Page 154 of A Baron of Bonds
Parvus and Rauca shook water from their fur and nipped at their paws.
“I’m part fae,” I blurted, biting my lip.
“What?” He turned me to face him.
“I don’t know. I haven’t let myself process what this means without you to talk it through. But Moira thinks so. When the stream swept me away, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t get to the surface, and it was moving so fast.”
His face was a solid block of stone, the black of his eyes filling over the blue.
“All I could think was I wanted the stream to stop. I asked it to stop…and it did. A wall of water formed over where I was sucked under and…” I rubbed my face and mumbled into my hands, “Moira said only fae can make requests of the stream. And that by doing so and the stream listening, I am at least part fae.”
I turned back to the water, hands on my wet hips. “But that doesn’t make any sense. You could manipulate the water and you’re not fae.” I looked over my shoulder with a sly smile. “Are you?”
“I didn’t ask the stream anything. I willed it to move. There is no asking with the power of Baron. There is just doing.”
“Well, fuck, I don’t know then.”
“You’re taking the trials tomorrow.”
It was my turn for surprise. “What! You said next week!”
He shook his head. “No. I’ll finish tonight and you take them in the morning.”
I narrowed my eyes and cocked my head. “What are you not telling me? Why are you rushing them?”
He slid his hands in his wet pockets, and I saw right through him.
“They’re almost done. You should take them when they are. The magic doesn’t wait around forever and pulls from me to work. It’s why I couldn’t produce a portal and just come to you immediately.”
“And what happens after the trials?” I kept my hands on my hips, my chest meeting with his.
“We can move on from them.”
“Hmm. And then what?”
He couldn’t help it. He wound his arms around my back. “And then we keep living. Keep loving. We celebrate. We owe Clairannia something big.”
I gave in too, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I can’t wait to see her. To see Figuerah and tell them I’ve passed. We should have done them together, but…at least I’ve gotten there eventually.”
He tucked my wayward hair behind my ear murmuring, “Eventually, I have learned, is far more acceptable than never.”
Part Four
Chapter 64
Saelyn
I would beseventeen in one day, and I discovered I loved to dance.
Or at least, I loved to dance with Thevin.
Pah-Pah had revealed something he called a cylindrical turner, a device that played the sound of music through an enormous piece of gold shaped like a morning glory blossom.
He’d brought me an entire box of cylinders with tiny raised markings that flicked over wide, thin tines, playing notes that echoed through the golden flowerhead. He showed me how to turn the handle and music would play.
I’d never seen anything like it. Neither had Thevin when I took him to my room to show him the stunning invention.
“You pick one of these,” I said, holding a gold cylinder with hundreds of raised markings, “and then you fit it in here like this.” I snapped it into place, lowering the tines and turning the handle. “When it reaches a stop, you let go and listen!”
