CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Twenty-Two

[MAGGIE'S PoV]

"The seamstress?" The king's fist slammed into the wall. I tensed. "All this for a mere seamstress?"

Kindle was rigid at my side, his jaw clenched and eyes angry.

Across the room, Faye went down on her knees and my mind went blank. I released my hold on Kindle's arm and hurried across the room, nearly tripping over my skirt.

I crouched next to Faye and pushed her dark curls back, exposing her tear soaked face.

I had no place in this. I didn't even understand what was going on. This was a history extending years, and I was an outsider who literally just dropped in months ago. But Faye was my friend, and I couldn't stand by and watch her break like this.

Serpina met my eyes with teary ones of her own. Rhiannon, the imposing angel woman, kept a strong arm around Faye's waist, holding her up.

The door slammed.

Faye choked back a shuddering sob.

"Hey, hey, hey," I murmured, wiping the tears from under her eyes as gently as I could manage. "Breathe."

If Faye heard me, she didn't show it. Her cerulean gaze was locked straight ahead. Her hands slid forward across the floor. Shaking, reaching, begging. "Please," her lips barely moved, the sound was a sigh. "Please, let me go to him. Let me go to him."

Oh.

Rhiannon wasn't holding Faye up. She was holding her back.

Within the next few moments, the Order members who only a short while ago were laughing and celebrating shuffled out. A few of them glanced our way, but there seemed to be some sort of unspoken understanding that kept everyone from approaching.

Once we were the only ones in the room and Faye was breathing somewhat more regularly, I looked around at the familiar faces who remained. "I know—I know this isn't my place to ask but... what's going on?"

"Have you ever heard of Soulbonding, Maggie?" The quiet fairy, Isidor, asked. I was shocked he knew my name. I had only just met him here at the party, and his girlfriend Rhiannon was much more talkative.

I shook my head.

"Angels, like our king and Rhi..." Isidor placed a pale hand on Rhiannon's arm, his dark purple eyes meeting hers. "When they love, they do it with their whole being. And I mean that quite literally. It's a part of their physiology, just like a fairie's venom. An angel mates for life, melding their soul, mind, and lifespan with their partner."

"For example," Rhiannon cut in smoothly, "Izzy and I can communicate telepathically, sense each others emotions. We can even feel each others pain, to a degree. And if Izzy died, I would too." She took Isidor's hand in her own and pressed it to her lips. "Its an eternal bond, not something to be entered into lightly. Any prolonged separation is... unbearable."

"Its like a part of you a—a limb, has been severed." Faye whispered. She sat on the stone floor with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her gaze was still far away. "You feel the emptiness where it should be. You go about your life as you normally would, but something always feels off. In the worst possible way."

"So you're Soulbonded to Seraphim?" I gaped, trying to process this information. If that was the case, how was he married to Lydia? Unless...

My blood chilled. "Faye, you mentioned that Lydia could use her venom to twist memories..."

She nodded, her eyes closed against a fresh barrage of tears. "He's trapped under the illusion that he's bonded to her. He barely even remebers who I am."