As I watch them all leave, I feel a little puddle of dread start up in my stomach about that whole situation. It sort of feels like I’m leaving Sage in a den of wolves, snarling at each other’s throats and just waiting for the chance to rip them out.
There’s also other things for me to worry about here.
North is still covered from head to toe in grime and gore from the battlefield, the war we’d fought and won today, but I don’t hesitate as I lean forward and wrap my arms around his waist and soak in a little of his strength for a moment.
I’m exhausted.
The type of exhaustion that I haven’t felt in a long time. The type where I could pass out for three days just to recover. I haven’t felt this way in months, not since I’d stopped fighting my bond and accepted what I could do with my Gift to help my Bonded Group and our community. I knew that the fighting had worn me down, my body becoming a conduit of power as I pulled souls and churned them through to my Bonded, but I wasn’t expecting it to affect me like this.
Usually, I feel stronger.
“It’s the god-bond’s pain. She weakened the vessel before the bond took over,” Gryphon’s bond says, and I feel North tense against me.
Nox steps a little closer to Gryphon, his own eyes black, but the look on his face makes it clear that he’s the one in charge, merely calling on his Gift right now because of the tension in the room. Atlas and Gabe are both hovering close to North and I, their own eyes clear and concerned without a single trace of the gods within them.
We probably couldn’t handle any extra power in this room right now.
“Calling me a vessel isn’t the best idea right now, buddy,” I mumble back, but he hears me well enough.
“You are the vessel. Whether the other vessels like it or not, that is what you are.”
“Gryphon might be my closest friend, but I’ll kill you both without question if you keep talking to her like that. You’re a threat to her right now, and I know Gryphon would agree with me,” Nox says, the shadows creeping up his arm ominously.
I don’t like any of them talking like that.
He looks around the room with the unerring look that we are now accustomed to seeing from the bonds, unblinking and emotionless. Nox watches him closely, wary and ready to spring into action if the bond does decide to hurt me to get to the bond inside of me.
That’s not really my concern here.
I’m worried because the gods within us all had released the rest of us, taking refuge in the back of our minds the moment that we’d returned to the Sanctuary. Except Gryphon’s had stayed in control. It could be something as simple as Gryphon allowing his bond to experience the new world it’s been born into or maybe the fight had weakened him like it had me. Maybe he’s not strong enough yet to wrestle the bond back into the recesses of his mind. Either way, we really shouldn’t take any chances, especially not now that we know there are more of them out there.
With one last squeeze, I let my arms drop away from North’s waist, and I step around him to stand at his side to look Gryphon’s bond over once more. Atlas and Gabe both watch me without a word, but Nox steps a little closer to flank my other side. His shadows swarm around our feet, shifting and writhing unhappily at the danger in the room, especially while it wears the face of one of our Bonded Group.
Procel steps out of the dark cloud and drops down to sit on my feet, his unblinking void eyes fixed on Gryphon’s bond. Azrael hasn't left my side since the fighting had first started at the Wasteland, but he shifts a little to let his brother join him in guarding me.
It feels as though they’re both spoiling for a fight.
Don't provoke him, I send to Nox through our mind connection, hesitating for a second before sending it through to all of them except for Gryphon, I don't think he means any harm. I think it's the same as when Gabe’s dragon came out to play. He’s just… introducing himself.
Gryphon’s void eyes flick to Gabe and then back to me, proving once and for all that it doesn't matter whether or not I'm trying to block him from the conversation, my mind is an open book to him in this state.
They all see it as well, but when Atlas replies to me, he keeps it within the mind connection. I think it’s more out of habit than secrecy anyway.
If he calls you a vessel one more time, starts Atlas as though he’s beyond over this shit, but North just flicks his hand at him dismissively.
I’m more worried that he won't give Gryphon back. I’m more concerned that he is planning on keeping control and getting rid of his own vessel. He's already said that he is as devoted to Oli as the rest of them are. I think the god-bonds are most dangerous to whoever they live within.
My heart clenches painfully in my chest. I take a step forward without meaning to, everyone in the room protesting in their own way, but Nox’s hand locks around my wrist as he holds me back from going any further. I can’t stop myself though. I can’t just stand by and watch Gryphon's bond get rid of him any more than I could let Nox sacrifice himself for North.
“My bond already told me that I’m the perfect vessel for it, and it won’t hurt me. If you do anything to Gryphon, I will reject you until my last breath. I don’t care how much it hurts me, I won’t accept you. I will have you both or I won’t have you at all… Do you understand that? Look at me and know that I’m telling you the truth, Soothsayer.”
Even as its head cocks to the side a little, he knows I’m telling the truth. He knows that I’m as devoted to my Bonded as he is to me.
He stares me down for a moment before he finally speaks again, his monotone voice sending chills down my spine. “That is the difference between this time and last. This time, we’re going to survive this. All of us. I’m not going to kill the vessel. I’m going to use it to keep you forever.”
Getting Gryphon’s bond back to the mansion should be as easy as calling Kieran here to Transport him but, because for some reason, the universe hates me, it’s not.
After getting Sage safely back to their house, a situation in one of the other Wastelands had arisen, and Kieran was pulled away to evacuate the TacTeam personnel. As much as North would love to call him back here, he would never risk any of the other community members, not unless it were actually an emergency. So instead, we’re forced to make a game plan.
It’s not exactly going to be easy to smuggle him out of the building without anyone catching a glimpse of his void eyes and unnaturally expressionless face.
There’s too much potential for panic around here already.
Instead, we call Sawyer to bring us down some bandages and wrap those around over his brow like a large headband, not quite covering his eyes but obscuring them enough that anyone who thinks they might see inky blackness could be convinced otherwise. Okay, so it might take every last inch of North’s charm and maybe a little of Nox’s intimidation techniques to really make it work, but we’re willing to do whatever it takes here to get Gryphon home.
I mean, what could go wrong?
“A variety of things, Bonded. Don’t tempt fate,” North drawls at me when I’m stupid enough to say it within his earshot.
I keep one eye on Gryphon’s bond and the other eye on Atlas, who is still staring at it like he’s planning on doing something drastic to get it to give Gryphon back. It would be a very sweet moment except that I know it has exactly nothing to do with the budding friendships that are finally forming between him and the rest of the Bonded Group and everything to do with the potential here for me to get hurt.