Page 112 of Severed Heir

I kicked and thrashed against his strong hold. “Put me down! I’m not leaving without him!”

“He made a choice,” Archer said, his voice low, breath cool against my temple.

Inside the cell, Cully sank to his knees. His eyes were vacant, his hands limp in his lap. “I did this,” he whispered. “I’m the reason Archer was thrown in here. This is how I fix it. My apology.”

“No.” My voice broke. “No, please, don’t do this—”

But Archer was already moving. Carrying me down the corridor as the cell door slammed behind us with a final, echoing thud.

He set me down just past the next archway. “Why did the Seeker want us out?” I asked, trembling. “Why us?”

“She’s a Seeker,” Archer murmured. “Maybe she knew we needed to be.”

We passed through one final chamber. Chains hung from the ceiling. Screams echoed off wet stone. I nearly sank to my knees again, the weight in my chest unbearable. Archer dropped beside me, one hand steady on my back, as if holding me together.

“We’ll get him out. I swear to it,” he said.

Then I saw his palm. “Your relic,” I breathed. “It’s gone.”

He stood slowly. “I’ll bond again.”

“What?”

“I severed my bond with Ciaran.”

The words struck like ice water. “Youseveredit? Why would you do that?”

“It was the only choice.”

“But, I heard you,” I said. “When I nearly drowned.”

“I severed it after that,” he replied quietly. “You won’t hear me again in your mind.”

My thoughts swarmed with Cully, the prison, the Seeker, and now this. It was all too much.

We stumbled out into the cold, and I screamed the only name I had left in me. “Naraic!”

A moment later he landed before us, wings battered, violet eyes locked on Archer with a fury that simmered quiet and deep.

“We’re going to find Ciaran,” I said, clutching Archer’s hand. “And she’s going to take you back. I don’t care what it costs. Now, let’s fly.”

Archer didn’t look at me. His gaze stayed on Naraic. “He doesn’t trust me. Because I betrayed Ciaran.”

“I do,” I whispered. “That has to be enough.”

But Naraic growled low in his throat.

“I severed our bond,” Archer said. “Ciaran won’t take me back. She can’t.”

I stepped forward. “Then trust me, Naraic. Let him ride. We need to go home so we can figure out how to get Cully out.”

The dragon’s wings unfurled, snow swirling in the updraft.“No,”Naraic rumbled.“He broke the tether. If I let him ride, it could shatter what we have left. He couldn’t shield himself—so he did the unthinkable.”

My breath caught.“Tell her to take him back.”

“She won’t.”Naraic’s voice dropped.“Archer made his choice. And when you chose that glass-wielder boy and hisdragon, our bond nearly snapped. A bond can only bend so far before it breaks.”

I stared at the frozen ground, my pulse thudding in my ears. “Why did you sever it?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. My fingers tightened around his. “Why would you do that?”

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