The Bound (Ascension #2)(7)

Cyrene tried to move forward, but nothing happened. She couldn’t even move an inch. She willed her pinkie to bend, and still, nothing happened.

Then, Cyrene realized why this all felt familiar. She’d had this feeling once before. Dread filled her from head to toe, but she wasn’t sure if it was her own emotions…or the person she was trapped in.

Last time, it had been Serafina, the Domina whom Cyrene had heard about since she was a child.

Two thousand years ago, Serafina had been a tyrant, and Viktor Dremylon, the great ancestor of King Edric, had destroyed her tyrannical rule to raise a righteous society. Thus, the Class system had been created to differentiate the people into leadership, military, and mercantile workers.

But, when Cyrene had first encountered Serafina in a dream, Serafina had been only seventeen—like Cyrene herself—and she had been in love with Viktor. But she had discovered that she had magic and was to become a Doma.

For much of Cyrene’s life, she had thought that Doma was just a name for the ancient High Court with the Domina as their queen. After going through the Doma Ascension ritual in Serafina’s own dream, Cyrene now knew that Doma wielded magic. In fact, Cyrene herself was Doma.

But that did not explain why she was hiding in a shady alcove or what she was about to encounter.

The woman waited another minute before turning the corner and reaching a high hedge. Cyrene felt the prickle of the bush as she stuck her arm through it, pressed against a hard wall that opened at her touch, and then pushed her way through both. Cyrene found herself in a stuffy small pantry and wondered what she was doing here.

“Sera,” a man said gruffly, grabbing her around the middle and crushing her against him.

Tears sprang to the woman’s eyes. “I’ve missed you.”

Cyrene felt as if she were intruding, but at least she now knew that she was in the same body. Serafina had allowed her access once more.

The man drew her face into his hands, and Cyrene recognized him as Viktor Dremylon. He had the same blue-gray eyes as the Dremylon royalty she knew at home—King Edric and Prince Kael.

“You came,” Viktor whispered.

“I said I would.” She sounded a bit defensive.

“Of course you did. I thought you had forgotten.”

“I’ve never forgotten before.”

Viktor brushed her hair back out of her face, and she closed her eyes at his gentle touch.

“Run away with me,” he said.

She sighed, and Cyrene could feel Serafina’s inner turmoil. She wanted it as much as she could feel the impossibility of it all.

“Just think,” he continued, “we could have our own home tucked away in the south. I’d show you the ocean and the beautiful sandy beaches of Albion. We’d have children, the most beautiful children, Sera. As beautiful as their mother. Can you see it?”

“Yes.” And she could. And it hurt worse than anything else in the imaginable world.

“Have that life with me.”

Serafina turned her head and sighed again. “You know I cannot.”

“You went to the Doma for control of your magic, and you have it. Come back to me, my love. Come back to me.”

“I’ve always been here. I never left.” Her hands were shaking. “Can’t you see that I am no better than I was?”

He took her hands in his, and they stilled. “I can help. I ground you. It’ll go away. You don’t need it.”

The thought of being without her powers made bile rise in her throat. Her magic was as ingrained in her as breathing. She couldn’t go without it any more than she could go without air.

“You don’t understand,” she cried, wrenching her hands out of his grasp. “I do need it. I do, Viktor.”

His eyes turned stony. “Why do you have to give in to this when you have everything you could ever want here? You would never want for anything with me!”

“I would want this,” she said.

A shiver of magic surged up through her. Cyrene immediately recognized it, but it didn’t rip through her. It felt more like a trickle of water rising up out of the river. More of a life force than an all-consuming inferno. It was bliss.

Nothing happened for a second.

Viktor gave her a disapproving look. Then, suddenly, they were both in the air, only a couple of inches but enough to startle Viktor and have him reach out for her. When he touched her, they unceremoniously dropped back onto the floor.

“Sera! You said you wouldn’t!” he cried.

“You have to understand. There is no other way for you to know, Viktor. If only you could feel the energy that flows through me. It is life.”

“It is poison,” he spat.

Serafina took a halting step back. Cyrene felt the words, as if it were a punch in the gut.

“It has poisoned our relationship. I want my love back.”

“I’m right here.”

He shook his head. “The girl I knew would never have believed so much in this. Magic taints you, Sera. Please, think about our cottage on the beach.” He took her wrist in his hand. “That is what your life is supposed to be.”

“This is my life, Viktor.” She tried to pull her hand back from his, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“So then, we’re done?”

“No!” she cried.