Soulbound (6 page)

Oh, I knew, all right. I’d watched my dad sew his own stitches without as much as a wince. I saw my mom set a broken bone with a stream of curse words, but a surgeon’s touch. The pain hadn’t even made her flinch. Barrons were tough. Me, I almost pass out when I get a splinter.

The expression on the headmaster’s face changed slightly, as if he knew what I was thinking. “But they are not immortal. With the aid of their Healer and through the blessing of their bond, Barrons can be healed from any wound that they endure, even brought back from the brink of death in a matter of moments. And this is why Healers are being exterminated. Because only through you and your kind can Barrons go on fighting the Graplars and Darrek’s armies. You’re a threat to his greedy plans to dominate all of Tril, because through Healers, Barrons have the power to stop him.”

I pictured my parents fighting for a cause they didn’t believe in, watching as those they were Soulbound to had perished. I snapped, “Why should they go on fighting? I mean, if they don’t want to…”

The headmaster sighed, as if he were losing his patience with me already. A shame—I hadn’t even gotten around to telling him how I really felt about this whole mess. About leaving my family and friends, about being forced into attending a school that supported a war I could give a fak about. But something told me he wasn’t the least bit curious about those things.

“This is not a history class, Kaya. I tell you these things so that you will see what a blessing it is to have you here. Of the three training academies, Shadow Academy has been hit hardest by Darrek’s efforts. As such, we have the highest population of Bound couples, and the lowest population of Soulbound couples. Your Barron is anxiously awaiting your arrival. Study well, and practice your skills, because he will need you to survive.”

Great. No pressure or anything. Clearing my throat, I looked down at my hands for a moment. “So, when will I meet this Barron I’m supposed to be Bound to?”

“
Your
Barron.”

No. Not
my
Barron. Not the Barron I was Soulbound to. Not the Barron I had been born to heal. He’d died several months ago. I knew, because the headmaster had said so in his letter to me. It hurt. Without reason or
sense, it hurt, like a piece of my soul had just withered into dust.

I’d known I was Soulbound, of course—my parents had explained to me at a very young age that all Healers and Barrons were born attached to another, that I was Soulbound to someone, somewhere, and that eventually we would find our way to one another. Nothing could stop that. The bond was too great to resist. But their explanations hadn’t meant very much to me until I read the headmaster’s words: “It is with deepest regrets that I must inform you that the Barron to whom you were Soulbound has perished.”

I was completely heartbroken that I never had the chance to meet him. He was my Barron, and it broke my heart to lose him.

So…no, the Barron I’d been assigned to wasn’t
my
Barron. He was just someone who was supposed to fill the space that
my
Barron had filled, but couldn’t anymore.

“Soon. Tomorrow, after we meet to discuss the academy’s expectations of you. Say, ten o’clock in the morning, my office? Your guard, Maddox, will show you the way.”

With a snort, I said, “Yeah, Maddox has done a great job so far.”

Without a word, perhaps suspecting that I was baiting him for an argument—which I totally was—he
led me to the largest building and opened the door, then directed me up two flights of stairs. “The second door on the right, please.”

I reached the door and paused. The headmaster passed me, and knocked on the third door. As if he were too anxious to wait, he knocked heavily a second time. The door opened to reveal a rather petite brunette girl with sheared short hair and the bluest eyes that I had ever seen. The headmaster’s relatively pleasant demeanor wavered and he hissed, “Maddox, have you forgotten something?”

Maddox flicked her eyes to me—
her
eyes! Maddox was a girl? Why didn’t anyone tell me?—and groaned. “Fak, I forgot.”

I felt bad for her at first. Then I remembered the Graplar and didn’t feel as bad. Still, I shrugged and offered up a small smile. “It’s all right. No harm done.”

“Tomorrow night, while Kaya is sleeping, you will assist the south gate guards in their patrols. Perhaps it will strengthen your memory.” The headmaster clapped his hands together eagerly. “Now…is he here?”

“Yes, Headmaster.” Maddox opened the door wide and stepped back.

A voice from within took on a concerned tone, like the speaker was worried a Graplar might have devoured me whole. At least somebody seemed to care. “Is she—”

“Yes, yes, she’s fine. I simply wanted to remind you
of our appointment tomorrow morning…and of Protocol, of course.”

A pause. “Of course.”

Maddox stepped out into the hall. I heard the door close slowly just as the headmaster was turning back to face me. His voice was almost singsongy, like he was trying desperately to keep my entrance into this school as pleasant as possible. It was nauseating. “There we are. I’ll leave you in Maddox’s most capable hands. Good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I rolled my eyes, but doubted he saw before turning and leaving me alone in the hall with my inept guard.

Maddox crossed her arms in front of her and looked at me, sizing me up. Without her saying anything at all, I got the feeling she wasn’t enormously happy about being assigned as my guard. At the moment I was too tired to care.

I couldn’t help but notice the small crescent, about the size of a coin, on the back of her hand. Her Trace. It was black.

With a sigh, she opened another door and gestured for me to go inside. “After you, Princess.”

I stepped inside without a word, too exhausted to argue with her over why I wasn’t even close to being a “princess.” After all, princesses were loved and adored by all, and those were two things that were decidedly missing from my present company. Oh yeah, and
princesses also had bodyguards who would lay down their lives for them, and I was pretty sure that those guards never forgot them at some trailhead.

The room—my room, I assumed—was small, but tasteful. A large bed dominated the center of the space, and it was covered with a fluffy down comforter, encased in rich green velvet. Luxurious tapestry drapes outlined the window. A small desk sat near the door, a pile of books on its surface. My quarters were lovely, but I wanted very much to hate them, because they weren’t home.

Maddox opened a door that connected to the next room. She seemed in a hurry, as if she couldn’t wait to be away from me. The feeling was mutual. “This is the parlor, where I spend each evening. It’s also the room that connects your room and your Barron’s living quarters. If you need anything, don’t ask.”

She shut the door behind her so fast I almost didn’t have time to register that she’d gone. Great. Not only did I have a full-time guard…she hated me.

Yawning, I pulled back the covers, content to sleep in my bloodstained, mud-caked travel clothes. I climbed into bed and felt my sore muscles scream their gratitude. I didn’t have time to think about how much I missed my parents, or meeting the Barron tomorrow. The moment my head hit the pillow, I was out.

I
woke in a puddle of drool, with crease lines from the sheets pressing into my cheek. The details of my dreams grew fuzzy as I awoke from heavy sleep, but left me shaken and homesick in the worst way, and there was nothing I could do about it. According to what my father had said as he lifted my trunk onto the wagon, the only time during the school year that I could see my parents was during midsummer break, when they were allowed to visit the school grounds. It would be an entire year before I’d see them again and, given their current state of popularity among the current administration, I wasn’t even sure if I’d get to see them then. My heart sank.

After watching my walls turn pink, then gold with the sunrise, I slid out of bed with my usual morning grace and stubbed my big toe on my trunk, which had
been placed at the foot of the massive bed during the night. Apparently, I’d been so out of it that I hadn’t even noticed the mysterious delivery person. Swearing loudly, I threw open the trunk’s lid and grabbed a purple shirt and black leggings, and a handful of other things I’d need to make myself presentable.

Crossing the bedroom, still grumping about my sore toe, I opened one of the three doors along the inner wall, looking for the washroom, but instead found what looked like a walk-in closet and dressing area.

Dressing area? Seriously, who needed an entire room to get dressed in?

Remembering Maddox’s “princess” remark, I couldn’t help but wonder if all Healers were like that—spoiled and pampered. It was possible. But then it wasn’t like I knew many Healers. Just one actually. Myself.

After I gawked at the size of the closet for a bit—fak, it was almost as big as my bedroom back home—I eventually found the bathroom and headed through my morning routine.

I was meeting the Barron today. Sorry, “my” Barron. It wouldn’t do to have the headmaster hear me refer to him as “the” Barron, or I’d have to suffer the consequence.

Something told me I’d be suffering a lot of consequences during my time here.

Fantastic. I’d have bet some serious coin that he’d be everything my stress-filled thoughts had made him out to be. Ugly as sin. Bossy. Egotistical. Bratty rich kid.
After all, that was just the way my luck seemed to be going lately.

I took a long look at myself in the mirror. There was no way this occasion called for casual attire, but that’s just what it was getting. You can’t steal a girl away from her life and imprison her in some weird place where Graplars are the norm and expect her hair to look flawless. Besides, I was tired. And homesick. And hungry.

As I was brushing some powder on my nose, a light knock came on the only door I hadn’t opened. With a deep breath, I opened it to Maddox. She didn’t say anything, only stood there looking irritated that I hadn’t turned out to be just a bad dream. I waited, but when she didn’t speak, I said, “Can I help you?”

“How nice of you to get all dressed up for the occasion, Princess. It’s not every day that you get to meet your Barron.” I didn’t speak, only sneered in her general direction. She rolled her eyes some and said, “You’re due to meet with the headmaster in a half hour. If you want breakfast, we have to leave now.”

Though I was sorely tempted to stick to my room for the remainder of my time here, I sighed, resolving myself to the inevitable. “Let me grab some shoes.”

After digging around in my trunk for some clean shoes, I slipped them on my feet and threw Maddox a glance. “So…what? You’re like my bodyguard or something?”

Maddox sighed, doing her best to appear
exasperated. “I swear. Healers get dumber every generation.”

She turned her attention away from whatever omnipotent force she was talking to on the ceiling and back to me. “It’s my job as your guard to make sure you get fed and don’t miss your classes,
and
escort you around campus,
and
act as chaperone when you and your Barron are together. For an entire year, while you get adjusted to life at the academy. So call it what you want: bodyguard, babysitter, whatever. When all is said and done I’m stuck with you.”

My eyebrow twitched in irritation. It was sounding like, other than the time I spent in my room, I was never going to be alone here. For someone who greatly values her alone time, this was a tragedy waiting to happen. I stood up and folded my arms in front of me. We were going to hash this out before we did anything else. “Do you have a problem with me or something, Maddox? Because I’m not the one who peed on your pancakes, all right? I’m not any happier than you to be in this situation.”

She stepped closer, trying to eye me down. Tiny freckles dotted her small nose. It had to be a challenge to come off as intimidating with cute little freckles on your nose, but somehow, Maddox pulled it off. “I have a problem with Healers in general. I’d try explaining it to you, but I’m not sure you’d hear me way up there on your pedestal.”

It felt like I’d been punched in the chest. “And just exactly what do you mean by that?”

Maddox rolled her eyes so far up into her head that they almost disappeared entirely. “C’mon, Princess, I’ve been here for a while now. You’re not the first Healer that I’ve had to babysit. And every one of them has been the same. Why should I expect you to be any different?”

My jaw clenched until it ached. How could she judge me so harshly before she even got to know me? “Well, I’ve never met another Healer, so I can’t speak for them. You could be right. But I’m not a snob.”

“Never met another Healer?” Her eyes widened, a peculiar smirk melting the bitter purse from her lips. “How could you have never met another Healer? What part of Tril are you from?”

My defenses went up. From what my parents had told me, most of the Skilled lived among the Skilled their entire lives. The fact that I knew so little about how things worked in this part of the world meant I was an easy target for anyone who wanted to make my life here more difficult, which so far seemed to be everybody. I hesitantly replied, “Kokoro. The village of Kessler, near the river.”

For a moment, she didn’t respond at all. Then Maddox did what I was beginning to suspect was the impossible. She smiled. “No kidding?”

“Yeah, why?”

“So, you grew up around the Unskilled, not in one of these prissy boarding schools, huh?” The left corner of her mouth was raised slightly higher than the right, giving her smile a slight crook.

I couldn’t help but wonder where this was going, exactly. “So? Do you have a problem with Kessler?”

“Nah. I spent a summer in Kessler when I was eight. It was gorgeous. We stayed at this cabin and my dad and I went fishing. It was so much fun.”

That was enough to give me pause. For one, according to what my parents had explained to me, unless it was to trade tools or barter for food and supplies, Barrons and Healers didn’t tend to interact with the Unskilled. It was just socially unacceptable, for some stupid reason. As a result, the Unskilled had no idea that people like Barrons and Healers even possessed the skills they did. And for two, they sure as hell didn’t vacation among them. That’s how my parents had managed to stay hidden for so long, because they could always count on those certain sects of society staying separate. “Wait. How is that even possible? Kessler is—”