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We should have known better.
“Juu.” My eyes wandered over to her, where she was now sandwiched between Bellamy and Lucian. “I take it you heard…?”
Ric scratched at his tidy beard, following my gaze. “Let’s just say it was a long night for all of us.”
“She’s worried about jealousy,” I told him. “Are we good?” We all knew now the nature of the relationship he’d had with our Heart for years before she found us. It would have made sense in many ways for him to be her first. Truly, he should have been.
He was quiet for a moment, considering his answer, before he clapped me on the shoulder and nodded at the table where everyone else was taking their seats. “It’s not a contest. I’ll be fine.” He cleared his throat and addressed the room as he sat. “We should talk about what happened at the hospital.”
The atmosphere in the room shifted, and Cordelia all but fell into her chair like gravity was too much for her. “I don’t know what happened,” she admitted, watching as I began to fill a plate for her. “I was just following my magic. Rami already told me it’s another thing I shouldn’t have been able to do.”
There was a war raging in Ric’s eyes, fear battling pride. “What you did was miraculous.”
“And dangerous,” Quinn added, but his tone wasn’t sharp or angry. If anything, he was struggling as much as the rest of us.
Alaric’s expression darkened in warning. “Quinn—”
“No,” Cordelia cut him off with authority, gentle but unwavering. “I know you’re just trying to protect me, and I love you for it, Prince.” Then she turned her attention to her most conflicted bond. “But what I need right now is the truth, whole and uncensored. I trust you to give me that.”
“Always.” The word slipped out of him, and surprise flickered over his face like he hadn’t permitted it to do so. He blinked and straightened. “I’ve never heard of another instance of a Heart forging a soul-bond without divine intervention.”
Cordelia’s eyes blazed like blue fire. “But we know that since I have divine essence inside me, I can defy the norm.”
“Hence the danger.” Quinn nodded.
“I don’t know how I did it, though.” She chewed her lip, looking around with uncertainty. “Really, it was just a gut instinct.”
I reached over to gently squeeze the back of Cordelia’s neck under the thick fall of her hair. “No one is ungrateful for your instincts,” I assured her. “I’d have died without them.”
“More to Quinn’s point,” Alaric picked up, “we now have something else to keep hidden. I’m fairly certain the new talisman will mask any form of bond, but we’ll need to know for sure before we get on campus.”
Cordelia paled and set her fork down. “How long am I going to have to wear that thing?”
Ric winced in sympathy. “Until the Blood Ritual. The pendant’s magic should be negated by—”
“Blood Ritual?” She couldn’t hide the sharp alarm in her tone.
I squeezed her neck again, working my thumb in soft circles. “No one will harm you. Each of us bears a divine mark that was revealed during this ceremony. It is how our legacies are confirmed and our drift formed. When you participate in the ritual, a drop of blood will reveal your mark, and it will match ours, proving you are our Heart. That is when heartstrings are usually tied.”
“At least we know that physical touch helps ease the pain caused by the charm,” Bellamy chimed in. He waggled his eyebrows in an effort to ease the tension, but Cordelia gave him a sardonic look.
“Something tells me it would look a little suspicious to be in constant contact with a drift who hasn’t been declared as mine. What was the word?” She pretended to think, finger tapping her chin. “Right. Blasphemous.”
“She’s not wrong.” Quinn interrupted whatever argument his brother had been about to make. “And suspicion isn’t something we can afford. Not with so many unanswered questions. We’ll need to rein it in and create some distance until the ritual.” A flicker of hope crossed Cordelia’s features as Quinn included himself in the equation.
“I’ve already petitioned for ongoing guardianship under the unique circumstances,” Ric forced a comforting smile. “That way you’ll be able to stay at the house with us. It’ll be alright.”
That itching sensation returned as Cordelia’s anxiety swelled, but she kept a brave face firmly in place. I sent a wave of reassurance down our bond and watched her shoulders loosen a fraction. Whatever lies we had to tell, whatever challenges we faced, we would do it all together.
As a family.
As a drift.
56
CORDELIA
I wandered around the house a little aimlessly after breakfast, and the guys allowed me space to process. They were all busy packing up and preparing for the return to Athene Academy. Until this year, Rami and Alaric stayed in Glenoakes year-round, and the others only returned during breaks and holidays. Now everyone would be going back together.
