The Bond and Other Curses || Book Two

CHAPTER 20 (PART 1) - ORION

The interior of the pod was round and small with eight, brown leather seats that faced each other in a circle. Ambassador Vasprey sat beside me, rigid, with white knuckled, trembling hands gripped together in her lap. Rilyin sat between Tritteon and Pharro, directly across, his expression serene despite what we were about to do and the two-day ultimatum I'd given him.

"I'm grateful you decided to join us," Rilyin said to Vasprey, giving her his warmest smile. "And Theena, I apologize this has to be your first job here."

I nodded but didn't say anything. I really didn't want to think about it until I had to. It would be at least two hours before it became a necessity...hopefully more.

Vasprey's shaking hands worsened. Her breath quickened and she tried to squeeze them tighter together to control them, but it only sent the tremors into her arms.

I felt the Nourr in my gut tug in her direction, almost begging to be used where it was needed. I found it natural and effortless to reach over and take her weak, icy hands in mine. I engulfed my hands with Nourr filled heat and squeezed hers tightly until the shaking began to subside, and she released her first smooth, easy breath since boarding the pod.

The tugging stopped and she jerked her hands back, staring down at them with wide, incredulous eyes. "What was that? What did you do?"

Unease washed over me. "I'm sorry. I—I should've asked first."

"Nourr is one of her gifts, Ezlinn," Rilyin said quickly. "A very powerful one."

She was silent as she held her hands in front of her, inspecting them from every angle. After a moment, she pressed one to her forehead and touched my arm gently with the other. "Thank you, Theena. I have not felt this clear headed, this much like myself, in days."

Tritteon caught my eye from across the pod, smiling with a hint of relief. I looked away, my traitorous body sending a gratifying flutter through my stomach. I knew it was pointless to hope he couldn't feel it. He could feel everything.

He knew my outward display of calm was a farce. He knew my nerves were barricaded behind a splintering door with no key to lock them in, that at any moment it might burst open again.

I just needed to hold it closed until tonight. I could at least do that. I had to. Drawing attention to myself in the wrong way, to Tritteon and I, would be the most idiotic thing I could do right now. At the very least, I could comfort myself with the thought that Tritteon's training arena had a date with my Destere.

"When do Elemmea and the boys arrive?" Vasprey asked.

"Tomorrow morning, a couple hours before Raziel. So, we will have plenty of time to go over things."

I grimaced reflexively. Prince Raziel. The man who planned to steal the crown from the Emperor, subsequently putting the greatest villain in history in absolute control.

And tomorrow we would all have to meet with him.

I let out a slow breath and rested my head back.

As awful as that sounded, it really didn't hold a candle to what today had already brought and what it later would bring. Not even an hour ago, I had learned that I'd been mated for life to someone I'd met only a little over a week ago. Twenty minutes from now, there would be a cross-examination where I would be required to relive everything that had happened at the Rest House. And two hours from now, I would have to see the psychopath who had tried to kill everyone at the Rest House in order to return me to his father. That three-day break hadn't been long enough.

Tritteon had been right this morning. I should've tried to get more sleep.

"Sir, do you mind?" Tritteon said to Rilyin, motioning to the empty space of flooring in the center of the pod.