Soulbound (11 page)

He met my eyes then and his became warm, all tears gone, all sorrow tucked neatly at the back of his mind. It had to be unbearable to live with that kind of pain.
“You’ll never replace her, but if I had to choose someone to stand by my side, I can’t think of anyone more fitting than you. So…yes. Yes, I do want to be Bound to you, Kaya. But something tells me you don’t feel the same way.”

I nodded, not wanting to lie. Trayton deserved better than that. “Up until this evening, I would have said that you were right. I mean, I was threatened away from my home, forced into training for a war I don’t have anything to do with, and given no choice of who I’ll spend the rest of my life with. It’s awful.”

I fell silent.

After several minutes, Trayton cleared his throat, as if preparing for the worst, and said, “And now?”

“Now I’m not so sure. Now I’m wondering what tomorrow will be like. Now I’m…” I dropped my eyes to the floor. “Now I’m curious about what it will be like to be Bound to you.”

When I looked back at Trayton, he was smiling.

“We should get going before Maddox has a heart attack.”

I chuckled. “Should you walk out shirtless, just to make her wonder what we were doing?”

“I like the way you think. But I think we’ve caused her enough stress for one evening.” He smirked as we made our way out of the room and down the grand staircase. After a pause, he said, “Maybe tomorrow.”

Trayton locked the door and we stepped outside. The
sky had grown overcast with clouds—gray puffs against the black nighttime sky as an unexpected storm rolled in. Lightning flashed, lighting up the night. Suddenly, the sky opened up and rain poured down on us in sheets. I lifted my face, closing my eyes, enjoying the cool water on my skin. After a moment, I looked at Trayton, who was smiling at me. “Promise me that you’ll always be so open with me, Trayton, that you won’t change once we’re Bound.”

Trayton leaned close and my heart was completely still. My rational mind knew that he was a virtual stranger to me, but I comforted myself with the fact that he was also a completely gorgeous, highly kissable stranger. His lips were incredibly close to mine, and I could feel his whisper on my skin. “I promise.”

A cough, almost indistinguishable from the rain, gave his actions a pause. Maddox spoke from several yards away. She didn’t sound happy. “Three minutes until curfew, you two.”

Trayton frowned. “It takes at least five minutes to walk back to our quarters.”

“What’s the matter, Trayton? Out of breath?” I grinned, egging him on.

His grin returned. “Maybe if you’d stop stealing it away…”

Maddox practically shouted. “Two minutes! I suggest you run.”

We took off running through the rain and reached the
door of our dorm building dripping wet and breathless, with about ten seconds to spare. Trayton didn’t leave my side the entire time. He smiled brightly. “Thank you, Kaya. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. Maybe we could talk more tomorrow, go for a walk after our binding?”

“I’d love that.” I meant it. I wanted to spend time with Trayton. I wanted to get to know him. Even if the idea of being Bound forever with no choice did leave me a little nauseated and a lot terked off.

Trayton had just reached for the door when the headmaster opened it from the other side. “Ah, just the man I wanted to see. Trayton, if you would accompany me to my office. We have a few things to discuss before tomorrow’s festivities.”

“Of course, Headmaster.” He threw me a smile and departed with the headmaster, leaving Maddox and me alone.

Maddox grumbled. “There better not have been any touching, Kaya.”

“No touching. Promise.” A light caught my eye and I turned my head. The upstairs window of the cabin was open. Darius was standing in the window, his shirt partially undone, leaning on the frame with both hands. Something in his expression looked haunted, sad. Then suddenly, his jaw tensed and anger returned to his eyes. He slammed the shutters closed.

I jumped at the sound of it.

Maddox shook her head. “What is his problem?”

But the answer seemed obvious. It was me. And I had no idea why.

Yanking open the door to my dorm, I huffed inside with Maddox right behind me.

I
woke early, just as the sun’s light had pierced the window glass, to the scent of roses. Light, airy, beautiful roses. A dozen of them—in rich, glorious red—were sitting in a vase atop the table near the door, a small piece of parchment tucked neatly between their leaves. Slipping out from under my down-filled covers, I plucked the note from the bouquet. In swirling, elegant script, it read simply
Yours, T
. A smile touched my lips then and I couldn’t help but wonder just how Trayton had managed to get the flowers past Maddox. After all, he owed her after our alone time. Did his charms know no bounds? I rummaged in my trunk for something to wear. Something comfortable, with maybe a hint of pretty. I still didn’t have a uniform, but I wagered that the headmaster would insist on it soon. Especially once…

Something in my chest clenched my heart.

…once Trayton and I were Bound. Which happened to be in about an hour.

I’d forgotten. I’d completely forgotten that I was about to be forever Bound to a boy I hardly knew.

Dragging my feet, I slowly made my way into my washroom, bathed and got ready—my thoughts never far from Trayton and what our binding meant exactly. It meant that there would be no other boys for me. It meant that we were an item, in a way, and that I had no choice but to go through with it if I truly valued my parents’ lives. It meant that I had better suck it up and stop moping, because there was no other choice in the matter.

In short, it meant that I was royally fakked.

After running a comb through my freshly dried hair, I checked my reflection in the mirror, pausing when I heard hushed voices from the other room.

“Is she awake?” Trayton. Even though we’d hardly spoken, I would have known that voice anywhere.

Maddox’s voice followed with a hint of harshness. “Yes, but I’m not letting you in. You know the rules, Trayton. And I’m not breaking them for you again.”

“You do know that we’re due at the temple in a half hour.”

Maddox’s voice took on a more formal tone. Something in it suggested it wasn’t the first time the two of them had butted heads. “I’m well aware of that fact,
Barron
.”

When I opened the door, the looks on their faces
were priceless—a mingling of surprise and embarrassment. I forced a smile, despite the sick feeling that was churning in my stomach. “Good morning.”

Trayton brightened. Maddox cleared her throat, and grumbled, “Are you up for breakfast, Princess?”

My stomach clenched at the thought of food, threatening to cramp. Nerves, I supposed. “I don’t really feel like eating.”

The corner of Maddox’s mouth lifted in a smirk. I was sure she was looking at Trayton with her peripheral vision. “Nauseous, huh?”

Trayton ignored her jibe and stepped closer, careful not to touch me. “Did you like your flowers?”

For an all too brief moment, my tension waned, and my smile didn’t feel as false, as forced. “I love them. Thank you.”

“Are you okay?” He flicked a nervous glance about the room before returning his eyes to me. “About…about today, I mean.”

“Fine. I’m fine.” But I wasn’t fine. I wasn’t even in the same hemisphere as fine. My legs were wobbly and my heart was racing. I felt sick to my stomach and so very sad. All I could think about were my mom and dad and how my binding would save them from the wrath of the Barrons, from the twisted, vengeful actions of the headmaster.

I stepped back, my thoughts shadowed, my eyes on the floor. It wasn’t Trayton’s fault. None of it was. But
that didn’t change the fact that I was being forced into this.

Without saying a word, Maddox crossed my room to the door that led to the hall. She opened it and caught my eye, a fierce protectiveness washing over her features.

Maddox got it. Maddox knew exactly what was going on and exactly how fakked up it was.

That lightened my mood some, but it still didn’t change things.

Silently, like monks on a journey to someone’s funeral, the three of us made our way across campus to a small stone building near the north gate. Trayton took the initiative and knocked on the wooden door using the large iron knocker. None of us spoke.

After several seconds, the door opened to reveal a tall man with stark black hair and a pointed black beard. He was dressed in navy blue robes that hung to the floor, a hood on his back. Though there was no familiarity in Trayton’s eyes, the man barked, “Trayton, come inside. Bring Kaya with you. The guard remains outside.”

The strange man disappeared inside once again and Maddox met my eyes. “I’ll be right here, okay? You need me, you scream.”

Nodding, I fought back a chuckle at how serious we were all acting, like I was going to my death or something instead of being Bound to a really sweet, really good-looking guy like Trayton. “Should I scream anything
in particular, or will wordless noise attract your attention?”

Maddox grinned. “Depends on what they’re serving in the dining hall, but you might try yelling help.”

That brought a smile to my face—but it faded quickly once I laid eyes on Trayton, who looked like he’d just had his heart stomped on. I didn’t have to say anything to Maddox; she took a few steps back to give us some space. Then I met Trayton’s eyes and said, “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m still getting used to this whole arrangement. It’s…it’s not easy.”

“You think it’s easy for me?” His eyes were full of hurt. Somehow, I’d forgotten that Trayton didn’t have much of a choice in this either.

“No. I don’t, Trayton.”

He was quiet for a while, before lightening his tone, the corners of his lips curling into that irresistible shy-boy smile. “We could always run. Fight off the gate guards, climb the north gate, take off for parts unseen.”

I nodded sagely. “Not to mention become a Graplar’s midday snack. That is, if we survive the Barron hunting parties.”

He shrugged, a chuckle escaping his lips. “It’s an option.”

And that’s when my stress level dropped. Because even though this was a no-choice situation, even though we barely knew one another, we were in this together. Until the bitter end. A smile touched my lips and I reached
for the door. “Come on, Trayton. Let’s get started on that whole forever thing already.”

The sadness left his eyes then, and it was replaced by something that resembled what I was feeling. Then he smiled too, and together we walked forward, entering the temple of our own accord.

The inside of the small building was lined with wood stained so dark it looked like night. For a moment, my vision wavered, as if the adjustment from the outside morning sun to the stark blackness of the temple were too much to bear. But they adjusted after a moment and Trayton and I moved forward. He looked around in wonder, which made me think that not many people were allowed to enter this place—maybe only those who were being Bound.

Candles lit our short walk to the center of the room, where the black-haired nameless man was waiting. Behind him, at the far end of the room, was a long altar, covered with a plain white cloth, atop which were an incense censer, an open, ancient-looking book, and a black dagger. In front of the man was the most bizarre piece of furniture I had ever encountered. All black leather and dark wood, it appeared to be a chair of the worst sort, with leather straps and silver buckles that screamed containment. My eyes found Trayton’s—he looked as worried as I felt. My imagination was flooded with horrible visions of what was to come, but before
I could get too carried away, the man with the pointed beard spoke.

“Trayton, if you will take your place in the chair, please, we can begin.”

Trayton straightened his shoulders, and after casting me a less than convincing reassuring glance, he sat down, matching up his arms and legs with the strange bends of the chair. By the time he was settled, he looked fine, like he wasn’t at all worried about what was about to occur.

The man moved around Trayton then, strapping his limbs in tightly. With each tug, Trayton looked a little less confident. When the man drew a thick leather strap across his stomach and buckled it snugly, Trayton released a small sigh, as if resigning himself to his fate.

I could only watch. And wonder.

Our ceremony master turned to the book on the table and began reading from it in a strange singsong tone, chanting words that I didn’t understand from a language I didn’t know. He raised up the lit censer and swung it toward the back corners of the room, then moved around to the front corners and swung it toward them, chanting all the while. Returning to Trayton, he swung the censer over him three times, then once over me. I tried catching Trayton’s eye, to silently reassure him or even just raise my eyebrows at the weird chanting, but Trayton’s eyes were closed, as if he were concentrating,
or maybe falling asleep. When I looked back at the ceremony master, he was returning the censer to its spot on the altar. He picked up the dagger and turned to Trayton.

My heart raced at the horrible thoughts running through my mind.

Late last night, Maddox had shared the rumors with me about what a binding included. She’d spoken of daggers. She’d spoken of pain. She’d spoken of blood.

I moved forward, protectively standing between Trayton and the man who hadn’t even shared his name with us. Parting my lips, I readied barbs on my tongue.

But then I felt the soft brush of Trayton’s fingers on mine. I looked back at him and he whispered, “It’s okay, Kaya. Trust me.”

Tearing my gaze from the ceremony master, I searched Trayton’s eyes, finally relenting to his will and stepping out of the way. But rules be damned, I squeezed his hand in mine, refusing to let him go through whatever was coming without me by his side.

The ceremony master moved closer, clutching the blade in his hand, and all I could do was hold my breath and squeeze Trayton’s hand even harder. The man chanted, raising the dagger, while his chants became louder. Repeating words over and over again that I couldn’t understand, he brought the weapon down. It sliced through the flesh of Trayton’s biceps, and Trayton groaned but held fast. His fingers were crushing my
hand for a moment, but after taking some quick, shallow breaths, he relaxed again and met my eyes.