Page 79 of Iridian

“You okay?” I asked, even though he obviously wasn’t.

“I’m fine,” Taland said, just like I knew he would.

We made it to the other side and turned to look at the soldiers, all standing in a perfect line, their shoulders inches apart. Their eyes were closed and their chests still, their hands loose at their sides. I still hadn’t gotten used to how real andfakethey looked at the same time, and I didn’t think I ever would.

Then they all opened their eyes at once, and a scream caught in my throat. I could have sworn all their attention was on me, just like I felt Taland’s.

Four of them moved, left the line and started to pick up things from the forest floors—twigs and rocks and leaves that made no sense to me at first.

“What are they doing?”

“I need to create a ritual circle to help me focus the magic better, the same one Titus used,” he said.

“Oh.” I swallowed hard. “So, you justthoughtabout it and they got to work?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s…” I had no word, really.Terrifyingandfascinatingandmind-blowinganddangerousjust didn’t cut it.

“I know what it looks like,” said Taland. “I suppose it is strange for you to notseeme communicating with them, but I do. I talk and they hear—I just don’t talk in words.”

“Yeah, yeah, you talk inthoughts,” I teased. “It’s just telepathy—no biggy.”

“I wish I could show you, sweetness,” he said, raising goose bumps on my forearms.

“I think I’m fine.” I really didn’t want to know what it was like to have all those people inside my head, listening to my thoughts while I listened to theirs.

“Yes, you are. This is going to take a little while, I think,” he said and led me to where those four soldiers were arranging leaves and sticks in a perfect circle between two trees.

“What exactly are you going to do here? Do you know?”

Taland flinched. “Not with a hundred percent certainty. It’s just a handful of memories that I came across from when Titus did the binding ceremony with the soldiers. We never really learned Binding in school, but I’ve seen it a couple of times and what he did was very similar—with a few changes in shape. Thememories of the soldiers are frail, incomplete, but Titus used the same spell to trap all of them and I think I can combine those memories they still have together to create the full picture of what I need to do to release them.”

I nodded. “So, it’sBinding.”

“Yes, and no,” said Taland. “It’s soul-linking mixed with the curse. Greenfire and Whitefire magic combined, which is what concerns me the most. I haven’t had this bracelet or all these colors long enough to know how to separate them, how to use one at a time.”

“You can do it,” I said, and it was easy to sound certain because I was. “If there’s one person out there who can, it’s you, Taland. You can separate the colors and you can do the spells. You can set them free and setyourselffree as well.”

The way he looked down at me for a moment…

“There’s a chance I might not make it.”

I squeezed his hand on instinct. “What…what do you mean?”

“We saidno more secretsand I don’t want to keep this from you, so there is a chance I might not make it, baby. Not a strong chance, but a chance.”

If he’d cut off my head right now, I’d have been less shocked. “But…butwhy? How?” I didn’t even know what kind of a question to ask because my brain was suddenly refusing to work.

“I’m connected to them on a deeper level than even I understand. There’s a very good chance that I’ll be able to separate myself from them without any major changes to me, but I don’t know for sure. Not right now.” He turned to me, took my face in his hands. “Hey, look at me. It’s going to be fine.”

He was serious, too, but I didn’t have it in me to laugh right now. “Then we’renotgoing to do this.”

“We talked about it,” he whispered.

“Yes—beforeI knew that you were in any kind of danger!” I said—shoutedthe words out. “Taland, we are not going to riskyour life for anything.” That I even had to say this was absurd to me.

“It’s the only way. I’ll be careful. I’ll?—”

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