Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(103)
“It seems we’ve both had a very long eight months.” Sasha buried her head in the crook of his neck, inhaling the scent of him like a childhood memory.
“I’m so sorry about Santi. I never wanted to spring that on you so suddenly.” Quinn pulled away.
“I understand. You go through something like that with someone and it changes you both.” Sasha couldn’t fault him for moving on.
“Jayesh?” Quinn asked.
“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know,” she whispered. “He’s not free.”
“He is a good man.”
“You know him?” Her eyes widened in surprise.
“We’ve met.” Quinn smiled.
“You’ve both suffered more than any of us will ever know or understand,” Gregg said. “But you’re home now and it’s time for some healing. Learning to cope with the Syntrophos bond will be difficult, but I suspect it will also be an immense relief to you.”
“What is it, Da?” Sasha asked. “It feels so much like I imagine the Complement bond to be.”
“But there was no choice,” Quinn added. “It just happened.”
“Aye, that’s the way of the Syntrophos bond. It tends to build under the surface for a time before it comes upon you like a storm. The Syntrophos bond began with the earliest queens of Indriell. The queen’s council was made up of the Syntrophos, who were the heads of their noble houses. They acted as her council, but they were also her army.”
“So it’s a battle bond?” Quinn asked.
“In a way, yes.” Gregg nodded.
“That would explain why we are more successful as sparring partners than as romantic partners,” Sasha said. But Quinn was so much more to her than just a right hand in battle.
“We’ve often suspected that Sasha has a genetic link to Indriell nobility,” Gregg said. “With her hair threaded with gold, and the strength of her power and talent, if Indriell still stood today, she would likely have grown up as the companion to the first princess. Eventually she would have become the first of the queen’s council. A woman like that would have had a strong Syntrophos standing by her side and the two would have taken charge of the queen’s royal council.”
“But what does it mean for us? Indriell no longer exists, so what does a Syntrophos do?” Sasha asked.
“Today, the remaining Syntrophos keep it hidden. You will need to learn to mask the bond you share so it cannot be detected. The Senate can never know about your bond, Sasha. They are just waiting for a reason to take you away from us. If they discover you and Quinn are a bonded Syntrophos, they will take you both.”
“Then learning to mask this bond will be a priority,” Quinn said. “I will never again let anyone take my freedom—from me or from Sasha. It’s not an option.”
“The Syntrophos bond is an intimate thing,” Gregg said. “It will rarely make sense to anyone outside of it. And until one of you bonds with your Complement, we won’t know which one of you is the anchor.”
“Anchor?” Sasha asked.
“The Syntrophos bond involves three people. The Anchor is the glue that holds you all together. The Anchor will have a Syntrophos and a Complement who will be closely linked as well. The Anchor’s Syntrophos and Complement will often be each other’s best friend and their worst enemy. The Anchor will feel torn between their love for both. Like he or she isn’t enough. Until the third wheel, so to speak, bonds with their own Complement, the relationship can be extremely rocky for all involved. Jealousy will always be a part of the bond. When the fourth joins you, he or she will bring a balance to the relationship but they will never be part of it. The fourth is destined to sit on the sidelines of the bond.”
“So this bond would explain why we love each other so much, but no matter how much we want it, the relationship never works.” Sasha could almost feel her worldview changing.
“It will take years for you two to come to terms with what this bond means for you,” Gregg said. “Only you will ever be able to define what you mean to each other. We always categorize the people in our lives. Family, friend, lover, enemy. A Syntrophos doesn’t fit into any of those boxes.”
Quinn nodded, a small smile beginning to light his face. “That explains a lot.”
Sasha felt the first stirrings of relief and she was so happy to see Quinn’s similar reaction.
“The only love you will ever know that supersedes what you two have now will be with your Complements. The Syntrophos bond is a very different kind of love, but it is still love. You will feel the need to express your love in a physical way—and I don’t mean sex. I like to think of myself as a modern man, but I’m not having that conversation with my daughter.”
“Dad!” Sasha groaned, mortified.
“I’m glad to see I can still embarrass you.” He smiled. “You grew up during your time away, Sasha. I wasn’t ready for that. And I’m not ready for this either. For the Syntrophos who aren’t bonded with a Complement, it is very easy to let that love become a romantic relationship, as you two have attempted time and again. The way you gravitate toward each other in a physical way will never go away. You’ll always feel the need to touch. Your romantic partners will never understand that, but your Complements will in time. That’s where the jealousy will come in. But at its core, the Syntrophos bond is a very innocent kind of love.”