All Chapters of Bound To The Cursed Lycan : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

93 Chapters

71: KANE ITHORNO

THEODOSA.Kane Ithorno was standing in Nala's doorway.My stomach turned over hard and fast. The last time I'd seen him, he'd had his hand on my back and a promise in his mouth, and then he was gone, and the next morning shore had nothing on it.Nala stepped in front of me.Her jaw was set and her eyes had gone flat in a way I hadn't seen from her before.The tension between them was thick enough that it pulled me out of my own head entirely."What are you doing here," Nala said.Kane looked right past her and found me.He didn't acknowledge her. He looked at me like she hadn't spoken at all, and that move, cutting someone out of a room just by redirecting his eyes, was so purely Xahen that heat rose up into my chest before I'd made a single decision about how I felt.I hadn't known I was this angry until right now.I'd been in Obsidian for nearly a month. In that month I'd been through things I still hadn't finished processing, and I'd been so busy trying to get through each day that

72: TAKEN BY HIS SHADOWS

THEODOSA.My knees hit the floor and the shadows didn't let up.They tightened at my waist, squeezed my thighs, cinched around my ankles and held them together.Then my chest, the pressure wrapping around my ribs and shifting, moving, adjusting like something finding a better grip. My breasts, my waist again, the tops of my thighs. Not enough to break anything but enough that every breath I pulled in was half of what I needed.I got my palms flat on the floor and tried to push up.My arms gave out under the weight of them and I went back down.Nala's voice came through the door, muffled, still going outside, still talking to Kane.I opened my mouth and pushed out everything my compressed lungs could manage and the sound that came out was small and wrong and went nowhere.I tried again.Something shifted at my face, the shadow across my mouth thinned, just slightly, just enough, and I dragged in a full breath and screamed her name as loud as I could.The door hit the wall.Nala crossed

73: PENDING MORNING AFTER

THEODOSA.Nala's voice woke me up first.I lay still for a second and stared at the ceiling, and then the lower voice came through underneath hers and I sat up fast. It was rough and thick and not fully there yet, but it was his.He'd been unconscious six hours ago. I'd watched Nala pull her hand off his chest and say he'd be fine and I'd gone to bed not entirely sure I believed her.Apparently she'd been right.I got up and went quietly to the door and opened it just enough."Don't." Nala's voice came out flat. "Whatever you're about to do with that arm, don't.""I'm sitting up," he said. His voice came out rough and scraped, like it had been dragged through gravel on the way out."You have three broken ribs and a hole in your side that I spent two hours closing. Sit up carefully or stay flat, those are your options.""I've had worse.""I know you've had worse." She moved around him and I could hear her checking him over. Then I heard him pull in a sharp breath and get hold of it befo

74: WISH DOWN A BROTHERLY WELL

XAHEN.Three days in Nala's cabin and I hadn't seen Theodosa once.That was her doing, not mine. I could feel her moving through the cabin the entire time, the mate bond placing her the way it always did, and yet every time I was in one room she materialized in another. She ate late. She disappeared early. She had turned avoiding me into a full-time occupation and she was good at it.She was doing it on purpose. She was doing it well. And I was irritated that I'd noticed at all.By the third morning, lying on Nala's floor had run its course.My ribs had mostly sorted themselves out. The wound on my side had pulled into a tight seam that complained when I moved wrong, which was often, but that was manageable.Nala and her roommate were still asleep. The cabin was quiet. I got dressed, picked up my coat from the back of the chair, and left.The walk to the dungeon was cold. The kingdom was barely awake at that hour, just the guards on rotation and the groundskeepers moving along the far

75: THE ANSWER IS NO

XAHEN.I said nothing.I looked at him and let the silence sit between us, waiting for him to remember that I had all the time in the world and he was the one wearing a silver chain.Binny held the silence for a long time.He was better at it than most people.He sat there with his arms across his knees, his jaw set and his eyes steady as he gave me nothing at all, which I had to admit was more impressive than I'd expected from a man who'd spent over two weeks in a cell."How long do you think you can keep us here?" he asked finally. His voice came out flat, not even slightly agitated."As long as I want.""And what does that get you?""Right now? Information."Binny's eyes sharpened. "About what?""Tell me about Narra Triosi."Whatever he'd been bracing for, it wasn't that. Something crossed his face— surprise, then immediate wariness, then a controlled blankness that took over so fast I almost missed the others.He stared at me for a moment and I watched him decide how to handle this

76: WATCHFUL WANTERS

XAHEN.Draven had been talking for eleven minutes.The map on the table had seven red marks along the northern border and I'd understood what they meant at the two minute mark, but Draven liked to be thorough so I let him finish.I stood with my hands folded across my chest and looked at the marks and waited."The spacing is too precise to be random," he said. "Whoever placed these knew what they were doing.""They haven't crossed the border," Hale said, from beside him. "Just watching.""For now," Draven said.Behind me the rest of the council was going through field reports at the table. Base had said nothing useful since we started. Afnie was doing his work for him without being asked. Partie was writing something down that probably had nothing to do with any of this.Draven and Hale looked at each other."We think it's Duskmire," Draven said, carefully.I said nothing."The positioning suggests they're looking for someone specific," Hale added. "Not a general sweep."Draven straigh

77: I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER

THEODOSA. My fingers were twisted together again before I even reached the doors.I caught myself and pulled them apart and pressed my palms flat against my thighs.The throne room sat at the end of the corridor and my chest was already doing something unhelpful, because the last time I'd walked through those doors I'd knelt on the stone floor in front of his throne and offered him the one thing I had left to offer, and he'd turned it down in the most precise and humiliating way he could have managed, and I'd walked out of there with my face burning and hadn't looked back once.So no, I wasn't excited to be here.Nala was beside me with her arms crossed and that look she'd had on her face since the message arrived this morning, the one that sat somewhere between knowing and not telling, which she'd been wearing for the full walk over and had shown no signs of explaining.Afnie was on my other side doing slightly better at hiding the fact that she also had no idea what we were walking

78: KEEP THINKING ABOUT ME

XAHEN. The doors closed behind Theodosa and Nala was already back through them before I'd straightened up from the throne.She came in the way she always came in — like she'd been invited and had just been waiting for the right moment to show her face— and crossed the floor and stopped a few feet away. She didn't say anything yet.She was doing that thing she did where she looked at me and waited for me to give something away before she decided how to come at whatever she wanted to come at.I didn't give her anything."You let her walk out of here alone," I said."Afnie has her." She crossed her arms. "She can police your prisoner on your behalf just as well as I can. Better, actually. Afnie doesn't let her get away with half as much as I do.""That's a low bar.""That's your problem, not mine." She looked at me steadily. "What did you call Theodosa in here for?""I had something to discuss with my prisoner. So I discussed it with my prisoner.""In your throne room.""I find it tends

79: NAILS ON A CHALK-BOARD

XAHEN.Three ships sat in the water below the watchtower, two flanking one, all being loaded with men and supplies in the particular organized chaos that preceded any departure from my kingdom.I stood at the stairs and watched it come together.The arrangement was simple. The main ship would carry Binny Fane across the river to Duskmire's shore. The two flanking it would follow at distance, watch him cross the border, and once they did, my guards would abandon ship and make their way back.The young prince would stay bound in silver for the entire crossing, wrists and ankles, until he hit Duskmire's shore and someone there had the decency to cut him loose.I was leaving them the ship. I had no interest in it coming back across the river onto my land.Let Duskmire keep it.My gaze shifted to where my councilors had materialized on the shore below in clusters, none of them with any official reason to be there.Base and Hale had positioned themselves near the waterline. Base had his arms

80: YOUR EGO ON THE OTHER HAND

XAHEN."We're not done talking about it."The woman didn’t know how to take a fucking hint.She kept her voice even. "He's her brother. She's been in this kingdom almost a month and he's about to go home. If you let her stand here watching him go, that's going to be the last image she has of him depending on how long you intend to keep her here.""That's not my concern.""It doesn't have to be yours." She looked at me steadily. "It's hers. You’re angry and you’re being careful, but you’re not cruel Xahen."“She says while she begs me to give a woman like her some leave. Would have loved some leave myself.” I mocked bitterly. “Or maybe I did get it, when my first wife missed my heart barely by an inch. Or when I pulled myself out of flesh eating soil after being buried alive for decades!”She was staring down at the floor now."Ten minutes," she whispered. "That's all I'm asking. You give her ten minutes with him before that ship leaves and it costs you nothing.""It costs me the clean

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