Page 2 of Bizarre Bonds
The two beings who’ve been leading our trek back to civilization move closer. Rollick, the demon who runs the academy we’re meant to be returning to, studies each of us briefly before his gaze settles on me. “Why don’t you explain exactly what you experienced starting right before those beams shot out of you, Peri?”
Rollick might not look all that imposing to mortal eyes with his tall-but-not-towering form and symmetrical-but-not-stunning face, but he has an aura of power so intense I suspect he could knock me over with a blink. If anyone can figure this out, he can.
I think back to the moments before the glow coursed out of me. “I was relieved that we finally stopped the sorcerer and that we managed to do it by working together—that we’d been such a good team. I was looking forward to seeing how much more we could accomplish. The thought made me so happy—and the light rushed out of me in those beams. I didn’t aim it at anyone. That part happened on its own.”
The demon cocks his head. “And then?”
“I don’t know. I got the impression of their hearts beating. I can still feel that now. And I can taste their emotions a lot more strongly than before. But maybe that will fade too, like the light did? None of my outbursts have ever lasted very long.”
“Except we can feel Peri too,” Jonah says in a strained voice. “Raze just said— And I’m picking up on her emotions right now. I can tell that she really is confused, and nervous… and her feet are hurting.”
Raze’s brow knits. “They are. Why didn’t you tell us they were bothering you?”
“I—” I don’t know what to say. The ache from my past wounds—dealt by the cruel sorcerer who just kicked the bucket—is dull enough, familiar enough that it doesn’t really bother me. I can never spend all that long on my feet in physical form without the old injuries waking up. “I guess I’m used to tuning it out unless it’s especially bad.”
Also, when I do mention it, Raze has a habit of sweeping meoffmy feet. Which makes me all giddy but also is kind of embarrassing when we have an audience.
“This is fascinating.” Rollick rubs his chin, peering at Mirage’s mark and then glancing over at Sorsha, the phoenix shifter who helped with the last stage of our mission. “It’s almost like an opposite version of the first shadowbloods’ marks. Except from what they’ve said, they only developed those through more… intimate entanglements.”
Shame and guilt flare through my connection with Jonah. Not the kind of draft I’d like to have on tap.
He speaks hastily. “Nothing like that has happened between Peri and me.”
My own cheeks heat with a different sort of embarrassment. I didn’t realize I’d end up needing to discuss the details of my intimate fun with the school’s headmaster. “I’ve gotten close with Raze and Mirage. But not today. Obviously not right when it happened. And nothing like that glow happened when we did. What are shadowbloods?”
Before Rollick can answer, Hail lets out a sputter. “The twoof them? But you— This is fuckingridiculous.”
An edge of resentment creeps through his uneasiness, like a bitter thread of baking soda that didn’t get blended into the pastry right.
Ididn’t blend it right. This whole mess is my fault.
“We’re still figuring out what this is,” Rollick says mildly, and turns his attention back to me. “The shadowbloods are a small group of unusual beings who, like Sorsha, are hybrids, a mix of human and shadowkind. Only in their case, they were created by human scientists experimenting in labs. Their romantic involvement has led to dark blotches forming in a similar area on their chests. Not quite the same, though. And not lighting up.”
Sorsha frowns. “And their marks don’t seem to work like these ones. They can tell where each other is and there’s that power-swapping trick they can do, but they’ve said they only sense emotions from each other when it’s something extreme.”
Rollick hums to himself. “Yes. I suppose it makes sense that a similar bond might appear differently when it’s initiated by a being whose powers are focused on emotions.”
“Abond?” Hail repeats, his tone even harsher. “I don’t want to be bound to her. I don’t want to be attached to anyone.”
He rounds on me so swiftly my nerves jump—which maybe the men can feel, because Raze growls.
My reaction doesn’t deter the fae man’s anger, though.
Hail jabs his finger at me, an icy breeze that I don’t think came from the forest rippling through his white-blond hair. “Why would you do this? What are you trying to prove? You didn’t even want— I’m not going tobelongto you like some kind of ‘mate.’ You can’t just claim people or whatever the fuck you thought you were doing.”
A burn of tears forms behind my eyes. “I promise, I didn’t think I was doing anything. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. You don’t owe me anything.”
Mirage chuckles, his five fox tails that are the same bright red as his shaggy hair appearing for a quick swish. He speaks in his singsong voice. “All tied up, all the way through.” But a shudder ripples through the emotions he’s giving off at the same time: a splash of saltiness that tastes almost frantic.
Rollick clicks his tongue at Hail. “There’s no need to have a tantrum about it. Very few shadowkind form permanent supernatural bonds. Wedon’tknow that what’s happened here won’t simply fade over time. Peri doesn’t appear to have any more control over you than she would have before. You can simply ignore it. Unless a small bit of glow will put such a cramp in your style?”
Hail’s lips pull back in a grimace. “She’ll be looking right inside me even more than she could before. I can’t stop knowing what’s inside her, whether I care or not. She obviously thinks she owns us somehow or other. It was only us she hit with that light, not you two.”
“The four of you are my team,” I say quietly, hugging myself.
It’s true that I was feeling particularly affectionate toward them. Did I set off some other dimension of my powers that I didn’t know I was capable of?
Just when I think I’ve gotten a handle on my abilities, something new has to pop up and tip everything upside down.
