Bound to the Elvin King (45 page)

“The finding and procuring of true bond mates for the elves who lack one due to their significant other living in another dimension.”

Oh God, Maggie’s head threatened to explode as she tried to follow that sentence. “So there are other humans who are bond mates, and you’re going to bring them here?”

“Exactly.”

And screw up these humans’ lives? “Why?”

“The magic of Eria is feed by the bonds of its people. The stronger the bond, the more energy it produces for the veil to use. And as the bonds multiply, so does the amount of energy available. Many elves who aren’t bonded have true mates on your world.”

Maggie grimaced. Oh, some of the elves who regarded humans as little better than fleas were going to love this news. “So how does that tie into the darkindred?”

“As the darkindred are now, they siphon off that energy and rob the land of it.”

Great, so they were like leeches. “Why are they doing that?”

“Think back to that prophecy you found with Calantha.”

Maggie shivered. Just like pretty much everything in Eria, the prophecy had made no sense. Though she didn’t think she’d memorized it, the words played clearly in her mind.
What
once was lost can be found, for it plays under the guise of the moon. The crimson dawn need not be all that remains. Broken must be the bonds chaining original thought and emotion from instinct. Life’s blood must be spelt, freely given. The maddening ties can then be sundered once mortality cuts the link. And then magic will abound.

Crap, what did that all mean? Maggie closed her eyes in an effort to straighten out all the threads tangling in her mind. “The link has to be cut to free the darkindred. And mortality will cut the link.” Her eyes snapped open, and her gazed zeroed in on Aistiane. “Without Talion, I’m definitely mortal, so I might be able to do the snipping. But how? What’s the link that’s supposed to be cut?”

“I’m here to help guide you, but I cannot give you the answers.”

Of course not.
“And why is that? Wait, you probably can’t tell me, right?”

Instead of becoming angry, Aistiane sent her an indulgent smile, as if Maggie were a young child to be humored. “There are greater powers than even the veil, and they make up the rules of this world and yours. I am merely following their dictates.”

At any other time, Maggie would’ve asked who these greater powers were, but at the moment she accepted it at face value. What mattered was that she was essentially on her own on solving the riddle of the prophecy. Well then, she might as well get to it.

But Aistiane’s voice halted any further thought in that direction. “Talion has always been your destined mate.”

A noose of emotions tightened around Maggie’s throat, making it hard to speak.
Not this again.
“He can’t be my destined
anything
. I can’t even stand him most of the time.”

“Why else does he elicit so much emotion from you?”

“I…I don’t know. Because he’s an ass maybe.” The words rang flatly to Maggie’s own ears, so she tried again. “I didn’t agree to the bond. Heck, I didn’t have a binding.”

“Bondings are ultimately up to the will of the couple. Most don’t even attempt the binding ceremony for various reasons.”

“But I didn’t try. I....”

“You were drunk enough that your inhibitions were down, but the bonding could’ve only occurred of your own free will. If two people are meant to be complete bond mates and engage in lovemaking while their hearts are fully open, a traditional binding ceremony isn’t needed. Instead,
that
is the binding and bonding rolled into one.”

Maggie’s heart jackhammered in her chest.
If Aistiane is right, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be, then that meant I had….
She felt the blood drain from her face, and a chill ghosted over her cheeks while she finished her thought.
That I had loved Talion before we bonded.
But how? When?

She numbly shook her head. “I don’t love him. I can’t love him, especially after what he pulled.” He’d orchestrated so much of their relationship. Could she forgive him? Forget all her misgivings?

The other woman’s face creased in a sympathetic look. “You’ve long reached the point of no return in regards to your emotions for him. The act of joining your bodies was what finalized the bond, but the tie started to form the moment you two met.”

Those words smacked of a hateful truth that Maggie hadn’t fully accepted. She opened her mouth to fire off a retort of disbelief. But as Aistiane’s shrewd gaze seemed to flare an even brighter yellow, her bravado evaporated. A huge gulp was all she could manage.

“I’ll tell you something most elves have forgotten. While a binding ceremony does reveal whether a complete bond is possible, its real function is to control the overwhelming effects the couple may experience if they are true mates. Those that are destined bond mates usually know it long before the binding ceremony. When a couple fails the test, they’re invariably under the sway of strong infatuation or under familial pressure. You, my dear, fall under neither category.”

Maggie couldn’t breathe under the Aistiane’s verbal onslaught. They shredded and stripped away her denial like a jagged knife. She drew in a deep, shaky breath. How could she deny the truth any longer? Especially since so many seemed to have known it long before her?

God, she did love the big jerk. She cringed. The admittance still shook Maggie, but the world didn’t implode on itself. She looked hopelessly at Aistiane. “Though he nearly drives me to elf-slaughter, I love him,” she said to the old woman, who smiled broadly but remained silent.

Maggie consoled herself with the fact she’d have looked like a bigger fool if she hadn’t come clean with herself. Not that it mattered much, because she’d probably be dead in a few hours. And so could Talion.

Ice gripped her heart. Talion couldn’t die. He was too smart, too kingly, too…too
Talion
. Then reality bit her in the backside. Like any of those things made a difference in the life-and-death situation they faced. And right now, she was helpless, yet responsible for deciphering and carrying out some part of a crazy prophecy. Despair edged with hysteria flowed through her like a raging river.

Once again, Aistiane placed a comforting hand upon her, this time on her shoulder. “Believe, and everything will work out.”

Maggie turned her face toward her. “Believe what?”

A mysterious smile crossed Aistiane’s face. “That’s for you to find out.”

“Huh, funny you keep—” A rap on the door cut into Maggie’s words, and she looked toward where the sound came from. A chill licked up her spine. What if it were Eamon? Ha, like he’d knock.

Satisfied for the moment, Maggie turned to face Aistiane but found her gone. She frantically scanned the room. Damn it, where was the old woman? Rationality reinserted itself into Maggie’s frazzled brain. Aistiane couldn’t very well stick around when someone was going to come in. Anyway, she’d told Maggie what she’d wanted to, so there was no reason for her to stick around.

A knock on the door sounded again, along with someone’s voice asking to come in. Maggie frowned. The voiced seemed familiar and definitely wasn’t Eamon’s.
Might as well see who it is
. Maybe he, whoever
he
was, could help. And it wasn’t like she could keep anybody out. Besides, he couldn’t threaten her life any more than Eamon had.

“Come in,” she said. The knob slowly turned, and she stood from the bed. Nervousness clawed at her as uncertainty returned. Would the person be an asshole like Eamon?

Alanon poked his head around the door, a sheepish, yet haggard expression on his face. Anger burned in her chest like a flaming bolt, and she glared at the traitor who’d landed her in this hell. He had some balls coming here, which she’d kick down to size if he came too close.

“Ass,” she said with venom.

He flinched and bent his head. “I deserve that.”

“Why’d you do it?” Her hands fisted at her sides so she didn’t give in to the temptation of nailing him in the face.

“I had little choice.”

“I find that hard to believe. You could’ve come to Tal…the king.”

He shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

“Then why don’t you tell me how it is?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“It’s a convoluted tale.”

Like she could go anywhere else. “I’ve got time.”

He nodded, resignation clear on his face before it faded away into one of pain. “I’m in much deeper than I ever intended.”

Her anger softened at his sorrow, even though she didn’t want it to. Why was it that she couldn’t remain mad at some of these elves for long? It defied explanation. First Talion and now Alanon were making her into a big ol’ softie. “How did you get involved in the first place?”

He glanced nervously toward the entrance. “I’m afraid we don’t have long. I’ll abbreviate as much of the story as I can.

“Okay.”

“You know that the former queen was Lord Avrin’s sister?”

“Yep.”

“Did you also know Baltor is Lord Avrin’s brother?”

She stared at Alanon, astonished. “That pretentious asswipe who thinks he shits out pure gold in any council?”

One side of Alanon’s mouth quirked up. “The same one.” He sobered. “Eamon is his son.”

Huh? But that meant…. “Wait, wait, wait.” She shook her head and tried to process this newest information. All it did was give her a headache. Alanon stared at her with a grave face. The truth sunk in, and she cringed. Poor Avrin.

Maggie picked up her jaw, sure it had fallen to her toes. “So let me get this straight—Eamon is Avrin’s nephew?”

“And Queen Serrina’s, too.”

Alanon’s reminder snapped a piece of the puzzle into place. “Wasn’t she guilty of betraying the king in some way? And Eamon just happened to be her nephew? I’m not liking this.”

“There is very little to like about it, but I was young and stupid.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that spiel.” When his expression morphed into surprised hurt, she added, “Normally, I wouldn’t hurry you, but I need to know the rest of the story before Eamon shows his creepy face again.”

He nodded. “You are right about a connection between the former queen and Eamon that went beyond the family one.”

“Eww, they weren’t intimately involved, were they?” How twisted could one family get?

“No, not that,” he said, shuddering. “But they plotted together to commit abominable acts.”

Please don’t let it be going where I think it is.
But knowing what she did about Eamon and Serrina, how could it be anything else? “Like what?”

“The corruption of the darkindred.”

Damn it. Why did she have to be right? “But why would the queen have betrayed her country in such a way? I get that she was angry about Talion. Still, to be that bitter?”

Alanon shrugged. “I cannot say why bitterness infected her mind so. All I can attest to is the consequences of her decisions.”

“Well, her decisions sucked.” Maggie swept a considering gaze over him. “Are you darkindred? You don’t look like one, but I’ve learned that doesn’t mean much.”

“I am, though I’ve been one long enough to hide the signs.”

“So how do you tie into everything? And Andrian? How did he get mixed-up in this?”

“I was Andrian’s friend and blindly followed him. As to how he got caught up in it all, we have to give thanks to the former queen for that.”

Taking in this information, Maggie sucked her lower lip into her mouth. What kind of hold could Serrina have had over Andrian that would have driven him to betray his brother? As possibilities shot through her mind, one thought quickly stood out. Too bad it was the one that made her cringe the most and caused her heart to ache for Talion. “Why am I thinking that Serrina had an affair with Andrian?”

“Because you would be right. You have to notice the brothers’ similarities. The queen surely did, and found Andrian’s foolhardy devotion a substitute of sorts.”

Anger and disgust roiled in her stomach. She was really starting to hate that woman. Thank Heavens, Serrina was already dead because she would’ve gladly killed her. How the former queen could’ve produced such a noble man as Relian was beyond Maggie. Talion had to be responsible for Relian’s character, not that two-timing witch. “God, Avrin’s family sucks. He’s the only sane, normal one out of them all.”

A worrisome thought intruded, and she threw Alanon a suspicious look. “But why are you telling me all this?”

He blinked, confusion clear on his face. “I felt a compulsion to tell you. I don’t know why, but I thought doing so would be freeing.”

Had that been the power of the veil—or more specifically, Aistiane—at work? But she didn’t have time to dwell on it, because the door slammed open and in walked Eamon, followed by Andrian.

Chapter 24

The chilly autumn air bit into Talion’s skin, while the sound of the wind and the pounding of hooves filled his ears. Maddening thoughts of Maggie hurt, scared, and alone occupied his mind. His fingers, protected by gauntlets, tightened on Mignen’s reins until he feared his fingers may crack. He relaxed his grip when the digits grew numb.