Page 113 of Hellbound

Steam billowed into their faces, the smell iron-rich and slightly sweet.

Ksenia inhaled sharply, as if surfacing from the ocean after being battered on the shoals.

Danika panted and leaned against the vat, hair matted to her face and neck.

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Danika’s resonance tended to be lyrical, clear, and bright; whereas Ksenia’s was always drier, darker, but grounded.

But together…

They could shake heaven and hell.

The freshly born soulbound metal’s resonance was like a struck cathedral bell that shook the stone floors and moved the air itself.

They shared a smile.

“So…Are you going to tell me how you hurt your arm?” Ksenia’s eyes slid to Danika’s wrapped forearm.

Danika’s mouth pressed thin.

“I know it’s not from those.” Ksenia gestured at the kingsword prototypes on the rack.

“I’ve been working on something…” Danika’s chest rose and fell with a sigh.

Several moments passed.

Her eyes resisted meeting Ksenia’s. “…I’ve been working on something that can prevent bondsmithing for good.”

Ksenia’s breath stilled. It couldn’t be.

Danika had picked up their late father’s pursuit of developing a metal that could nullify bonds, rendering weapons and bondsmiths ordinary.

Ksenia threw her hands up. “This again? If we get rid of bonded weapons, people will just go back to killing each other the old-fashioned way. This is NOT our problem to solve!”

“Dad’s philosophy was right. Look at us! For decades we’ve suffered the consequences of bondsmithing,” Danika retorted.

Ksenia’s brows shot to her hairline, arms crossed. “You mean because there’s a tyrant who’s hell-bent on exterminating people like you and me instead of being removed from power?”

Danika’s eyes cut to the door.

Ksenia gritted her teeth but continued her barrage in quieter tones. “Why should our powers be rendered useless? You think he won’t kill those children when he finds out they can’t forge bonded weapons?”

“No—yes—it’s complicated.” Danika crossed her arms, angling her furrowed gaze upward.

Danika’s brown eyes were steely as they locked in a stalemate.

“You’re one to judge.” Danika’s voice was frosty. “You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing?”

Danika’s finger was an accusation in her face before it swung to Caromir at her hip. “Since I saw you in the Vein, your dagger changed. And it’s only gotten stronger.”

The color drained from Ksenia’s cheeks—she’d known she would have to face this at some point.

“Do you even know what happens to a hellbound blade that keeps feeding?” Danika’s anger was replaced by something worse. Fear.

“Don’t lecture—”

“Radegast wasn’t forged with compulsion.” Danika jabbed her finger at the dagger. “It was unlocked—kill by kill, until it developed a power of its own.”