All Chapters of Broken Bond: Revenge in Full Moon: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The door to the healer's quarters opened quietly. The first things Lily noticed about the door were the way it opened the soft hinge and the lack of announcement. An unmistakable scent was in the hallway. It was faintly antiseptic and a hint of dampness from the stone.As soon as the door shut behind her, Lily went to the bedside. The man on the bed did not budge. His chest was rising very slowly, as if he hadn't decided yet if he was going to keep living. Bandages were wrapped around his ribs and shoulder.His face was slack in a way Lily didn't like — as if whatever force was keeping him alive had taken a short break.Near the bedside was a small bowl of water. Someone had put an extra effort into making no fuss.At the end of the corridor, where the light from the entrance was dimmed by shadows, were two guards standing in a shadowy form. Lily could sense their presence more than see them.Two steps ahead Lily took and let the room tell its story.Under the healing smells of the he

When the walls closed, they looked perfectly normal; the stones fit together exactly as they should have.Lily felt the cool stone against her arm, but she did not attempt to reach out and touch it again. If she had touched it again, she would have shown surprise.Dylan walked deliberately towards her and viewed the stone as you view an old friend. "Let me take a look," Dylan said. Lily took a half step backward, and shifted her body so that Dylan could see the damaged part of the stone.Lily pointed to the part of the stone that was broken and said, "There."Dylan bent in closely to the stone and put his hand right above it. Even though the wind wasn't blowing, there was a gentle breeze. "Old air", "patient and old"."Somebody taught them," Dylan said. "Or they figured it out," Lily said. "People who wait long enough figure it out."There was a period of silence. The palace continued to run normally overhead, with doors opening and closing, people speaking softly and going about thei

Darkness slipped into the palace quietly.In the palace, the light began to fade. The doors were closing quietly. Voices were fading slowly until they were more habit than choice. Lily walked down the middle of the hallway this time, by herself.She liked it better that way.The flooring in the hallway, unlike anything else she'd ever heard, reflected sound in such a way that each step she took sent sound back to her via the stone as if it wanted to remember who had walked on it. Her stride stayed steady.Before her was a corner. She slowed as she approached it.Lily paused and waited, but there was nothing. Nevertheless, she walked through the alcove and there was nothing there, although the air hinted of the faintest sign that someone had recently been there and that they had failed to erase their path.Lily chose not to follow them. Following them was exactly what they wanted.Rather, she headed toward the council wing; the one with the large windows and the echo that revealed too

The bell rang once.Lily felt it before she could hear it. It was a service bell — not an alarm bell. Only meant to summon someone who already knew to come.She froze in place.Dylan did as well — a little farther back.He did not ask what it was. He had learned all of the palace's secondary sounds (as you learn a second language) by paying attention whenever it seemed as though no one cared."That wasn't scheduled," he said."No," Lily said.Neither of them moved. The hallway stretched out in front of them narrowing towards the kitchen where it was warm and smelled of old heat and metal. The bell's echo faded and disappeared.An unspoken decision lay between them.Lily chose it.She went left instead of right going towards the servant stairs which twisted back and forth in a confusing manner. Dylan followed without saying anything — his feet were about half a step behind hers.About halfway down, Lily slowed. The smell down here was different from above — there was much less stone, m

The Bells Hadn’t Run Again.It wasn’t until after the bells hadn’t rung again that Lily could tell everything else had also changed. The guards had moved. The servants moved back and forth in the hallways carrying trays and baskets and kept their eyes lowered.Lily stood at the front of the Council Corridor. She allowed all of this to settle. The silence of the unrung bells was more oppressive to her than it might have been otherwise. It signaled that someone believed reassurance was no longer required.Dylan appeared at her side without speaking. Lily sensed that he’d appeared at her side by the way the air seemed to create a boundary between the two of them.“They are finished asking,” he said.“Yes.” Lily replied. “Then I’m going to walk.”She then turned from the corridor and started to move. Dylan followed beside her. The space between them had grown familiar.“They provided us with information,” Dylan said. “That was not an act of charity.”“No.” Lily replied. “That was an act o