Page 78 of Iridian

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and brought me closer, hugged me to his chest tightly. “As long as we’re together,” he repeated in my ear because he wouldn’t mind living anywhere, either.

“We can’t keep them here forever.”Thatwas unacceptable. The rest we could work with.

“They’ll be coming for us. All the time, they’ll be coming,” Taland said as I kissed the side of his neck, held onto his waist with all my strength. “They’ll be coming for the bracelet. I doubt another exists out there, and without it, the Council can’t figure out how to recreate it.”

“But they won’t get to us. They can try, but we won’t let them get close.”

A heartbeat later, Taland kissed my cheek. “They can try,” he agreed. “We’ll make it work. Whatever it takes.”

“Whatever it takes.” Pure joy came over me, as strong as the crippling fear that rivaled it. But it was okay, wasn’t it? “We’ve done the impossible before. We’re still here.” And that gave me hope.

Taland laughed and my toes curled. Goddess, I loved that sound.

“We’ll be just fine.”

I believed him.

We didn’t have access to books or any kind of online data that we could use to help us figure out how to undo the curse, set those men free. All we had was what we knew, and for the next threedays, we spent every waking second going over different ways to undo spells and curses, or to null a spell or curse in its entirety.

When we weren’t sleeping—or fucking—we were trying to come up with the most effective spell, even while eating.

“I think it’s more a linking issue,” Taland said at noon on the third day. We had a decent plan on how to null the curse, how to basically reverse it, but we still had no clue how to separate his soul from those men. “I think it should be a reverse-bonding spell—is there such a thing?”

I shook my head. “Not that I know of. I’m no Greenfire, but unless the mage or the animal dies, the bond stays in place.”

Taland thought about it for a second. “Except this isn’t an ordinary bond—remember, Titus died and they remained connected. Almost like his soul remains here while the soldiers’ do and probably vice versa. And, sweetness, I’m pretty sure the bonding that happened in the Tree of Abundance in the Roe was real. If the Drainage was real, so wasit,and they separated us from our bonded, didn’t they? We were…unlinkedfrom them when we came out of the game.”

Shivers ran down my back. “Yes—unless they actually killed the animals.” The words brought bile up my throat because the idea of my beautiful vulcera dying made me want to lose my mind just like in the Whitefire challenge. It had been the reason why I’d taken to attacking ice and that roc statue, with nothing but a little hope that she’d make it. It had worked, true, but who was to say that they hadn’t killed the animals when the game was over?

“They absolutely have the capacity,” Taland said in the end, just as sick at the idea as me. Then he dropped the pen he’d been scribbling on a pad with and ran his fingers through his hair furiously. It had grown again, just like in the Iris Roe, and I’d asked him not to cut it because I loved to play with it when we were in bed.

“Nulling the spell,” I whispered, feeling a little defeated as I paced around the porch while he sat at the dining table we pretty much always left outside now. “We have to start there and hope for the best.”

He nodded. “I’ll try again to see into their minds, try to find any details that might help.”

I flinched. “That drains you.” Whenever he spent hours at a time staring at the sky andsearchingthe minds of those soldiers, he was completely exhausted because he felt every feeling they’d felt, heard and saw whatever event exactly as the soldiers did when it happened to them. That would drain anyone.

“I don’t mind. You can sit with me and read.” He tapped the tablet on the table that we used to both read digital books and to watch movies sometimes.

So, I sat down beside him and hugged his arm to my chest and kissed him. “I love you. I won’t leave your side if you need me.”

That small, almostsurprisedsmile that stretched his lips made my heart trip all over itself. “I love you, too, baby. More every day.” And he kissed me again.

Then he stared away at the sky and the trees, and for a while, I stared away with him, my head on his shoulder, my eyes half closed. I had faith that if there was any kind of way for him to figure this out in this way, he’d do it. Taland was something else. He was extraordinary. I believed in him just as he believed in me.

I knew it would take time. Possibly days and months and years, but I was okay with that as long as we kept trying.

What I didn’t expect was for Taland to wake me up three hours later with, “I think I got it. I think I know how to set them free.”

The sun had already chased away the night not half an hour ago. Taland and I walked hand in hand through the trees, toward where the soldiers had created a wall of bodies that pretty much nobody could get through with weapons or magic.

Taland had wanted to sleep last night—a trip down the minds of those soldiers had drained him worse than we’d imagined because he’d been searching for details this time around. He’d willingly navigated their memories, searching, and that had taken a toll on him. He’d need energy to do what needed doing, and now he looked well rested. Though he was paler than I’d ever seen him before, and he hadn’t even bothered to shave, which never happened. But he was rested, and I’d even made him eat a little.

For now, it only mattered that this worked.

Taland had the bracelet around his wrist. His step didn’t falter even though his jaws were clenched, and he barely even blinked until we made it all the way to them. The two soldiers in front of us stepped to the sides to make way, so in tune with Taland’s very thoughts it was scary as hell. I looked at his profile, wondered what it was like in his head.

Fuck, he looked like shit.

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