The Bound (Ascension #2)(61)

“I know. I see that.”

“Dean…did I kill all those people?”

He hesitated, like he didn’t want to lie to her. “I don’t know. I think most people were just knocked down. The important thing is getting you out of here. Can you walk?”

She swallowed back tears and averted her eyes from the rubble behind her. Perhaps everyone had a reason to be afraid of Doma.

“I need you with me right now,” Dean said. He lifted her chin until she looked into his eyes. “I said I’d find you. Now, come back to me.”

She peeled herself away from him. She couldn’t believe what she had just done. How horrible it was to unleash like that. But also how amazing it was to feel all of that power. She was corrupted. She should never touch it again. That much was for certain.

“Come back to me,” Dean whispered again.

She swallowed hard and nodded. Yes, important things first. She could worry about her magic on the boat. Not how to control it…but how to get rid of it.

Dean helped her move toward the dock, which had taken none of the impact of Cyrene’s earthquake. The water was choppy from the wind, but the ship could sail through it.

Just when Cyrene thought she was safe, Cyrene felt a sword at her back. She froze in place. Dean reached for his weapon, but he was too late.

“Don’t move.”

Cyrene closed her eyes and sighed. We had been so close. So close. All she’d had to do was walk onto the ship and leave. But no.

“Turn around, Cyrene.”

She took a deep breath and then carefully turned to face Kael Dremylon.





“What are you doing, Kael?” Cyrene asked, her voice hoarse.

“Did you think I’d just let you walk out of the city?” he asked.

“I suppose my answer should be no since you planned to cart me off back to Byern to claim your prize.” Her words were as cold as ice.

“And what is my prize?” he asked Cyrene.

Dean shifted an inch, and Kael embedded the tip of his sword into the front of Cyrene’s dress. One of the thin straps broke, and a trickle of blood pooled at the spot.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Kael said.

Cyrene could feel Dean tense beside her, but he didn’t make another move forward.

“In fact, I would move back a few feet.”

Dean ground his teeth next to her and then did as Kael had said. Dean had no other choice.

“That’s better. I always like a little privacy with you,” he said to Cyrene. “So, tell me about this prize.”

“Do you think that, if you bring me back, Edric will give you the thing you want instead of keeping it for himself?” Cyrene asked.

“I’ll be a hero when I return. I’m quite certain I could have whatever I wanted.”

She rolled her eyes. Old habits die hard. “Oh, please. The whole reason you were sent here is because Edric believed I was kidnapped. He wants me back. But I wasn’t kidnapped, Kael. You and I both know that. I left.”

“And you didn’t say good-bye. How inconsiderate.”

“I didn’t say good-bye to anyone,” she reminded him. “Not even Edric.”

Her chest contracted but not like it had when she first made the decision to leave. With Edric, everything had been an electric pull, as bright and demanding as her magic hovering at her fingertips. She couldn’t let go any more than she could have earlier. The buzz was just as present around Kael. The thought irritated her and infatuated her.

But, with the distance between she and Edric, she didn’t feel that pull as strongly. Away from Byern, that pull to the Dremylon brothers felt like a strange, distant dream. As confusing as Serafina’s dreams.

Do I have feelings for Edric? Am I attracted to Kael? Or Is it just something that draws me to those damn boys…that draws them to me?

“And, if I return, I’ll decide whether or not I’m a prize to be won,” she stiffly told him.

“There’s something different about you,” he said, ignoring her last comment.

“I think I’m the same.” But she didn’t.

Her magic hummed in her veins, and her worldview had been opened in the last couple of months. Leifs existed. Braj and Indres existed. There was good and bad in everyone. No matter what she believed about Byern, Affiliates weren’t everything they were supposed to be. People looked down upon them in the rest of the world and disagreed with what she had been taught. Her education had only taken her so far. It hadn’t prepared her for hard travel, swordsmanship, magical training, meditation, hunger in the streets, starvation…women’s rights. She had so much to think about. Things she never would have considered before leaving her home.

So, yes, she was different. And she was glad. She never wanted to be that naive girl again.

“No, you don’t.”

She raised her chin. She had always been defiant at least.

“You’re coming with me, Cyrene.”

“No, I’m not, Kael.”

He reached out so suddenly that she hadn’t even seen him coming. He dragged her forward toward him until mere inches separated them. His sword was at her throat, and his bright blue-gray eyes bored down into her own. She felt that jolt pass between them, like a spark igniting a flame. Her head felt foggy…and everything went hazy.