Page 52 of A Baron of Bonds
I rubbed my face and neck, gathering my hair and tying it back in a small knot with a piece of gold ribbon.
I still seethed.
When Karus had admitted she knew who had woken her months ago, I had not expectedthat.
How?
How could the Blightress be living? How could an ancient woman have power over Karus’s mind and speak to her there?
The Queen knew.
Somehow, she was the least surprised to discover that the forewarned force of hate and anger on the isle was a living, breathing, centuries-old woman.
I stood quietly and walked to the doors leading to the balcony. I watched the streets bustling in the late afternoon through the paned glass. I saw the tops of apartment buildings and the turrets of the silvery-blue castle. The view expanded further still, the grassy green hills leading to rows of farmland, and beyond the fields of reaped wheat, lie the sea.
I tried to think of my channelers back home, wondering if Clairannia and Figuerah were tired of their task. Before I had left for Hyrithia, I had convinced them to not only stay in Felgren, but to continue my work for the time I’d be gone.
There were no doubts in my mind that they were capable of helping train the channelers. They had helped me before when I was so lost, but they had lives of their own they needed to return to.
The three of us had grown in friendship over the years. We all loved Karus and wanted to see her here with us again.
By the Blightress, she still didn’t understand.
I frowned at the thought, coming to the conclusion that I would need a new phrase of cursing now that I was aware the Blightress lived and had trapped Karus in a portal for two weeks.
I had so many questions, so many thoughts to consider and speak to her about. I wanted to know every detail of her time after deciding to follow that woman into that hole.
Ah, Karus.
I would make it abundantly clear when she woke. I would ensure she held the knowledge I had understood for years. She would keep it deep within her so that she would not make such a decision again.
She would not do this to me—to us, again.
She stirred in the bed, turning over, her arm stretching under the pillow.
My clumsy heart skipped a beat, and blood pulsed rapidly through my veins at the idea of her finally waking.
But her eyes stayed closed, her breathing slow and deep.
I turned back to look out the glass doors.
I’d keep waiting then.
It seemed I was always waiting for her.
And I’d still not grown tired of it.
I imagined I never could.
Chapter 30
Karus
My head hurt,and my eyes were sore as if something pounded behind them.
I brought my hands to my face and applied pressure with my palms to the underside of my eyebrows, the pain subsiding a little.
My stomach churned, clams and ale mixing within, and I swore I’d never eat them again.
