Iridian

22. SHADOWBOUND

"That's not possible."

Atreus was shaking his head vehemently. "You can't re-bond after being severed."

"I didn't say he was re-bonded," Halden countered. "Not entirely, anyway. I think Nox did something to him to let him sense it again, feel a trickle of it. We're all linked to the Nexus in our own way—it's the breath of the universe itself—but only the Iridi can actually manipulate it."

And the Draile, I thought but didn't say out loud.

"Re-bonding. That was always theoretical. It would be like ripping open a cauterized wound, where that wound happens to exist in every single cell in the body, with the assumption that the touch of the Nexus is still there. There's no guarantee it would work. It could drive one—mad..."

Atreus was still shaking his head at the horror of it, his voice dropping to a whisper. The process of alteration was already painful enough, and that was with the Nexus (and usually another Iridi) aiding. Alteration was the natural process of the body adapting to the Nexus. Imagine the agony of trying to force a Nexus link. I found myself shaking my head, mimicking Atreus.

"I'm sure we can all agree that Silas was more than a little mad," Halden stated succinctly. "I think Nox linked Silas to the Nexus—underside—as Arden puts it. Whatever Silas touched was corrupted, and he was always short of power. That's why he had to steal energy from other people—which unfortunately killed them, or drain true Nexus from Iridi careless enough to get caught, like me."

Halden was obviously still irked by the fact that he had been trapped. My thoughts leapt in Dante's direction. We had no real proof that Nox had captured him, but our instincts told us that it was true. I focused on Atreus' tired features, trying to shake off the horrid vision of Dante inside a malevolent red matrix, paralyzed, weakening, just as Halden had been. Was he thinking of me? I doubted it. If I knew Dante well enough, he would avoid thinking of me at all, to hide my connection to him from Nox if for no other reason. Ever practical.

"Nox would have had to know that Silas was once Iridi," I interjected. "Otherwise he could have picked any unaltered human to turn into a protégé."

Another horrible thought came to me even as I uttered those words. What if he tried to turn Dante? Turn him into Draile? The feeling that we—Iridian and Draile—were two sides of the same coin nagged at me once again. I wanted Dante safe. I needed to find him, if only I knew how.

"I think you're right, Arden," a new voice piped in. Llewellyn crossed the threshold, wearing a weary smile.

"Kel!" I hopped off the railing and shot over to hug him. I hadn't seen Llewellyn since returning to Ashbrook and his absence made Ashbrook seem lacking somehow, even though Paige was around. I missed him. After Dante, Llewellyn was closest to my heart, being the second Iridi to know my mind.

He leaned down and planted a quick kiss on my cheek. "How are you?" he asked fondly, looking searchingly into my face. "You're looking a little ragged."

"Probably about as well as you are, since you're not looking too shiny yourself," I replied. He returned a rueful smile. His usually clear blue eyes were clouded with worry. "Where's Takumi?"

"Sleeping—in the den. I told him he's still not a hundred percent. That five minute nap turned into a snore-fest," he shot me a wry look. When we returned to Ashbrook, Takumi had bolted after Llewellyn once he learned that Llewellyn had left to pursue an investigation on Silas' origins. Atreus had not been around to prevent him.

"Fool," Atreus muttered.

"What did you mean, Llewellyn—about Arden being right?" Atreus cut right back to the original topic. Llewellyn walked over to the railing with me and settled himself comfortably before answering.