The Bound (Ascension #2)(116)

“Good. Are you going to be okay?”

Cyrene glanced back over at her friend, who looked as if her illness was getting worse. The pale yellow did nothing to improve her coloring.

“Stop asking me that,” Maelia snapped.

Her irritation level was through the roof, and Cyrene couldn’t figure out why.

“What’s going on with you?”

“I’m just…frustrated.” Maelia dropped her eyes to the ground. “I feel like I’m betraying my country if I follow you and betraying you if I follow orders.”

“We can’t go back there, Maelia. You know that, right?”

“Why not?” Maelia asked. “Not that I don’t want to stay to be here with you and with…Darmian.” Her voice dipped as she used his name. “But country comes first, Cyrene. It always comes first.”

Cyrene frowned. “I know what you’re saying, Maelia. If I thought there was another way or that Byern would be accepting of the person I am, then I would go back.” She reached out and grabbed Maelia’s hands. “I miss Byern. I miss the castle and the mountains and the river and the smell of home. I miss the Laelish Market at high season and riding my horse through the streets instead of taking stupid boats everywhere.”

Maelia laughed, and a tear leaked out. “I miss those things, too.”

“I miss Rhea and my family and court…”

“And Edric?”

Cyrene nodded. “And Edric. But you know what I don’t miss?”

“What?”

“The naiveté I had about the rest of the world and the pedestal I put Byern on before leaving. Our home is not perfect. It’s broken, and it’s done horrible things to the rest of the world…to people like me. If I go back to Byern, I want it to be for the right reasons and not because some boy demands I return, like a child who got his toy stolen.”





Cyrene and Maelia arrived outside of the throne room, their arms locked for support. Cyrene wasn’t even sure Maelia should be out of the rooms. She was burning up. But, every time Cyrene had told her to just lie down, Maelia would snap and tell her she was fine. She knew that Maelia was really there to be supportive of Cyrene, and on a big day like today, she wouldn’t miss it.

Then, Cyrene saw Darmian’s eyes light up at Maelia’s appearance. She almost laughed. He was the real reason that Maelia had refused to stay in bed.

Darmian immediately approached them. He looked fine in his royal-blue military uniform. “Affiliate Cyrene,” he said in deference. “Maelia.”

“Darmian,” they said in unison.

“Maelia, you look…” He trailed off as he just stared at her, starry-eyed.

“Thank you,” she said with a bright red blush on her cheeks.

“May I?”

Cyrene let Maelia go when Darmian offered her his arm. They walked away, revealing Dean standing by the door.

Even from here, she could tell he looked nervous. He was pacing back and forth before the door. His head was tilted slightly downward, and he seemed to be muttering to himself. He shook his head once and then started over. She almost laughed, but then nerves set in with her. If things didn’t go as planned, tonight would be their last together.

Trying to remain positive, she pushed her shoulders back and walked over to Dean. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn’t even seen her coming. She tapped him on the shoulder, and he jumped.

“Cyrene,” he said when he turned to face her.

“Hi, Dean.”

“You look stunning,” he said, drawing her against him.

She closed her eyes and breathed him in. She wanted to remember every detail. The way his hard chest felt beneath her cheek. His musky sea-salt scent. The way his fingers dug into her back, as if he refused to ever let her go. The quick beat of his heart at her nearness.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “I don’t want this to ever end.”

Dean sighed into her hair. “It won’t.” And he sounded determined.

When he looked back down at her, she could still see anxiety coursing through him. But something else was there, too—defiance or hope or love. That four-letter word, she hadn’t dared let herself think about. The last time she had been set to give her heart away, she had been prepared for it to be broken. But with Dean…there were no boundaries. He knew her, all of her, and she couldn’t lose him. She wasn’t ready for that kind of heartbreak.

She stretched up onto the tips of her toes, snaked her hand around his neck, and fiercely kissed him without thought for who was around to see them together. Passion hit them with a ferocity that both of them would tiptoe around when they were alone. Not that she wasn’t willing to move forward, but she had always been too afraid to give her heart away completely. Those thoughts were rapidly dissipating in her mind.

“Ahem!”

Cyrene slowly released Dean but couldn’t drag her love-struck gaze from his face. She even reached back up and planted one more kiss on his lips before moving away again.

The Queen stared between them with a thoughtful look on her face. “It is time to begin the ceremony.”

Dean took Cyrene’s hand in his.

Queen Cassia frowned. “This is a religious moment of prayer to the Creator for her blessing on the seas. It is the royal family’s duty to uphold the honor. Cyrene is not a part of the royal family. As I told Alise, Robard could not come with us, and thus Cyrene is not to accompany you either.”