“Bond?” I growled the word, thinking of the Guardian bond which had caused him such suffering, but he shook his head.
“This bond requires nothing of me, it only provides me a sort of kinship with Caleb,” he explained.
“It’s more than that,” Darius said, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “You’ll be worse with him than you are with your precious Noxy.”
“Fuck off, he’s not worse with anyone than me,” Gabriel growled, then pointed us to the door. “Come, let’s go. If you leave now, you’ll be back before nightfall…unless, oh shit, never mind.” He scrubbed at his eyes. “Just hurry up, alright?” he said a little sharply and we nodded quickly.
I hurried to the wardrobe and grabbed a black skirt and fitted white sweater out of it with some underwear, changing behind the door and pushing my feet into some knee high flat boots, then I followed Gabriel out the room with the others.
Tory kept to my side, throwing me anxious glances and I shrugged out of Orion’s hold as I took her hand instead. “Please don’t look at me like that. I can’t bear it.”
She nodded, glancing away and I squeezed her fingers to get her attention again. “What happened to you back there? Were you in danger?”
“A little,” she admitted. “But actually, I…saw our mother.” She took a little charm from her pocket, showing it to me and I admired the tiny Hydra in surprise.
“You did?” I asked, an ache in my chest over missing out on that.
Tory started explaining everything she’d seen and the others gathered closer too as we listened. When she told us about what Vard had done and the vile ritual he’d gone through to get his shadow eye, a shudder of disgust ran through me.
“Why do you think she showed you that?” Gabriel asked her as Tory examined the Hydra charm.
“I don’t know, but I think it’s important.”
We fell in to thoughtful silence as we headed outside The Burrows and before we exited, Darius moved forward and hugged me, making my eyebrows shoot up.
“I’m gonna go tell the others about all this, little shrew. I want you to know you have a weight of Dragon gold to buy any cure in this world that you need, and the full wrath of my Order to help you find an answer to this curse.”
He released me and I looked up at him with my heart bunching up in my throat. “Thank you, Darius.”
He nodded, looking to Orion and clapping his shoulder as a look passed between them and Gabriel that promised they’d tear the world apart for an answer to this curse. Then Darius kissed my sister goodbye and he jogged off down the passages.
“At least I don’t have to be there when Geraldine finds out,” I said to Tory, releasing a little laugh but Tory didn’t smile.
“You always smile even when it’s raining,” she said, her eyes glittering with tears.
“I like the rain,” I pointed out, but when she looked at me like her heart was breaking, I hugged her tight. “I swear this will pass, just like every other rainstorm, we’ll find a way through it together.”
She nodded against my shoulder. “I’ll fight every single rain drop if I have to. One by one, I’ll cut them out of the air.”
“I know you will,” I said, loving how much my sister loved me.
We all headed outside together and Orion kept his arm locked around my shoulders, his expression fitting for a witch hunt as he led me after Gabriel while Tory walked on my other side.
My brother turned to me as we made it beyond the boundary, tugging me out of Orion’s hold to give me a bone-crushing hug. “A friend of mine will meet you there. She’ll help you find what you need.”
I nodded against his shoulder, gripping him tight and he stepped back with a frown, looking to Orion over my shoulder. “Look after her, Orio,” he warned.
“Always, Noxy,” Orion growled.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Tory asked anxiously as she dragged me into her own fierce hug.
“I’ll look after her,” Orion answered for me.
“You need to rest,” I told her, giving her a tight smile. “We’ll be back soon.”
“We’ll be back when we have a way to break the curse,” Orion corrected me and Tory swung a finger towards his face.
“You find an answer, Lance Orion, or I’ll make you regret it. Do your nerd thing and find a way to fix this,” she commanded and Orion held out his hand to her.
“I swear I’ll do everything within my power to break the curse,” he promised and Tory slapped her palm into his before I could stop her, a flare of magic igniting between them as the deal was struck.