Soren's POV
The rain hasn't stopped. It's not blessing us. It's mourning something. Or maybe warning us. It pounds on the ground like fists. Inside, everything smells like wet earth and blood. My blood.
I sat on the edge of the bed, with my head down, because looking up takes too much, it was like my energy was being drained. My vest is laying on the floor where I threw it. I can't stand it touching me.
My back is on fire. One single line , red and angry, carved across my skin. It was on the same spot as hers. Having the same shape as well. The bond didn't just make me feel it when that pig hit her. It gave it to me. Like the spirits said, "You want to protect? Then carry it."
Amara was behind me. I hear a bowl scrape. The bowl was comtaing healing herbs . The servants dropped it and ran away. Can't blame them though. I understood their fears "why are you treating me, u should have just let me be,"
"You should have just called the rain when they asked," she whispers. Her voice is thick. She's trying not to cry. "You didn't have to let him strike me. And besides if i let you die...i will die too,"
The cool paste hits my skin and I flinch. Not from pain. But from her. she sounds frustrated and disappointed in me, and i felt it in my soul.
"If I had obeyed, they'd know I can be broken," I replied her. My throat was dry. "Now they only know I can be feared. Fear keeps you safer than obedience."
"I don't want a shield that turns you into a monster, Soren, i just don't want to die." Her voice breaks.
She comes around, and kneels between my legs so I have to look at her. I didn't want to look at her. Even though my eyes aren't glowing anymore, but they're not mine either. Not the village boy, everybody knows anymore. Something else looks out now. Something hollow. Something that liked the way the shadows felt.
"When you stood there," she says, "and the shadows rose… you looked like you enjoyed it. You looked like you wanted to swallow the whole world."
Heavens, she's right.
My hand moves on its own. Almost touching her cheeks. But i stop myself. My fingers curl into a fist. If I touch her right now, will I leave a shadow on her too? I don't know.
"The spirits are like a tide," I admit. The words tasting like ash on my mouth. "When I open the door, they don't knock. They flood in. And they whisper. They tell me how easy it'd be. Stop their hearts. All of them. Everyone who ever spat at us, called us dirt. They say with you beside me, we don't need an Oracle. We could be the Law."
I see her face change. She's realizing it. I'm not just her guard dog. I'm a man on a cliff edge. And she's the only thing keeping me from jumping. Hell she is, i almost got crazy back there when the spirits took over.
"And what do you tell them?" she asks. Barely a sound.
"I tell them to shut up." My voice comes out jagged, torn. "Because if I listen too long, I'll forget what you sound like. And your voice is the only thing keeping me in this room. In my body. Without it… I don't know who comes back." am sure i won't come back...i told her grinning, she frown but doesn't say anything.
The truth sits between us. Heavy. She's not safe with me. I'm not safe for her..but i want her close, i have never been this possessive about someone before...i don't even know what is happening to me and i don't care to know.
Then the floor hums. Low. Like a warning drum. Her cuff flares. Not violet like my heartbeat. Yellow. Sick. Wrong. Oracle's color.
"They're coming," I told her . My muscles lock. I'm already halfway to standing, to killing whosoever was coming
"The Guards?"
"No." I stare at the door. "The High Priests. They learned steel won't work. So now they'll starve the spirit. They're going to take you, Amara. They think if they break the Ground, the Building falls." I am already on my feet. Pulling her up with me. To hell with silence. To hell with rules. I wrap my arms around her and crush her to my chest. She is so small. So warm. The bond sparks between us, desperate, angry.
"Listen," I hiss in her ear. I need her to hear me. Only me. "Whatever they say. Whatever ritual they do. Do not let them tell you I'm a god. Be afraid of me if you have to. Hate me if you have to. But don't you dare become a stranger. If you stop seeing me, I will lose it."
The door did not open. They explode. White light, blinding, fills the room. The Silent Elders. Grey shrouds. Iron chains with runes carved deep. Chains that eat power. they all walk past me.
They're here for her.