this all started.

You need to put a stop to this, Baleon. They won’t hurt the women, they are simply keeping you busy. I know this is child’s play for you.

He grunted inside my head.
They are ill-equipped to fight even the youngest Hunter. But if I do what needs done, the protective shields will be broken and we will no longer be safe here.

I sighed. I knew it would come to this. Between what happened with Bethany and the attempted mutiny the AniMages had tried with Aidan, it was clear these people had been without a leader for too long. Many relished what they saw as freedom.

Bale showed me the view from his eyes. He and Elias created a half shield in front of my apartment where they and the AniMages still on our side had corralled all the women. Those who weren’t pregnant held a second line and helped as they could. I saw AniMages blown backwards, tree branches flying and an array of colorful fireballs being thrown back and forth. The rogue AniMages weren’t aiming their shots and they weren’t smart enough to know we were on to them. I guessed there were ten total between those in the barn and the ones attacking Baleon.

Do it. We will move. We will adjust.

As the threats began again from the AniMages on the other side of the stall door, Baleon allowed me open access to his mind. It was a bond we’d forged many years ago when he stood in my bedroom and knelt before me.

I was six years old and my mother had a particularly bad day. She barreled down the hall and stood outside the library door, screaming my name. I looked up to see her open palm close before I was thrown across the room. Landing in a heap at her feet, I was quickly at eye level, an invisible claw digging through the back of my shirt and into my skin.

“I told you I wanted you training,” she shrieked. “I told you you needed to be with Rhi, learning how to take your father’s place.” It was always uncomfortable looking into her eyes. They glittered with spite and rage, and I loathed that mine were the same color.

“I am not good at fighting. They are mean to me. They hit me and they laugh. They tell me I will never be strong and I don’t belong there.” I tried not to mumble. She detested mumbling, but I detested Rhi more.

“You will do as you’re told, Mikail,” she said, her voice echoing off the walls. “You’ll let them hit you and you’ll learn to hit back. You cannot lead our people unless you eliminate fear from your soul. Let them break you. We will build you into the man you were meant to be and you will stand beside me as your father should have. We will lead these people into the future. We will reign. Do you understand me?” she hissed and leaned in, her face pinched into a scowl.

“I will never be him! I don’t want to be him! I HATE HIM!” The words erupted from my heart before I had the good sense to stop them from coming out and she flung me across the room. I smacked into a wall of books and landed awkwardly, breaking my arm. I couldn’t stop the pained scream and began crying. I begged my mother to help me, to have the Hunters heal me.

She said, “Learn to live with pain, Mikail. We all do.” Then, she walked away.

Baleon gently picked me up and laid his hand over my arm. Before I was in my room, the bones were already knitting back together. We healed quickly, but he sped the process and dulled the pain. As tears streaked down my face, he stood me up and knelt.

He spoke quietly, but firmly, his head bowed. “Prince Mikail, from this day forward, I pledge myself to you. I will protect you. I will place your wellbeing above my own. I will guard your life with mine. I make this choice of my own accord, under no duress, and I swear on the Mother who bore us, the Earth that provides for us, the Water that replenishes us, the Fire that sustains us, and the Air that gives us life, I will fulfill this oath until my soul goes back to whence it came. You will see as I see and hear what I hear. I am yours to command.”

When he lifted his head, Baleon’s eyes swirled a mix of orange and yellow that frightened me. But when he held out his hand, I took it. As his large hand engulfed my small one, I felt a rush of energy that made me wince. “Do not fear, Prince Mikail. That was only my mark. It allows you and me to connect, to communicate. I will always be able to find you and you will always be able to call for me. I will never leave you alone again.” And he hadn’t. Even in Brighton, my Hunter had never been far.

As Baleon stood in the yard, allowing his power to build, he motioned for everyone else behind him to stay back as he stepped forward.

He brought both hands up and orbs of orange light crackled, cut with white lightning. A wicked grin twisted his features before he started to speak. “This was unnecessary, you understand,” he said to the AniMages, who were slowly backing away. “We came to help you. I meant to share my secrets with you, to betray my brothers and sisters so I might save them. But now, you have made your choice, and for that, you must pay the consequences.”

Through his eyes, I watched the light from Baleon’s palms grow, the orbs the size of basketballs, then beach balls, then encompassing his massive frame. Bale crossed his arms in front of him and when he whipped them back wide, every AniMage who stood against us howled in agony. The iridescent blue faded from their eyes and those who were shifted instantly reverted to their human form. In seconds, every AniMage who fought against us was frozen in place.

I slid open the remnants of the stall door to find Melinda and three other AniMages frozen, their hands at their ears, their faces twisted in pain. What they didn’t know was when the freeze thawed and they could move again, they would have no access to their power or the ability to harm anyone.

Baleon had bound their power and given us the time we needed to escape. The Hunters would surely feel the energy Bale had expended, and they would come. We could not be here when they arrived.

A
idan
and I timed our return to the wall so we could pass between Charlie and Onyx, who had yet to stray from their perfect line, marching back and forth in front of it. As we approached, I felt the pull again. It made me want to dive head first into the iridescent waves of color. My chest ached as I forced myself to stand still.

I turned to Aidan, who was clenching his jaw, staring straight ahead, but clearly not at the wall. I moved in front of him and put both hands on his cheeks, drawing his gaze down. His blue eyes were glowing brightly as he continued the strained silence he’d maintained since Micah disappeared.

“Talk to me,” I requested. “You’ve done everything you can to help me get here and get through this. Let me help you.”

His eyes were pained. Aidan looked down at me and I felt the inferno of emotions tearing him apart. I funneled the calming energy toward him, hoping to help reduce the intensity of what he was going through.

“No,” he said as he pulled away and shoved my hands down, shaking his head. “Don’t do that. I need to feel this. I am finally part of something, Amelia. They are my family and it’s my job to take care of them.”

The anguish in his heart and eyes killed me. I reached back up toward him and laid my hand on his cheek, holding my power back.

“I’m sorry, Aidan. I was so focused on the end, on what I was supposed to do, I didn’t think about what this might do to you.” I was ashamed, and I didn’t hide it. He deserved the truth.

Aidan reached out and wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, lightly pulling me toward him. He touched his forehead to mine and his words were choked.

“How am I supposed to make the right choice? What even is the right choice?” he asked, his voice thick with conflicted emotion. “I can’t walk away from you, Amelia. I couldn’t leave you if I wanted to, but I left them. I left the people I was supposed to protect. My people, my father’s people. People who trusted me and made me their leader. I left them because I will always choose you, but how do I know I made the right choice? Since we came into the castle, I haven’t been able to hear them. We don’t know what’s happening over there and I left them to handle it alone. If anything happens…” he trailed off, and I was left with the weight of his guilt and the soul-crushing shame he felt at failing his duties as AniMage King.

My heart ached for him. Aidan was so patient. He fought for me, for this cause he barely understood, with everything he had. We were always so busy making the next choice, I hadn’t stopped to think about what it cost him.

I reached up and threaded my fingers through the hair on the back of his head, pulling back to look into his eyes. “Aidan, we won’t ever know if the choices we make are the right ones. We have to trust our instincts, trust our hearts, and trust each other. I know you can’t feel it like I do, but we are in the right place. We are on the verge of solving this puzzle. When we do, we will get back to the States as fast as we can. We’ll find the AniMages, we’ll find our friends, and we’ll end this. Together, we will end this. There is no other option. We have needed each other every step since we got off that plane. I can’t do this without you, Aidan.”

He swallowed and closed his eyes, nodding. When he opened them, a forced calm layered over his frustration. I felt his power stretch and unfold through him. “I’m with you, doll. Just tell me what we need to do.”

I balanced on my tiptoes and softly kissed him, both a thank you and a promise.

I turned to stand next to him and we stared at the wall of light. “We need to identify the symbols and decide what order to pull them down in,” I said.

“These are clearly the sun and moon,” he said. “This one looks like the Elder symbol you drew me, and these are fire, earth, air, and water.”

“I know you weren’t listening while Micah explained these. Impressive, Montgomery.” I smirked and gave him a playful shove. “These four are the symbols for our people.” I waited and watched, finally pointing as they drifted down toward us.

“You were right,” I confirmed. “The four intersecting circles surrounded by a circle is the symbol for the Elders. The shield with two arrows intersecting is for the Hunters. The circle with the small offshoots that look like claws represent the AniMages, and the one that is a diamond with two of the edges extended into what looks like tails, that is for the Mages. Micah also explained the two moon-looking slivers on each side of the circle is the symbol for mother. I have no idea what to do with that one.”

We stood and watched the symbols repeat, floating from top to bottom. It looked like a flashlight was behind each one, setting it off from the sheen of light making up the wall.

“Elements, the sun and moon, the races, and a mother,” I mused, running the options in my mind. “We know the races are having issues getting pregnant, so what if this is tied to that? The mother is first, followed by the races, who use the elements, which are influenced by the sun and moon?”

Aidan didn’t look away as he replied, “Makes sense to me. What’s the worst that could happen?”

I shrugged, having no real idea. “Think we should ask Charlie and Onyx?”

Aidan took a step into Onyx’s path and he immediately started to growl. It came from deep within Onyx’s chest and with each step, we saw more of his teeth. I grabbed Aidan and pulled him back to my side.

“I’m going to venture a guess that we’re on our own here,” I said sarcastically. “But they would have warned us, don’t you think? I mean, really, why would they bring us all the way here and then give us nothing to work with?” I asked. My rationalizations didn’t sit well in my gut and I felt Aidan’s wariness, but neither of us voiced our fear, so we stepped closer.

I reached toward the full moon offset by the two slivers, the symbol for mother, when the nagging in the pit of my stomach stopped me and I turned to Aidan. I looked up at him, and he watched me, questioning. I reached out and grasped his hand in mine.

“We’re going to do this, and we have no idea what it means or what will happen, but I wanted to tell you…” The words stuck in my throat as his eyes widened. “I…um…thank you,” I croaked, and his face fell, but he quickly hid it.

I rushed to salvage the moment. “Thank you for not giving up on us — on me — and thank you for coming for me. For embracing Bethany, taking care of Charlie, and being more than I ever expected.” It was all true, but once again, I had chickened out.

Aidan squeezed my hand, his expression morphing into amusement. He cupped his free hand under my chin and tilted my head up, leaning down to brush my lips with his. “You’re welcome, Ame. And, I appreciate that. But, let’s get on with it.”

I smiled against his second kiss and resumed my position. I reached up and as soon as my fingers grazed the river of magic, I felt a tingle all the way to my toes. It was euphoria, but also distracting. I wanted to curl up inside the feeling and lose myself there.

With a quick shake of my head, I stood on my tiptoes and reached for the mother symbol. With my other hand, I grabbed the Mage symbol. As I pulled the shiny symbols from the stream of magic, the glowing silver faded to a dull metal. Each one became a small weight in my hand, the size of a golf ball, while retaining its original shape.

“Now, you, Aidan. Get the AniMage and Hunter. Charlie said we have to do this together.” I felt the weight of the two symbols in my palm and watched as Aidan turned. Without hesitation, he grabbed the two symbols as they reached him.

As the magic stream closed in on the space where the Hunter symbol had been, I heard a
crack
. We turned, looking into every corner of the room. Seconds later, both dogs stilled and Aidan shoved me behind him as the ceiling above the first door we’d come through crashed down around us.