Soul Bound (Moonstone Saga #2)(6)
Author: Courtney Cole

“Empusa,” Elin leveled a gaze at me.  “Your role in this life is only just now beginning.  You and your soul mate have found each other and now your true purpose will begin.”

I sucked in my breath.  “How did you know that?” I asked in amazement.  “Do you prophesize?  You couldn’t possibly have known that.”

“Yet it is true, is it not?” Elin raised an eyebrow.

“It is true that Brennan and I only recently found each other.  But we have been warned.  If we cannot control our powers around each other, we could literally end the world as we know it.  We could cause an apocalypse.   That is a great burden to bear.  Is that what you speak of when you say that we have a purpose?”

Elin looked at me, her eyes solemn.  “Princess, when you have a purpose, no matter what it is, there is no escaping it.  Your purpose, whatever it is, will come to pass.  You need to embrace that, as well.”

“Do you know my purpose?” I whispered.  “Have you seen it?”

She stared at me for a moment longer, before shaking her head.  “I have not personally seen it, no.  But Branwyn has.”

“Can I just tell you how tiring it is when people see me in visions and I have not one inkling of what is going to happen in my own life?”

I sighed, allowing the air to expel slowly and loudly from my lips.  “I’m sorry.  It’s not your fault and I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“No offense taken, princess,” Elin nodded.   “And here we are.”

I looked up to find that we had made our way to the area that the priestesses used for eating.  There were women congregated into small groups, eating some sort of thick porridge from wooden bowls.  It didn’t smell good and I tried not to wrinkle my nose.

“Elin!” one of the women called and Elin turned to me.  “Will you be alright now?”

I nodded.  “Of course.  Thank you so much for showing me the way.”

She left to find her friend and I made my way to an empty wooden table.  It was made from thick-hewn logs sawed in half and I had to make sure I didn’t get a splinter.  Before I could sit or even blink, Brennan sidled up to me.

“Thought you could lose me, did you?” he asked with a grin.

“Of course not,” I assured him. “Nor would I want to.  I just needed some air.  My burden is sometimes difficult to bear.”

“So allow me to carry it for you,” he suggested.

My breath froze in my throat and I stood still.  “What?”

“I thought of a way,” he explained quietly.  “I can take your curse for you, Empusa.  In the same way that your father passed it to you, you can pass it to me.”

Everything around me blurred together as my emotions exploded in a way that was too much to bear, too much to remain conscious for.  I fainted, but before I hit the ground, I was pretty sure that I heard myself scream.

Chapter Three

I woke with ice cold water being poured on my face.  I sputtered and sat up, fighting against the strong arms that held me down.  Coughing, I twisted to find that Brennan was the one restraining me as we sat next to a rushing river.

“Don’t ever do that to me again!” Brennan said as he released his hold.  I slid from his grasp and crouched next to the water.  My throat burned from water running down the wrong pipe.

“Why were you trying to drown me?” I rasped as I continued to cough.  “And do what to you?”

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” he clarified firmly.  “I mean it.  Don’t.”

“I wasn’t trying to scare you,” I answered, looking around.  I was surrounded by priestesses.  Branwyn hovered nearby, along with Shayla, who was still staring adoringly at me.  “Your offer caught me off guard.  And it’s pure craziness,” I added.  “You are not taking my curse from me.  Absolutely not.”

Brennan started to protest, but I cut him off.

“No arguments,” I snapped.  “I can’t believe you would even suggest it.  We’d be in the same exact boat- one of us being cursed.  It doesn’t really matter which one of us carries it.  We just need to find a way to get it removed… not transfer it back and forth.  You have no idea what it entails, trust me.  I don’t want to talk of this anymore.”

He gazed at me, his eyes golden in the light before he stood and extended his hand to me. “Alright,” he agreed.  “For now.  We can speak more of it later.”

“No,” I said firmly.  “There will be no more talk of it ever.”

I grasped his hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet.  His touch still sent jolts of electricity shooting through my arm, reminding me of what we were.  Soul mates.  Once upon a time, Zeus had split our soul in half, creating two separate souls.  He had a theory that if people spent their lives searching for their other half, their true mate, then they would not be focused on over-throwing his crown.

I had not searched for my soul mate, however. I had happened upon him entirely by chance after I had just killed his uncle.  In most cases, that might put a damper on the relationship.  But soul mates had a connection; an unmistakable, undeniable connection.  It both reassured and terrified me at once.

The women surrounding us moved back so that I could walk through them.  The funny thing was that I didn’t know where to go.  What was my purpose here?  I stopped moving.

“Follow me,” Branwyn told me quietly as she moved forward.  “I have answers that you seek.”

My eyes shot to meet hers and found her gaze to be sincere and knowing.

She nodded.

“Yes, you can trust me.  I am here to help you.”

Brennan put his large hand on the small of my back, a weighty presence that comforted me.  His intense warmth, which stemmed from being the son of the god of the sun, radiated through my back. 

“I trust her,” he murmured into my hair from behind.  “I don’t know why but I do.”

I twisted just slightly to answer him.

“She can hear you, you know.”

He smiled slightly and I turned back to Branwyn.

“How do you know so much about me? I need to know.”

She nodded.  “Come, then.  I will explain.”