The Steele Wolf (Iron Butterfly #2)(25)

“But I thought SwordBrothers don’t do that anymore.”

“Of course we don’t!” Kael huffed. “Not since one paranoid king many years ago, in a maddening fit had hundreds of SwordBrothers bloodsworn to him. You can imagine what happened next. He kept sending us into battle for him, using us as his personal assassins to kill the children of his enemies. The horror stories are true, Thalia. The ones you heard about SwordBrothers being evil. It’s because the King forced us to be that way.”

“That is horrible! I can’t believe someone would do that to the SwordBrothers.”

“It’s one thing to choose to be bloodsworn of someone. It’s quite another to have that choice taken away from you.”

“What happened?”

“The SwordBrothers code of honor was broken and they couldn’t live with themselves. Finally, one of the king’s own bloodsworn, a man named Lake, was able to free the hundreds of SwordBrothers bonded to the king.”

“He did? That’s fantastic, how did he do it?” I was getting excited. I hadn’t read this part in the book. I didn’t know there was a way to undo the bloodbonding.

“He killed the King of Sinnendor.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. When Lake killed the king, he also simultaneously killed the bloodsworn and himself, and that meant that the SwordBrothers were originally from Sinnendor, like my family.

“He freed hundreds of souls and prevented more wars. And because of that one king, the few remaining unsworn SwordBrothers and their families disappeared. They went into hiding, refusing to be bloodsworn again.”

“And that is why, your clan is in hiding to this day. And you think that is what the Septori did to us?”

“I’m not sure. Everything between us feels like I’m bloodsworn to you, but I don’t know how they would have gotten the knowledge to do it. We destroyed all of the books and history when Lake killed the king.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Do you understand now? I’m free from the Septori but now I’m tied to someone who seems to have some sort of death wish.” He chuckled sardonically.

“Is that why you wanted to kill me?” I asked and understanding finally dawned on me.

“Yes.” He grabbed his head in frustration and stormed around the room and then stopped, dropping his hands in defeat. “And no. I want to go home to my family and friends.”

The word family made me wonder if Kael had a wife back home. He was certainly old enough to marry. A sour feeling hit the bottom of my stomach at the thought of Kael bonded to someone.

“But then I’m scared because I don’t know what would happen to me if you died. Would I die? If I am truly Bloodsworn to you, then I would. But I don’t know if it is the same kind. It feels like it, which makes me wonder. SwordBrothers don’t feel fear. We are taught that to fear is to hesitate and to hesitate is to die.”

“Maybe there is a way to reverse it,” I said, trying hard to not cry.

“If there was a way to do it, we would have done it hundreds of years ago instead of committing mass suicide. But I don’t know. I had hoped to find the answers with the Adepts. So I presented myself to Adept Pax and he thought of ways to pay me for my services so I could stay close to you and test our boundaries. And then you told me quite emphatically to get lost and that you never wanted to see me again.” He rubbed the back of his head to remind me of our parting ways.

“Yes, I did, didn’t I.” I chewed on the bottom of my lip, feeling terrible.

“Well, you can see how that’s going to be a problem. Not to mention that you decided to go run off to the Shadow Mountains. I didn't even know that you had left the Citadel until the bloodbond kicked in, sending me reeling in pain. I took a horse from the stable and I left the next day. I followed the pull until I found you, knowing that you would somehow get yourself into trouble again.” He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Only this time, it was some sort of contest in which you were giving yourself away.”

“That reminds me,” I interrupted. “If it was such a stupid contest, why did you enter it?”

“To stop you from having to marry the winner, of course.” He raised his hands palm up and the look on his face bespoke truth. “Why else? If you had to marry the winner, then you would be forced to stay here and get married. I can't let that happen.”

“What do you mean, you can't let that happen?” I argued, feeling my famous temper start to rise at his nonchalant attitude. “What gives you the right to decide my future?”

“Everything,” he yelled out. “Because I am tied to you until we reverse this. So right now, your future includes me. I need you free and not tied down to travel and find a way to break this curse. And once the bloodbond is broken, you can then be free to make whatever stupid mistakes you want to with your own life.”

“What if I don't want to help you?” I said in anger, because I hated that he was deciding my future without even asking me. “What if I want to stay and marry and rule my clan?”

“You want to marry the brute that did this to you?” He said in disbelief, pointing to my face.

My chin jutted out in defiance, and without thinking I blurted out, “It's better than the alternative.”

He snickered. “Ha! I'm not that bad. I'm not even going to marry you. So what if I win, I just delay your plan a little bit. You can have another stupid Kragh Aru tournament in a year, after you've helped me.”