Bound by Prophecy (Bound Series Book 3) (14 page)

S
urprisingly
, the AniMages and Mage women took to our plan rather quickly. They were anxious for movement and action. The realization that Julia was awake, and we were no longer safe, made them ask the right questions.

The women who could fight wanted to know how to prepare. The AniMages focused on what could be done to actually damage the Hunters and stop what felt like unstoppable power. Those with families, or still pregnant, wanted to know where they could go to stay safe. The group rallied around Micah and Baleon.

I struggled through the conversation with my pack. I wanted them to trust Micah and Baleon, and was proud they embraced our plan without complaint, but a small part of me wanted them to rebel in some way. I wanted them to need me, to demand that I stayed.

I had been their King for less than a month. Only this small group even knew the AniMages had a King again. It was a ridiculous notion and I would leave with Amelia anyway, but the pull of my own duty created conflict I hadn’t expected. So much of this journey had been about getting to Amelia, and then getting her back. But, during it all, I had grown attached to the AniMages. They were my family — my real family — and I hated leaving them vulnerable.

They had an odd mixture of fear and hope when we told them Amelia and I were going back to the castle. AniMages came forward to impart whatever knowledge they could about the area and what they remembered from their time at the castle before Julia drove them from their homes.

More of them than I’d expected were around when Julia took the throne and the Immortal world crumbled. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories, but Amelia and I gave each one the opportunity to speak their piece. We heard about how the Hunters ransacked the villages, how they burned homes to the ground and forced the AniMages to scatter. Some now questioned whether their wives had died or simply became a part of Julia’s experiments. Either way, they’d lost their families and they lived on the run, always waiting for the Hunters to finish the job. Their stories helped me gain perspective. If the answer was really in that castle, we would find it.

Before we could leave, we needed to also send Rynna and Derreck on their way. They had friends all over North America, and Rynna knew of a few places they might find Tragar — the man who saved Amelia’s mother’s journal. The four of us stood awkwardly in Derreck’s driveway. I held Amelia’s hand, a current of anxiety running back and forth between us.

Rynna was the first to step forward, holding her arms out to Amelia. I missed our connection as soon as she stepped away, but the relief I saw in Rynna’s eyes as she pulled Amelia in helped put me at ease.

“You’re off on another adventure, aren’t you, dear?” Rynna asked as she cupped the back of Amelia’s head in one hand and wrapped her arm around her. Amelia chuckled. “Just promise me you’ll be careful,” Rynna said soberly. “Promise me you’ll make the decisions in your heart. You will know what to do when the time comes, I am sure of it.

“Remember there was a time when the castle was filled with life and laughter,” Rynna continued. “There was a time when Immortals didn’t want to leave the surrounding lands and they rejoiced in the lives they led. Things fell apart very quickly and there are no clear explanations for how it began or what could have been done to stop it. My sister sits at the center now, but I have always believed there is more to our story. Be wary. Be vigilant. Be careful.” Rynna squeezed Amelia’s hands and let her go.

Amelia stepped back, nodding. When the time came, I wondered whether she would be careful or go running head first into danger, like usual.

Derreck took his turn, awkwardly holding out a hand. Amelia shook her head and wrapped him in a hug. “You’re my uncle, we can hug. And I know. I have to think of our people, not myself, and I need to make the decision best for the whole because it is my duty.”

Derreck hiccupped a laugh as he stepped back, holding her by the shoulders. “If I’d thought you were actually going to listen to me, I would have said a lot more, you know.” Amelia laughed quietly as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You are just like your mother in so many ways, Amelia. You make me miss her even more, but you honor her memory. She knew this day would come and you are as prepared as you can be for it. Trust your instincts and trust each other. It is what brought you this far.”

Amelia stepped back to my side. Her energy was calm as her palm slid into mine. It had been long enough since Cole’s power merged with hers, I no longer felt the difference between the two. Our fingers intertwined as Rynna and Derreck mimicked the motion. I looked down at her and knew the determination in her eyes matched my own.

“We’re doing the right thing by leaving them, aren’t we?” I asked quietly.

Her eyes moved across the crowd of Immortals who stood, waiting for us to leave. “Too much has happened for this all to be coincidence,” she said. “We met and my power went through the roof. That power started to break your binds. Uncle Derreck stole the Sentinels from the castle.

“I allowed myself to be taken to Cresthaven,” she continued. “If I hadn’t, these women would be dead, and we would have never understood the full extent of Julia’s insanity. We have a Hunter and the Prince of Immortals on our side. We have a journal telling us where to go and, hopefully, what to do when we get there. Fate brought us this far. Now, Aidan, it is up to us. If not us, then who?”

W
e walked
through the Syrian forest in silence. It wasn’t strained or awkward in any way. It was actually rejuvenating. The quiet was welcome after days and days of conversation, decisions, arguments, and emotions.

I needed space to clear my mind and wrap my head around where we were and what we were doing. I was still reconciling the fact that I fell asleep over the Atlantic Ocean and woke up in Syria, a hotbed of civil unrest. It was beyond comprehension. But, we hadn’t seen a single soul and the closer we got to the castle, the more I felt the pull of it. I didn’t need Charlie and Onyx to lead us. I could have found my way there with no guide in pitch black from the way it drew me in.

I had expected that, though. When we first boarded the plane, I pulled out the pages of my mother’s journal and organized them chronologically again. I read every word. Bethany had been right. Reading about her relationship with my father had been pretty wonderful. It reminded me of how I felt about Aidan. She talked about how she was drawn to him. How he calmed her, yet sent her heart racing.

She detailed her visions, and so many of them had already come true: Julia getting pregnant, Cane dying, the villages burning, the Hunters killing so many. She had seen so much and it brought tears to my eyes to know she carried that burden alone.

She talked more about her quest to find the chamber, but the journal ended before she could tell me where to find it. The only thing I knew was, much like I felt now, she was pulled toward it. It was one of her last entries and she described the feeling perfectly.

I know the time is coming. The dominoes are poised to fall and each event will trigger the next. They still plan to marry me off, but they don’t know what I do. Lavignia won’t listen. She won’t listen, so neither will I.

Nathaniel stopped me on my way to the castle today. He scared me, pulling me off the path into the bushes. He looked at me with such concern and tenderness, I struggled to keep the tears at bay. Then he told me he would leave the castle forever to allow me to do my duty, or we could run together. That I could choose love and let the rest of the Elders handle what was to come.

He doesn’t know what I do, but I will leave with him. There will be nothing but death here soon, and I am one of the few who can still bear life inside me.

I walked the halls earlier today, willing the visions to show me how to stop this when I felt it. A light tugging, right over my heart, as if someone tied a string to my breastbone and gently pulled me toward them.

One step at a time, I was pulled forward. With each step, my heart pounded and my pulse beat in my ears. I cannot say for sure, but I believe something, or someone, has sought me out. I would have found them, too, if it weren’t for Julia. I heard the click of her heels against the stone and knew she was following me again. Even while the pain of separation stole my breath, I had to turn away from the one pulling at me to stop her from finding what only I was meant to find.

I felt that same tug, that same pull. Something, or someone, was drawing me in.

You’re quiet over there. Everything okay?
Aidan’s voice interrupted my thoughts and I smiled, loving the fact that we could talk like this.

I stepped over a log and held a small tree branch back so we could both pass by.
I can’t believe how much my mother took on. The visions, the searching, sneaking back here, absorbing the power of the Elders...I don’t know how she knew to do all of that. But I reread her journal and now, I feel just like she did toward the end. Something is drawing me there. We’re close.

Since landing, our connection had strengthened and our power intensified. When Aidan’s anxiety spiked, I felt his wolf stretching through him. It was a strange, yet comforting feeling. There was Aidan the man, who wanted to protect me. Then, there was Aidan the wolf, the AniMage King, who would take down an army for me.

When the wolf came to the forefront, everything was instantly heightened for me as well. The power transfer between us meant I felt my own senses sharpen. The frozen soil hiding beneath the fresh snow, the wet fur on the Danes, even my own shampoo…it was all so heavy in my nose. I could see deeper into the forest and the ache in my legs eased as new energy filtered in.

It doesn’t feel threatening,
I assured him.
With everything I can feel from you, I’m surprised you can’t feel it, too.

I watched Aidan’s eyes squint as he concentrated. Finally, he shook his head and said out loud, “I don’t feel drawn anywhere. It’s the first time your emotions haven’t also transferred to me, and I don’t like it. Stay with me, Amelia. Stay with me and don’t take off. Promise me.”

I walked ahead of him, and threw, “Of course I will,” over my shoulder. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. I turned, irritated. I already knew where the conversation was going and neither of us was going to like it.

“I just told you I can feel your emotions, Amelia, and you aren’t telling me the truth,” Aidan said, glaring at me. “I’ve tried to block you out and give you privacy, but ever since we landed, I can’t keep my walls up and that means right now, when I told you to stay with me, I felt your hesitation. I felt your indifference. Why?”

I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t directly thought I would go where I had to whether he liked it or not, but it was the truth. I pulled my arm out of his grasp, frustrated, finally admitting to myself what I had to tell him.

“I have to do what I have to do, Aidan,” I said. “You can’t solve this. I’m the Elder. I’m the one who can get in that chamber. We don’t know what’s in there, but it’s me they want. If they wanted you, you would feel them, too. I won’t apologize for doing what I have to do.”

I didn’t miss the hurt in his eyes as his arm dropped and he looked at me like I’d hit him. Guilt crept in, but I couldn’t take it back now, so I turned back to the path.

“We have to keep going,” I said as I started to walk again.

“Bullshit,” he said loudly. I turned.

“Excuse me?”

He leaned in a little, over enunciating this time. “Bull. Shit. That’s what I said. This is what you do, it’s what you’ve done since the beginning. You don’t know the answers, no one does, but you find something out and make decisions that impact everyone.

“You become the martyr, decide which risks to take and then you are the first person to put yourself in danger.” Aidan crossed the short distance between us. He stood a foot in front of me and rocked back on his heels, his arms crossed over his chest. “So, I’m calling bullshit. This prophecy is about both of us. It takes both of us to stop this. You aren’t that special.
We’re special.
We’re a team. Without
us
, none of this happens. I left my pack to fend for themselves because I believe in what we’re doing
together.
So, you’re either going to let me do my job and protect you, even if it is just from yourself, or I’m taking you back to the plane.”

I was in a boiling rage before he even finished his little rant. “You’re going to
take me back to the plane
?” I screeched out. Even the integration of Cole’s power couldn’t tamp down whatever was pushing our power and emotions to new heights. I didn’t want to fight with him, but I couldn’t stop myself.

Both of our eyes lit at the same moment and the power spike from Aidan matched my own. Our power swirled in the air around us. It poked and prodded, whipping back and forth. He and I were squared off and neither of us was giving an inch.

My knees buckled as something slammed into me from behind. As I tumbled to the ground, I found myself next to Aidan, our heads inches from each other, but our bodies pointed in opposite directions. Before we could move, paws planted on either side of our faces and wet noses pressed against our cold ones.

I looked up into Charlie’s coal-black eyes and felt his warm snorts of breath huffing down at me, clearly annoyed. A low growl came from Onyx as I stared up at Charlie, his words clear in my head.

Enough. Stop this now. We are finally home. You are home. And he is right. This cannot be done by you alone. I know the power of her call, but you must stay focused.

A
idan must have gotten
a similar speech because as we stood, he looked over at me sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, Aidan. I don’t understand what’s getting me so riled up, but you’re right. Neither of us can do this alone. More than that, I want it to be you beside me,” I apologized, holding out my hand. He took it and brought it to his lips, then we fell in line behind the Danes.

As we came over the hill, the first homes appeared. Or, more accurately, the burnt and broken shells of what used to be homes. Aidan took my hand as my eyes filled with tears. We followed Charlie and Onyx through the wreckage, stepping over the remains of lives forever changed by Julia and her Hunters. Not only was seeing the homes around me jarring, it was like falling back in time. While Julia’s wrath had begun only thirty years ago, the Immortals had lived separately from humans and hadn’t been so quick to adopt our modern architecture.

The homes had been made of some type of clay mixture with stone foundations. Thick chunks of wall remained on some and the wood frames of doors and windows still stood on others. Thirty years of weather had degraded the homes even further — each one a handful of broken bones no longer making the full skeleton of a village.

Charlie and Onyx picked their way through the piles of wood and decrepit belongings, turning back every so often to make sure Aidan and I continued to follow. After Charlie’s scolding, I kept my distance. Each time he looked at me, I felt like I had let him down. When Charlie and Onyx moved off of us, Aidan and I hadn’t argued anymore. Instead, we helped each other up and agreed to focus on what was in front of us, together.

Unease lumped in my stomach, a ball growing with each step we took. I felt nauseous and weak. Aidan reached for me and as soon as he wrapped my hand in his, I felt the influx of power push me closer to normal.

I gave him a grateful smile and we continued. It was roughly a mile through the village. The homes had been on the outskirts in a lower, flatter area. As we climbed uphill, we found more defined streets, what had been shops and clearly the city center. We hiked up the side of the mountain, curving around and between the buildings until finally coming to a massive gate. The stone wall around it reached into the sky, seemingly ending amidst the clouds.

The dogs stood on either side of the wooden gate and stared at us. Aidan looked at me, and asked, “Do they think we know how to get in there?”

“Apparently,” I said, cocking my head and moving closer. The wood was old and splintered, beaten by weather and wind. The large metal rings toward the center were as big as beach balls and appeared to weigh hundreds of pounds.

I turned to the dogs. “Shouldn’t this open automatically? You don’t expect us to open it ourselves, do you?”

Charlie ambled toward me, closing the short distance and sitting down. I squatted and looked into his eyes once again.

I felt him there, lingering in my mind, and wondered if we had always been able to do this.

Your abilities are amplified here. This is our home. We also have access to parts of our magic that had been unreachable until now. You do not even have to look at me to hear me. Though, I still find the ear scratches quite wonderful. So, if you would oblige, we will explain.

I laughed out loud. Charlie’s combination of formal speech and puppy ways was more than a little amusing. As his tongue lolled and he leaned into my hand, his tail thumped a rhythm onto the ground. I looked over to find Aidan doing the same for Onyx and both dogs appeared to be in heaven.

Are you both listening?
he asked.

I hadn’t realized Aidan had heard him the whole time as well, but we answered yes simultaneously. While the guy drove me crazy, I couldn’t deny that he had fit himself snugly into my heart. My practical mind tried to keep him at arm’s length, but my body and power had other ideas. I wished I’d had a few more minutes to savor the beginnings of what we were becoming back in the bedroom at Uncle Derreck’s cabin, but having him here with me was more than I could have hoped for. Prophecy or not, I wasn’t alone, and I didn’t want anyone else beside me.

This time, it was Onyx who spoke.
You must work together and move the gate yourselves. Between you, you have the power. Use your gifts and prove you are who we believe you to be. Prove you belong together and are meant to be here.

The two dogs trotted off behind us and sat down. Apparently, that was all the direction we were going to get. There were times I missed what the Keeper had been capable of. Now was most definitely one of them.

I turned to Aidan. “Any thoughts?”

He scratched the back of his head while looking at the gate and further up the massive wall it was attached to. “It looks like we’re opening the door to the mountain itself. Where’s the rest of the castle?”

“Well, behind the gate, I’d imagine.” I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh as he scowled initially and then joined me with a chuckle of his own.

“Touché, doll,” he responded drily.

“Maybe we should try the little trick from the other night…out in the clearing?” It had only been the most intense few minutes of my life. Every one of my senses had been heightened and I felt Aidan in every cell. He had consumed me in those few minutes, just as I had completely consumed him. The power that built between us had been the stuff of legends — or, at least, it felt like it.

It was that good, was it?

I bit my lip, trying to hold back a smile.
Damn it, Montgomery, you aren’t supposed to just listen in whenever you want.

Can’t help it, like Charlie said, the power is amplified here. Anything else you’d like to compliment while we’re here?

He stepped toward me, the bright blue bursting from his pupils to cover his smoky iris in a giant sunburst. Those eyes pinned me in place, and I felt heat radiate through me. I swallowed, my throat dry. I licked my lips and Aidan cocked his head, his hooded eyes narrowing. I felt my own power build to match the pitch of his. It was a buzz in the air, crackling between us.