"The soul bond," I croaked out in a rush. "I'll do it."
For Ash.
Even if it meant losing him forever.
"I want to make myself clear, Greysi," Rowan said, stepping toward me. "Once bonded and marked, you will become mine. I will take you back to save your friend, but you will have to return with me. There will be no leaving. You're stuck with me."
And Silas, but he wanted to escape me as much as I wanted to escape him.
Rowan's words didn't surprise me. I had been waiting for some version of them ever since he mentioned that if one half of a bonded soul died, so did the other. Power may have had him willing to take the risk, but he wasn't stupid enough to just let me walk away after syncing his death to mine.
"I understand."
It was better this way. Once Ash was safe, that would be it. He would be free and I wouldn't be around to bring trouble to the doorstep of his new life. The last thing I wanted to do was lead more horrors to him. I would come back and stay by Rowan's side without protest. Anything that would keep terrors like the Queen away from Ash.
Rowan gave me a nod as we looked at one another, the words spoken and the gravity they held settling around us. It didn't take long for it to start having me shift on my feet, lacking the patience to wait much longer.
"So, how does this go?" I asked.
Holding his eyes, it was impossible to miss how they widened a hair as he suddenly stiffened. In a matter of seconds, a rare flush rose to paint the high points of his pale cheeks as his eyes darted away. A hand rose to rub across his jaw before moving to the back of his neck as his gaze dropped to the floor.
"Right. I forgot to mention exactly... how the bond is cemented."
* * *
"I told you the closest human equivalent was marriage. If that wasn't a clue..." he trailed off, shaking his head as he moved around the room, lighting candles while murmuring softly under his breath in a language I couldn't understand. Their warm glow set a scene that had my stomach flipping at the slap of reality it brought.
Or maybe that came when Rowan told me that sex and blood played a key role in whatever ritual he was preparing the room for.
I scoffed as I continued to bounce my foot while sitting at the table by the balcony doors. "There are different kinds of marriages. I thought this could be one of those loveless and sexless ones."
Rowan flicked his hand to put out the match he held. "This isn't a marriage. It's the bonding of two souls."
"Yeah, something I've also apparently done with Silas. I didn't fuck him," I pointed out, narrowing my eyes. Or at least I was under the impression I hadn't. The unsettling thought had me tightening my hold on the bottle of wine that I'd been nursing. Rowan had been kind enough to bring it back for me when he left to gather a few items. After he dropped a vital detail that landed with the delicacy of a bomb.
"Which is why your bond is not complete," he said, lifting a bundle of dried herbs and sticks he had tied together to the last candle he lit. "You wouldn't have mistaken his suffering for an itch if it had been consummated."
"Right. That's why I didn't understand what the itch meant." I dryly remarked with sarcasm that I was sure went over his head. Lifting the bottle to my lips I took three long pulls of the too-sweet wine while he carried the smudge stick he had created around the room to spread the smoke.
