Page 25 of Burdened Bonds
I’m stronger than him. Better than him. And I’m no longer a slave to his will.
But I’m wrong. The injury has weakened me, so has this separation from my fated mate, and he is more conniving. He is more cunning. One of the ropes latches onto my neck and squeezes, squeezes tighter than it ever has, so that immediately the air is cut from my lungs and my brain. I gasp feebly for air, scrabbling at the ligature, dark blotches spreading across my vision.
“I understand you’re upset,” my father says, stalking towards me. “But there’s no time for these juvenile outbursts. This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for, Tristan, one that will see our family rise high above the rest. One that will see us wield more power than we’ve ever had before. So put your feeble mother out of your mind. Because now is the time to seize that opportunity.”
“If she was feeble, it’s only because you made her that way, reduced her to that,” I scream, the words taking the last of my breath and then I blast through his rope, through his magic, pulverizing him into the bookcase behind him, the books tumbling from the shelves and his weapons crashing to the floor.
Before he can react, I’m up on my feet, blasting more magic his way as I back out of the room.
“I’m leaving.”
“You can’t leave!” my father roars from his study, blasting magic at me.
“Watch me,” I snarl, turning to grab my cousin’s hand and take her with me. But, as my body spins around and my eyes connect with hers, I freeze.
There’s a knife, one of my father’s weapons, hovering right in front of my cousin’s throat, barely an inch from her flesh, ready to strike. Her entire body shakes and her eyes widen with horror.
“No, son,” my father says, striding from his study. “It doesn’t work like that. You don’t get to leave this family. You can’t turn your back on us.”
“This has nothing to do with Ellie. Let her go.”
“It’s okay, Tristan,” Ellie whispers, her voice shaking. “Go!”
I shake my head, desperately searching for a way that I can leave and bring her with me.
My father slams his hand on my shoulder, his fingers cold and tight.
“I don’t think either of you understand what’s happened tonight.” He lets the knife inch closer towards Ellie’s throat. “Our great republic nearly fell to the forces in the West. It was only through luck and pure determination that we evaded their attack and pushed them back beyond the borders. But things will have to change now. The chancellor has proved his incompetence. This country needs a new leader. A stronger, more ruthless one, one who can destroy our enemies and keep us all safe from harm.”
“And let me guess,” I hiss, “that leader is you.”
My father laughs, that cruel, nasty sound that makes me shudder. “But of course.”
10
Spencer
We meetno traffic on the road, no fucking dragons overhead and the fighting in the capital appears to have died away completely. Soon, the academy comes into view, the sun rising behind the mound and silhouetting the remnants of the destroyed mansion, its turrets toppled, its roof caved in, its walls charred.
It has a lump forming in my throat. This was my home. And now it’s destroyed. What else has been shattered?
Trent parks the vehicle behind a hedgerow in a field near the bottom of the hill and we climb up towards the academy. The fighting may be over but we are unsure who or what we’ll find at the academy. Whether they’ll be friend or foe. So we hug the tree lines and the hedgerows, the bright daylight making our presence far more conspicuous than we’d like to anyone on the lookout. However, finally wereach the meadow and the only way onwards is to break our cover.
“I could cast a fog?” Winnie suggests, “something to conceal us?”
The day is frigid and cold and perhaps a mist lingering over the meadows would not be out of place, but its sudden appearance would be.
I shake my head. “We go quickly and we stick together. If we get split up, we meet back at the hill where we left the vehicle.”
They both nod, obviously happy to follow my instructions; all that time as dueling team captain obviously paying off. We keep our heads down and race across the meadow. Strips of the grass have been burned away, the earth scorched and ash blows across from the campus and into our faces, the stench of soot irritating my nose, the beast inside me snarling.
We cross the meadow without detection and hit the perimeter of the gymnasium. The dueling pitch has been uprooted, the stands caved in but the gymnasium itself has escaped untouched, only the walls discolored by the soot swirling in the air.
Winnie gasps as we swing around the building. From here we see the shell of the mansion, much less of it standing than I’d realized. The other buildings – the magical labs, the greenhouses, the student dorms – are all in tatters.
“There’s nothing left,” Winnie says, hands rising to cover her mouth.
“Come on,” I say, tugging on her arm. We don’t have time to hang around staring. We need to fetch that car and go.
