The Silver Siren (Iron Butterfly, #3)(13)

I heard Kael’s masculine laugh as I attacked the seams on my other shoulder, until the dress resembled what my own clan wore. We were used to harsh winters and cold climate from living in the mountains. Sleeveless jerkins, dresses, and tunics were common. Now in the opposite, the extreme heat, I couldn’t handle it. Stifling.

The slight breeze danced across my now bare skin and I felt slightly cooler. I plopped down on the ground and reached for the hem of my skirt. Hands touched mine, and I jumped as Kael placed a small blade in my hand. I used the knife to take a hand’s length off of the bottom. Enough I would feel a breeze when riding, but not enough to be indecent.

“You continue to surprise me.” Kael spoke softly and helped get me situated on my horse again.

“I continue to surprise myself,” I said. I’d probably regret this later. After all, I hadn’t gotten many dresses from Skyfell, but for now it felt good.

Later that day we rode toward a large red rock formation that looked like a fist being shaken angrily at the sky. I was careful to keep my head down as I studied the unique landmark. We continued to head toward the fist as our paths started to ascend. I could smell...something odd. Sulfur? We must be closer to the hot springs. Kael must know that I would be able to figure out where he was going based on the temperature and smells. So why did he still continue to blindfold me? What wasn’t he telling me?

“Talk to me.” I said.

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything, everything. How did you become captured by the Septori all those months ago?

Kael stilled, and I felt embarrassed by my insistence. I had let him hide behind walls to long. It was time to start breaking them down.

“Or not. But I thought after all we’ve been through, I at least deserved the story.”

“It’s not a pleasant story, and it doesn’t have a happy ending,” he whispered under his breath.

“What story does? But I’m sure it has a great hero in it, and daring escapes and a damsel in distress,” I teased referring to myself.

“Aye, that’s true. You always did cause me lots of distress,” he spoke slowly. “I had chosen Gwen to be my bondmate, and she agreed. We were happy—at least I thought were. We had set a date, and the closer it came to our union date, the more distant she became. I had no clue that her feelings were changing. Until I found them one evening, hiding in the shadows wrapped in a heated embrace. I was furious. I wanted to kill the man she was with. In anger and without thinking, I challenged him to a battle of honor, to the death. He stepped out of the shadows and I was confronted with my older brother Alek.”

“No!” I gasped out. “What did you do?”

“Gwen came to me and begged me to leave. She was sorry, but she didn’t want either one of us to die. If I didn’t leave our clan, I would be bound to fight to the death, and I told you, I always lost to my brother. So instead of staying and facing my death with honor, I left in the night. I shamed my clan, I shamed my family, and the choices I made stripped me of my title. When you first asked me all those months ago if I was someone important, I told you the truth. I was no one. It’s why I took the job training the Denai at the school.”

“Where did you go when you left?”

“I wandered for weeks, trying to find my honor again.”

“Kael, you can’t be serious.” I said in disbelief.

“Because the Valley of Swords was no longer my home. I couldn’t go back, because I was disgraced. I became a sword for hire—only the first job I took, I ended up drugged and in an underground facility. And you know the rest.”

“So why are we going back now?”

“Because I need to explain what has happened between you and me—the bond—to my clan. The clan members must be warned against others being blood-bonded against their will.

“What do you think is coming, Kael? What do you know that I don’t?”

“That the time is coming for the SwordBrothers to come out of hiding.”





Chapter 8



We were in a canyon or what felt like one. Steep cliffs rose high on either side of us and different veins would break off. He took the first fork right, the third left fork, a second right. There was no way to tell where we were going, and I doubt I could get out again without his help. The walls were so close that I could reach out and touch them on either side, but I was proud of my restraint.

“Thalia,” Kael spoke softly into my ear, “I know that you are smart enough to know where we are, and you’ve probably now know enough to make it back, but please, for once in your life, play dumb.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. And why should I play dumb Kael, what is the big idea—” Something shot into the ground in front of Faraway, startling him and making him rear up in fright. There was too much weight with both of us riding double. I felt Kael slide off Faraway’s back. Kael hit the ground hard, and I landed on him. In Faraway’s panic, I lost the connection with his mind. Now I was blind and terrified. I heard my horse’s scream and froze.

I blinked and tried to make out what was happening, but I was still dazed from our severed sight connection. I crawled forward off of Kael. Another large shadow covered the small canyon and Kael shouted, “Watch out!”

I lifted the blindfold off of my eyes in time to see Faraway’s large body on his rear quarters start to fall over backward toward me.