A Baron of Bonds (Conduit of Light #2)

27. Rev

Chapter 27

Rev

Somehow, I resisted from bursting into the study ahead, declaring my love, devotion, and life for this woman who writhed in nerves and poorly subdued anger next to me.

Her dark clouds raged around her thoughts, and yet, I could not be more elated. I could not be more proud, committed, or sure of what our future held together and the happiness we would share.

This whole trial and question of my intentions with Karus was nothing more than a trying charade of formality I would see through for her. I could have left these castle walls at any time in the last seventeen days, but stayed, waiting for her to land.

Even if the Queen and leaders of the isle decided I was guilty of…whatever they deemed unacceptable, we would not stay to hear my sentence.

The Baron of Felgren was indispensable to the isle. The Queen knew that. Barons had trained conduits for centuries, and conduits were necessary to keep our way of life going.

The Queen needed me.

I did not need her.

After Karus’s knock, I already had my hand on the doorknob when we heard the Queen bid us to enter.

My companion glanced at me one last time, her face set, a flame licking her eyes, and I smiled smugly, ready to watch this unfold.

Her hand squeezed mine as I opened the door, and we stepped into the room.

The Queen stood at her desk, her dark face taut in a disapproving stare as she watched us.

It was an expensively furnished room with wide, cushioned chairs that encircled a short table. The trays of pastries that had passed us earlier were now set on its glass surface.

The Queen and Karus stared at each other, neither willing to give an inch, and I felt like an intruder, watching what was brewing between these two powerful women.

“Did you consider—” Karus spoke just as the Queen said, “I have more?—”

They both stopped mid-sentence, the tension palpable between them.

“Do you mind if we sit, Your Majesty?” I gestured to the puffy violet-cuffed chairs near the table. “We’re absolutely famished this morning.”

I kept my face straight as Karus turned to me in irritation, and the Queen slid her lower jaw to the side, gathering patience to deal with anything I said to her.

She gave a short nod, and I led Karus to a chair, handing her a plate and picking up my own.

We’d only had time to share the apple this morning, and I was well aware part of Karus’s anger was from hunger.

I bit my lips inward trying not to laugh as she hastily began piling her plate with small pies filled with sausage and gravy.

I plucked some sort of egg pastry from the tray and sat back into my chair.

The Queen joined us, taking nothing for herself. “I have more questions for you, Karus.” She paused and glanced my way. “You as well, Baron Revich.”

I nodded and began chewing. If anything, I was presenting myself in the worst possible way. But I was angry, too. And this show of indifference would get under her skin the quickest.

“Is it true, then?” Queen Rina glanced down to Karus’s left wrist.

She held it up, so the Queen could see the unblemished underside, no longer holding the curved l from a liberum mark.

“How could you complete a companion ceremony without a conduit to conduct it?”

Karus ate furiously, swallowing and swiping her thumb across her lip. “We had my magic. We had Baron magic. We did not need a third.”

The Queen narrowed her eyes on me as if I had forced her into it. I was cool and collected in my next words. “What is it you think I have done to your ward, Your Majesty? She sits before you now, whole and happy, and yet you still question my intentions?” I placed my plate on the table and leaned forward. “What did you expect when you let Heimlen take her? Did you think she would not change? Did you think she would not grow? Did you think the same woman who left would be the same one to return to you?”

She struggled to hide it—the effect my questions had on her—but I noticed the shiver that worked its way through her body as I voiced the very things she refused to consider.

“I could have helped her. Prince Philius, Geyrand—we loved her, and we could have helped her. You didn’t even let us try , and now my son spends his days drinking and starting fights in taverns.”

“So that’s why you’re angry.” I nodded slowly, falling back into the puffed chair. “That’s why you put on this sham of a trial? For what? For protecting the woman I love from never returning to me?”

“What have you told her, Rev?” Karus set her plate on the table and turned to me. “How much of this story does she know?”

“Enough.”

“You didn’t tell her then. You didn’t tell her what I did to cause the loss of myself.”

I gritted my teeth. I hoped I wouldn’t have to.

Karus laughed in realization, pointing my way. “That man protects me even now, Queen Rina. Even at the sake of himself, he chooses to protect me from any potential harm.” She reached across the chair, offering her hand.

I took it.

The Queen watched us, her wrinkles plainer on her face, the bags under her eyes, swollen with sleepless nights, more obvious. I wondered who the woman was that Karus once knew because I was convinced this woman was not her.

Karus cleared her throat and swallowed. “I hope you’ve set aside some time, Your Majesty, because I have some things to tell you.”

I watched Karus as she told her story, our story, leaving out some of the best details in my opinion.

But perhaps we shouldn’t push any more buttons.

I glanced at the Queen occasionally, to see how she was taking in all of what had happened to Karus after she left. But really, I just wanted to watch Karus retell her life. I had recited this very story to her not too long ago, and it had been emotionally draining.

But the love of my life sat straight, her long torso held high, towering over the Queen’s. What I could feel from her was…resilience.

When Karus spoke of what I had done to bring her back—all the searching for the rhyzolm, staying away from her to give her time to adjust to life with Moira, the questions in the study—I shifted in my seat, reliving that time with each word she spoke.

I hadn’t told anyone but Karus that much of our story, not even my channelers. There were people who had lived it with me and knew, but I had only sat down and told her. And though I meant to speak of it someday, it cut through my chest sharper than I expected, hearing her retell some of the most painful years of my life.

She stopped mid-sentence, explaining how I had taken her to Viridis when she’d asked and how she’d fallen back into the dark after seeing it so corrupted.

Karus turned to me abruptly, her mouth parting slightly as her eyes furrowed. I met her stare, realizing I was a beacon of heartbreak right then, and she could feel every bit of it.

“Sorry,” I spoke under my breath, producing a small smile. She rose from her chair and came to mine, bending over me, encasing me with her hands on both arm rests.

She brushed my lips with hers lightly, saying between just the two of us, “We can stop. We can stop here and go back to our room.”

There she was. There was the woman I deserved. The one I called home.

I cupped her face with my hands, straightening to meet her with a kiss. Her hair fell into my face with the scent of lavender and rose mixed with what was just her .

I pushed her hair behind her ears and kissed the tip of her nose. “Never mind me, love. We stay until she has the story she needs to understand what happened.”

She nodded and went back to her seat, taking my hand in hers again.

I turned to the Queen. Tears ran down her cheeks in a shimmering stream.

She took a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe them away and asked, “How—how did you find your memories again?”

Karus nodded toward me. “I found the rhyzolm that Rev was searching for. Holding it awoke the feelings of our past and memories began to return to me. He used that same rhyzolm recently when he came to you for help. And that day, after seeing Viridis…I…” She glanced back to me and continued, “I heard a voice speaking to me inside my head. It told me to wake. And then I did. And I remembered. I knew who I was. I knew something of what had happened. Rev, Moira, Clairannia, and Figuerah filled in the rest.”

“Who was this voice? Who spoke to you in your mind?”

I watched Karus carefully. We had discussed this many times, never coming to an answer that made sense.

She squeezed my hand again and bit her lip, pausing before she said, “I know now who it was.”

I cocked my head in surprise and she continued, staring right at me.

“It was the voice of the Blightress.”