Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #5)(3)

Would my mother still be alive if she hadn’t left?

Would the madness that took over my father have existed if he’d have had both of his Bonded with him?

Would the shadow creatures—

“Nox! There you are! I see North found you first; I’m not surprised. He’s been very eager to spend some time with you.”

I don’t turn to look at my uncle as he steps into the attic with us, but his calming presence fills the room as though it’s a physical thing. I keep my focus on my brother as William starts to go on and on about all sorts of happy and gentile things, all of the ways he knows to fill awkward silences and make people fall under his honeyed spell, but the pounding in my head drowns him out, because I’ve finally found something wrong on Nox. Something so absolutely wrong that there’s no way anyone can talk their way out of it.

His fingers are crooked.

My eyes are stuck on the sight of them, the way that they’re jutting out in all of the wrong directions with lumps and bones poking out through the skin. An old injury that wasn’t healed properly.

Our family is richer than God.

That’s not just something I’m bragging or gloating about, it’s a fact of life that my father and William have both spent their entire adult lives spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year on every type of charity and luxury for their family, and our collective net worth has only increased. We’re a pillar of our society because we’re the type of old money that will never run dry. All of this is to say, why the fuck didn’t someone look at Nox, heal him before his fingers set like that?

Why did no one call our father?

“Is this… your room, Nox? It’s quite cozy up here. I used to build forts up in the attic when I was your age. I used sheets and pillows from all of the beds in the house. It used to drive my mother insane. I see a mattress and pillows; your shadow creature looks very happy on them. Can I come give you a hug, or will that upset the two of you?”

Nox doesn’t lift his head, but the shadow creature does, its void eyes staring William down as though daring him to touch the little shrinking boy in front of us. I start to wonder if maybe he’s in a trance… or if he’s inside of his creature right now as an escape from the room, a way to disconnect from us without actually running away or having to confront us to get out of this.

Is he scared of us?

Or of what will happen if he speaks to us?

I want to scream and unleash all of my worst nightmares and shadows into this house and everyone in it out of pure frustration. I hate the lies and whispers, the deceit and veiled ways of doing things when it should be simple.

Nox should come home with me and William, leave behind whatever the fuck has been happening in this place.

I’m about to snap when the door behind us opens again, ricocheting off of the wall as my aunt bursts into the room, her voice shrill as she snaps, “What are you both doing in here?! I told you I would bring him down to speak to you, William. You are not welcome here.”

I can’t turn and look at her, not right now with my eyes shifted and so much anger inside of me. Why would she leave him to heal like that? What mother would deny their son medical attention?

I didn’t think it was possible to hate her any more than I already did, but she’s proving me wrong.

“Nox, come here. We’ll speak to these men in the parlor for a few minutes, and then they can leave.”

For the very first time, Nox moves, but only his lips as he murmurs with a robotic monotone voice two simple words that fracture my world in half, a break that will never repair.

“Yes, Bonded.”

All of the oxygen in the room disappears.

My world very quickly shutters down to focus with pinpoint precision onto that word coming out of my little brother’s mouth.

To his mother.

Bonded.

Emmaline steps forward towards Nox, but the sinking feeling in my gut has grown into a cavernous crater, and now pieces that should never fit together are falling into place in my head.

My father’s last words to my mother before his creatures devoured her whole.

You knew.

“North—” William cautions, as though he didn’t hear what Nox said and he’s not having the same devastating revelation that I am right now, so I ignore him entirely.

My bond ignores him entirely.

“Why did he call you that? Emmaline, why did your son call you Bonded?”

William makes a noise behind me, and then I hear the thump of his body hitting the ground as my aunt hits him with her Gift, the grunt pulled out of him almost an afterthought. I feel that same power wash over me as well, brushing at my skin as she tries to get inside of my head and break my mind open with the Madness she wields.

I’m stronger than her.

It means nothing to me; it’s only kindling to the fiery rage burning inside of me.

The shadows around the room twist and grow, bigger and bigger until they all bend towards me and this nightmare I’m finding myself in. The shadow creature sitting obediently at Nox’s feet doesn’t react except to snap its jaws when my shadows get a little too close, but still, my brother doesn’t have any reaction to the maelstrom around him. That is damning enough for me. That this chaos is nothing to him at all… what the fuck has been going on in this house?

Bonded.

The moment Emmaline finally gives in and her eyes flash back to their usual blue color, so like my own mother’s, she raises her head to look at me, and the guilt-soaked fear there is confirmation enough.