The Bound (Ascension #2)(95)

“Alise…let me go.”

“Have a nice night,” Alise said cheerfully.

Cyrene let loose a bloodcurdling scream, but wherever they had led her was far enough removed from the party that no one could hear her scream.





Avoca didn’t regret her decision.

She ground her teeth together and wove through the pressing crowd of strangers in the Eleysian ballroom. The smell of so many bodies together in one enclosed space was almost suffocating. She was sure, to normal humans, it didn’t smell bad at all. They wouldn’t be able to sense what she did, but it was perfectly clear to her. And it was giving her a splitting headache. Not to mention, the two glasses of icy liquid she’d had earlier and Cyrene’s behavior.

Ugh, Cyrene!

Avoca owed her a blood debt. Cyrene had saved her life during battle, and for that, Avoca would always be eternally grateful…and eternally trying to make up for the shame of it. But Cyrene did not make it easy on her to do any of those things. Cyrene’s unconventional ways had gotten them this far, but it always felt like she was diving into the unknown. And then she had just blown her off when Avoca was only doing her duty.

She marched out of a pocket of overly perfumed women in deep purple dyed Eleysian dresses and continued toward the open air.

She needed air. She needed earth. She needed to feel her magic and connection to the ground.

This island with so many inhabitants was almost worse than Aurum had been. Every inch of land outside the palace was either water or a building. It drove her earth powers mad.

An unmeasurable feeling of homesickness took her over. She missed the trees and canopies of Eldora along with her mother.

Avoca swallowed back her emotions and forced the mask of indifference back on her face. Her greatest weapon was keeping herself in check and dousing her emotions. She was a trained Leif fighter, a powerful magical user, and the heir to the throne of Eldora. She damn well had to act like it.

“Ava,” Ceis’f said.

He appeared like a wraith out of nowhere. If she hadn’t had the two glasses of whatever that liquor was, she would have seen him coming. She should have felt him coming.

“What is it, Roran?” she said, using the fake name Ceis’f had taken since being on the road.

“You didn’t even see me coming,” he accused.

“I don’t want or need your company tonight. Leave me be.”

“I don’t trust you on your own in your…condition.”

“My condition?” she spat at him. “I’ve had two drinks. Do you know how many you used to imbibe when you first came to Eldora?”

Ceis’f froze and glared at her. She was being purposely hurtful, but she didn’t care. The way Ceis’f had been acting since they reached Eleysia had pushed her over the edge. She could hardly even look at him, and he was her only string tethering her to home.

“I had reason,” he snapped.

“Of course you did.”

She turned her back to him and pushed down another corridor. This time, she could tell he was following her.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway and whirled on him. “Stop following me!”

“I will not let you go wandering off onto the palace grounds on a holy night with a temper while you’re full of drink,” Ceis’f said calmly.

There was fire under his words, and she could practically see the flames licking at his fingertips. She had upset him enough to draw out his magic.

“On a holy night in Eldora, I would have my hands in the earth, and my body would be full of energy. I wouldn’t need a drink because there would be enough power within me to satiate my thirst. But we’re not in Eldora, and right now, I’m not a princess for you to look after. So, leave me alone tonight,” she commanded. She tilted her chin up, like the princess she was.

“Like it or not, Ava, you’re stuck with me.”

“Ugh!”

That was the last thing she’d wanted to hear.

Avoca took off down the hallway. She could hear voices coming from an adjacent lot and saw the Queen and her daughter, Brigette, facing off with each other.

“But I love him, Mother!” the Princess yelled. “You cannot do this!”

“I am still Queen, Brigette. And so long as you are heir to the throne and live in my palace, you will do as I say until I draw my last breath, so help me Creator!” the Queen said.

Avoca shook her head and kept running. That felt all too familiar. And though she had never loved another man while in Eldora, she could feel the weight of the one who had been forced upon her, chasing after her down the hallway.

Avoca nearly ran headfirst into a large man blocking the hallway.

“Ooph,” she said, stopping short. He looked like a guard, but he was in party attire. “Excuse me.”

Ceis’f caught up to her then, and the man looked them both over and then stepped aside.

Avoca took another turn, opening herself up to her magic and finding the source of the earth. It led her out a back exit of the palace. She was facing a large lake and could see the beautiful palace grounds stretch before her. She took a healing breath and held on to it. Her magic listened to her call, and she dropped to the ground to soak up the energy from the earth, as if satiating the hunger of a starving man.

“Creator,” she breathed. “Thank you.”