He had given so much for her.
She had taken and taken—greedy and thoughtless.
Guilt ate at her like acid, sitting heavy and sour in the pit of her stomach.
Alex flinched.
Instinctively, she reached out to steady him. “What is it?” she asked, concerned.
He averted his gaze from her, looking out the window, as if trying to find the right words. “Your thoughts are very loud,” he said eventually.
“Excuse me?”
His blue eyes met hers reluctantly. “You don’t know, do you?” he asked quietly.
“Know what?”
“We’re Tethered, Allyra,” he said gently. “You Tethered us.”
She recoiled from him. “What? No, that’s not possible—Tethering is a sharing of minds, it can only be done willingly, with the acceptance of both minds. You were unconscious.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t the first time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Tethering does require the agreement of both minds; it occurs through the sharing of power. A give and take. That moment in the Between, when the Ancient cut so deeply into you, and you lay dying before me, I knew I had to save you. I gave you the Tigers, but that wasn’t enough, you needed energy, lifeforce to heal. So, I gave it to you—willingly.”
“We’ve been Tethered since the Between?” she asked incredulously. “How? I didn’t open my mind to you then.”
“No, you weren’t aware then. That flow of power only occurred in one direction—from me to you.”
“But I saw you—in the Final Trial—I know now that I took more energy from you, that I couldn’t have won without you. How is that possible if we weren’t Tethered?”
Alex reached out and took hold of her hand, running a finger lightly across the tigers tattooed around her wrist. Her heart jumped, and her breath caught in her throat. He looked up, into her eyes, his gaze intense and searching. It stripped away her layers of protection, as if he could read her mind and see her darkest secrets, her deepest fears. She felt laid bare before him, open and vulnerable.
“It was always here,” he said. “Through the Tigers. We weren’t Tethered, but we were still joined.”
“That’s why I felt ill every time I tried to call on the Tigers—because you were weak,” she said slowly.
He nodded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that it would be a side effect. To my knowledge, we’re the first to have both worn the same Living Weapon without death dividing us.
“Still, that wasn’t true Tethering. That only came now, when you allowed your power to flow into me—you gave willingly and opened your mind to mine. It completed the ritual and Tethered us.”
“Spring to stream. Stream to raging river,” she whispered.
“Bound in confluence. Together, we will forge new paths,” Alex completed, his eyes never leaving hers.
The moment stretched and lingered, thick and syrupy sweet like honey. There was an intensity there, a strength of feeling that she didn’t know. Did it belong to her, or was it his, or something from both of them?
It was too much, and her mind balked at the weight of the knowledge. And she tried to withdraw, afraid that he could see her uncertainty, her doubt and her fear. Afraid he would see the worst of her and realize she wasn’t worth saving.
His finger tightened around her wrist. “Don’t, Allyra. Don’t ever think that—don’t ever doubt yourself. And, never doubt that I will be there. As long as I am able, I will be by your side.
“I’m sorry, Allyra. I never meant for this to happen—you couldn’t have known that we would be Tethered.”
She felt his mind retreat from hers as he rebuilt the walls between them.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Rebuild your protections—even though we’re Tethered, you can keep me from your mind. I will never look without your consent.”
Uncertain, she looked at him, searching his face, hoping he could tell her what was in her mind—what she wanted. Eventually, she nodded. Rebuilding her walls was easier, reverting to something she knew, something that was familiar. If he felt disappointed or relieved, he didn’t show it, his expression carefully blank.
She looked down at the Revenant wound in his side, with the tendrils of black poison spreading across the plane of his ribs. “Take energy from me,” she said abruptly.
Alex flinched at her words. “You don’t know what you’re offering.”
“You’re hurt.”
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting the air out with a low hiss. “Allowing someone to take energy from yourself is extremely dangerous. Once connected, one person can drain the other completely, taking every last drop of energy and leaving nothing but death behind. Tradition dictates that it is only done between those that are Tethered, and it goes against the Gifted Charter to take energy without previous consent.”
She laughed sarcastically. “We’re Tethered, and I’m giving you my consent.”
Alex stared at her for a long time, considering her words. Too long. The bitter corrosion of regret was coursing through her veins, and all she could think of was the need to right her wrongs. She needed him to be strong.
She called the Tigers to her hand and sliced once more into her palm, another line of blood over the other already on her palm. She held out her bloodied hand to him. “Take it,” she demanded.
Eventually, Alex nodded, reluctantly. The Dragons appeared in his hand as a small dagger that he twisted across his palm. His eyes lifted and met hers. “Are you sure, Allyra?”
She nodded, and before he could say anything else, she took his hand in hers, smearing their blood between them.
