A Baron of Bonds (Conduit of Light #2)

Prologue

REV

seven years before

“Eyes like emeralds, Karus, they came to me first.”

I adjusted my grip, using my knee to help pull her further into my arms. My heart raced, unwilling to slow. Unwilling were my lungs to breathe without her pressed to my chest. Unwilling were my hands to ever let her go.

Karus did not respond as I shifted her again, one hand grasped around her thigh, her light skirts doing nothing to withhold the shape of it. My other hand was clasped around her arm, my fingers entwined over hers. The crook of my elbow cradled her head. I studied her newly white-streaked hair and the subtle burns on her cheeks and lips from the sun she had held to destroy the Blight.

It’d been nothing short of glorious. The strength and power it must have taken to hold the simulated sun for that long…I was sure it stretched miles.

But she was drained. She lost…something of herself.

I knew she wasn’t going to wake and recognize me. I knew she wasn’t going to make a miraculous recovery, even with the help of Clairannia’s medicus magic. In the very depths of my soul, I knew.

I knew she was lost.

I adjusted her weight again and forced the lump in my throat to move, doing what I could to keep her with me in my arms as I shook.

I’d take forever to get back.

The Fortress with its bleak halls that had begun to seem more like home than anything I’d ever known, could wait.

The world could wait.

The immense power that constantly droned in my skull for the last twenty minutes, asking a question I must answer, could fucking wait .

I continued with my story, my words drifting in the night air with no one around to hear.

It was just us.

Only us.

“I remember holding the rhyzolm in my hand and closing my eyes. For the first time, I had been given a task only I could complete, and I took it very seriously. Even at only nineteen,” I chuckled. “You were so hidden, Karus. If you’d have used your magic more often, I would have been able to get a better glimpse of who you were and where you were. It took months before I saw any other part of you.

“And I knew. I knew then that I was done for. I knew that those eyes would haunt me for the rest of my days. They’d stay and I’d be powerless against whatever it was that forced me to witness—forced me to see the shape of your face come to light.”

I kissed her forehead, slowing even further, the question of power that needed a Baron became but a small sting in my mind.

I would not break. Not yet.

“You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. You’ll be glad to know, I was smitten by twenty. And if you would just hear me now, I’d be happy to bear your teasing about it for all of eternity, Karus. If you’d just open your eyes and listen to me now…”

She didn’t wake. She didn’t bat her eyes in recognition. I wanted her to. I wanted her to look at me with the purest green of life and smile my way. I wanted her to forgive me, yell at me, hate me.

I wanted her to know me.

But she didn’t. And she wouldn’t.

I continued. A man with little success, but a man with hope, is still alive.

I cleared my throat, tears still at bay. “And so, I followed the pull. That guiding light you shone even when you were not allowed to use it. When I found myself on the outskirts of Hyrithia, I panicked. I would never be able to get to you if you were there. I’d never be able to hold your hand or press my lips to yours if you were there.”

The power of the Baron of Felgren screamed . It found its way into a place I could not ignore, and I finally addressed its presence.

“What do you want?” I asked aloud into the still snowfall of a winter night, desiring only to be rid of what interrupted me. I had more to say to my love in my arms and it was wasting my fucking time.

“ Do you accept, Revich of the Hallow Marshes, the power of the Baron of Felgren?”

It was a living thing. Some ancient power of Felgren with a voice that sounded like the wind through the trees. I would not fear it. I would not dwell on its previous master. There were more important things to do.

“I accept on one condition,” I voiced aloud, stopping where I stood in the light dusting of snow, unwilling to continue forward unless I was speaking to her . “I want to share this power. I want the ability to split it into two equal pieces upon the time of my choosing.” I paused, thinking of how to clarify my demands, understanding how important it was to be precise. “When I give half of my power away to whomever I choose, that person will then accept or reject it. If they accept, half of the power will no longer be mine. It will be theirs to use at their will and I’ll have no control over it any longer.”

There was a pause. I gazed upon my love, waiting for the wind to reply, uncaring more than I should of its answer.

“You wish to share the power of the Baron of Felgren? This has never been done before and is irreparable should you wish to continue.”

“I do. I don’t care what has been done before. I will not become Baron of Felgren without the ability to create another while I still hold the title.”

I gasped as Karus inhaled, parting her lips to breathe, her eyes still closed. I chose to believe she somehow knew what I would offer her someday.

“ Your conditions are met. You will hold all of the power of the Baron of Felgren until you do or do not wish to share it with one other, as long as they pass the Baron trial.”

I almost fell. I almost dropped my love.

The rush, the fuel that hit my veins was like a strike of lightning and I knew I could summon the earth to move should I wish it.

I knew I could carry the life of the forest farther than its current boundaries between the great rivers should I so much as speak a word.

This power was great. This power was mighty, all consuming, and yet, I still only desired to share it.

She’d make a great Baron. She’d use it for love, and life, and never for power for power’s sake.

By the Blightress , I loved her.

I shifted her weight once more, continuing my steps forward toward the looming black towers of the Fortress, trying to ignore what now flowed through my veins, seeking a release from the cage of my body.

“But that was nothing compared to when I first saw you in front of me,” I resumed. “I pretended to be a merchant, bringing mushrooms from Lia’s kitchen and bits of things she gave me to sell at market. The guards let me pass on market day, and I was so smug, someday you’ll laugh about it.”

I grinned down at her serene face, so unlike the panicked features I had endured minutes before. “You were there, as I knew you would be. Don’t ask how, love, I just knew. And I watched you. Followed you even. I could not get enough of your movements, your green eyes that lit in laughter as you bartered for your goods. I didn’t care about anything but you. I wanted to know you. I wanted you to know me . I didn’t care what Heimlen planned to get you here. I just knew you needed to come, and for fuck’s sake, Karus, I ignored any hint of malice. I ignored any trace of convenience that I should have seen and stopped. It’s partly my fault they are dead. It is some blame I will take for the rest of my life that thousands of your people lay in graves and that you mourn them.”

The stairs to the blackest fortress of night met the tips of my boots and I regretted not taking longer.

I should have taken longer.

They all were there, of course. Clairannia, Figuerah, Moira, Pompeii. My Overseer’s forehead was lined with worry and pain as he watched me carry the woman I loved closer to the Fortress.

I did not want to give her up.

I did not want to hand her over even as Figuerah drew nearer, her arms outstretched, her smooth, dark cheeks streaked with tears. The obnoxious faerie fluttered behind her shoulder— a look of concern I didn’t know she was capable of on her pointed face.

I kissed my beloved’s lips one last time and placed her into Figuerah’s arms. Clairannia swept in to squeeze my shoulders, whispering words meant to soothe me, but there was no softness in that moment.

My time was over.

Karus did not know me.

She did not love me.

She did not know the pain she caused, the deep tear on my very soul, and the gutted scrape of an invisible knife at my chest.

I loved her.

I’d loved her for longer than she knew.

But one day she would come back.

One day again, she’d love me, too.

And I held onto that truth in that moment.

I held onto that truth for years to come.

My knees hit the stones of the black staircase as they took her into the Fortress. And it was there, in the early hours of nightfall, that I allowed myself to weep.