She’s right. If I’d left the room, I’m sure the cramping in my chest would’ve gotten more intense. Normally, I’m okay with pain. Pain has only made me stronger, but this is a different type.
It’s not a normal hurt, just a relentless ache that intensifies when I’m away from her, and the more I try to pull away and ignore her, the worse it becomes. It’s like a toothache that’s taken over my whole body—a pain I wish would disappear but instead lingers.
When we’re in the same room, sharing the same space, that ache dulls and cools. It’s as if by being near her, my aching is soothed, her presence my painkiller.
I’m not sure what this Cold Tether is all about, but I don’t like it. Becoming attached emotionally and physically to someone I don’t even know? It’s bogus, and I never asked for any of this shit.
She’s asleep now, breathing softly, making small noises. I watch her a while, wondering if this was meant to happen. Was she meant to land here and pop into my life? Was she meant to hear my thoughts, feel my emotions, read me like a book? It’s hard for many to get a read on me, but Willow does it with ease. It’s as if this Tether was created for us to be soulmates, but I can’t help feeling like that’s impossible for me. She’s nothing like me, and there’s no love left within me to give.
I’m a fucked-up man with fucked-up urges, and she’s this delicate thing who would have no idea what to do with me. It’s not fair to her, to me, but by morning, we’ll be able to move again. We’ll find Beatrix, we’ll get that chant memorized, and it’s back to her world she goes.
With the thoughts running rampant in my brain, I stand and make my way to the door. Before I go, I glance back and watch Willow’s chest rise and sink as she sleeps soundly. Truthfully, I feel bad for her. Being stuck here, in a place as awful as Vakeeli. The woman is terrified to be here. I have to find out more about this Tether.
Fortunately, Whisper Grove has one of the largest libraries, and it’s a short walk from the inn. I leave the room, close the door behind me, and walk down the hallway. As I pass the bar, I spot Alexi behind it, wiping down the counters. No one else is around.
“Going out?” he calls.
“Fuck off,” I mutter, already walking out the front door. I don’t know what it is about him that I hate…well, I take that back. I do know. It’s that he had his hands on Willow. I can’t figure out why it angers me that he held her, but it does, so fuck him.
I walk along the cobblestone street, passing lit lanterns and horses tied to poles, until I spot the library ahead. It stands tall between the village hall and a bakery. A brown three-story building, half of it swathed in thick, green vines. There are two balconies, both laced with vines as well. A gold glow emits from the upper window. I used to call it the candle that burns forever because, no matter the time we visited, it was always burning. No one is probably in there; it’s nearing midnight. Fortunately this library never closes.
I remember it as a child—the late hours wandering through Whisper Grove with my mother. She was a night owl. She didn’t like going out much during the day. She’d bring me here to study, because to her, reading was essential. And not only that, but Whisper Grove also had the finest literature. A lot of the books go back centuries upon centuries. She’d find a book for me (normally about something she wanted me to learn, like the names of flowers, or the types of clouds), plop me down in a corner, and tell me to read. Then she’d find her own books and read for hours, scribbling notes like mad in one of the leatherbound notebooks she carried. I never knew what she was writing in those books, but it always seemed urgent. That is until the day she burned every single one of them. That was a week before I never saw her again. Clearly those journals had information inside them that she didn’t want anyone figuring out.
I brush the memory away as I grip the handle of the library door and pull it open. As soon as I’m inside, I’m greeted with the scent of aged books and cinnamon. Candles in sconces line the walls, and what looks like infinite rows of shelves are ahead, overflowing with books. I pass the front counter, which is vacant, a white sign perched on top of it with the word CLOSED, and move through one of the shelves. I pass fiction, non-fiction, Greek mythology, and textbooks for math until I spot the section I need.
Vakeeli History.
It’s the largest section of the library, a circle of bookcases surrounding sunken-in leather sofas, wooden chairs, and desks. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but I’ll know it when I see it, so I spark a bloom, pick up a pillar candle, and make my way to the first shelf.
There are books on certain wars and battles, the battle of Luxor and Kessel, for instance, and the four-year war between Blackwater and Ripple Hills. Ripple lost, of course.
Monarchs of Vakeeli, going back 10,000 years.
Maps.
Resource guides and explanations.
I stop when I see the section I need.
Selah the Regal.
I place the candle on a shelf, put out my bloom, and scan the row of books. I’d heard about Selah through my mum, very rarely. It’s been deemed that Selah still exists but is impossible to reach. Many say she lives on an island she created herself, deep in the Vakeeli waters. I suppose no one would know because there is only so far a person can venture into the waters before the waves become large enough to drown your boat and kill everyone on it.
I spot a book with the title Selah’s Creation of the Tethered and take it out, carrying it to a table and flipping it open. There’s passage after passage of what the Tether is, exactly as Beatrix described it. There’s the simple Tether, which is common in Vakeeli. Soulmates who link eyes, connect, and marry off like normal people do. And then there’s the Cold Tether and the story of how it was created.
There are arguments that out of the three Regals of Vakeeli, Selah was most powerful. Hassha, Regal of the sun, moon, and stars, and Korah, Regal of water, air, land, and vegetation, were the creators of all Vakeeli territory. Selah was the Regal of animals and men. The Regals possessed the power to create all living things, building each territory in a unique way.
After all the land was formed, Selah created the first of Vakeeli mankind, the Tethered. There were seven Tethered total. Three females: Jesha, Rotan, and Oriah, and four males: Valkee, Busk, Decius, and Lehvine. It is said that this number is all Selah could produce. Her powers would not let her create more than seven at once.
After Hassha and Korah had created and split the lands, each Tethered was given a territory where they created their own laws. Selah created each Tether to be completely unique. They were not family. They did not know each other. She’d separated them as children, raised them individually, and allowed them to develop their own characteristics. The Tethered kept to themselves, growing roots in their lands, and making each territory the best that they could, but she soon realized her Tethered were lonely, just as she was when Hassha and Korah stepped down to become Mythics among the land of Vakeeli.
Selah allowed the Tethered to seek each other when they became old enough to mate. When it was time to mate, they’d know because their hearts would beat harder, their bodies would develop, and their feet would move without guidance until they were where they needed to be. According to the text, when they found their mate, the bond was undeniable. They would become protective and could smell their mate from miles away. With their mates, they would create children, who would also carry the power of the Tether.
Jesha mated with Valkee.
Rotan mated with Busk.
Oriah mated with Lehvine.
However, by creating seven Tethered, Selah had conjured a downfall. One of the women would accidentally mate twice, and that was Oriah, who not only mated with Lehvine, but Decius as well.
This did not sit well with either male, because as mates, a solid bond is created so that procreation can begin. The Tethered males become very territorial, digging into their primitive ways for their mates, and this was hard for Oriah because her heart had mated to two.
Lehvine was strong, with arms as thick as tree trunks and hair as dark as a raven. He was ruler of Blackwater. Decius was the mighty ruler of The Trench, which was once known as Titan before he abandoned it.
It’s rumored that Oriah begged Selah to let her have both men, to let her bond and procreate with both of them, but Selah told her she could not because it would disrupt the sacredness of the Tether. But of course, Selah loved Oriah, and she did not want her to suffer, so to spare Oriah’s heart, Selah agreed to take whichever man she didn’t choose and put him to rest, so that Oriah would live with one mate peacefully and without guilt.
With a heavy heart, Oriah chose Lehvine. And when Decius found out that he was going to be put to rest because of Oriah’s choice, he was not pleased. Selah gave Decius three full moons to live, and he lived angrily, bitterly. Then, he found out Oriah was pregnant, and that her procreation with Lehvine was beginning.
With this news, Decius’ anger only intensified, but he hid it from Selah. On the day Oriah gave birth, Decius paid her and Lehvine a visit and confronted Oriah, begging for her to take him back. Oriah told him she couldn’t—that she’d already bonded with Lehvine. They were going to live the rest of their lives procreating for Selah in peace.
Still angry, Decius argued with Oriah until Lehvine interfered and tried breaking it up, but it is said that when Lehvine touched Decius, his anger was so powerful that Lehvine’s hand turned as black as coal and his arm lost its strength. Lehvine retreated and managed to get Decius away, but it would not be the last time Lehvine saw him.
Decius had gotten a taste of Lehvine’s power through his wrath, and he craved it more than he did the bond with Oriah. He wanted all of Lehvine’s strength, so Decius returned to Blackwater, the land Lehvine ruled, appearing twice his size, with arms as large as Lehvine’s. It was there when he attacked Lehvine, wrapped his hands around his head, and sucked the life from him to become even stronger.
Once Lehvine was dead, his body hollow and cold, he gave Oriah an easy solution. She could be with him now that Lehvine was gone and they could continue to procreate, but Oriah was mortified. She’d watched as Decius took the life from her mate and felt a pain she’d never felt before. Her heart was breaking, and she became freezing cold.
She shivered as she ran away with her son and hid him in the fields, and when Decius found Oriah and she still refused him, he clasped her head in his hands and drained the life from her too, and he felt full.
Realizing what he’d done, and that Selah would soon come, Decius fled and went into hiding. And when Selah visited and found two of her Tethered dead, she was brokenhearted.
Selah figured out who’d done it, and she sought to destroy Decius immediately, get rid of the abomination she’d created, but it was too late. Decius’s hunger for Tethered souls became too much for him to bear, so he found Rotan and Busk and drained the life from them too. And then, when he became hungry again, he went after Jesha and Valkee, all of whom had procreated. Jesha and Valkee had created twins, and Royan and Busk, a daughter. With no more Tethered to take, Decius hid, and Selah collected all the Tethered babies, casting a protection spell over them.
Selah knew once the babies grew, the spell would weaken because of the strength of the Tether, and that Decius would come out of hiding to hunt them too once they were of age, so she created three uppers, known as The Council, who could also procreate but could not be harmed by Decius.
The Council had children, and their children had children. Some of the children were born with gifts to further protect themselves and their families from Decius and beings like him, and they are known as the Gilded. The Gilded were once pulled together to create an army, but as time progressed and Decius revealed less of himself, the army dispersed and lived normal lives.
All of The Council’s children and the Gilded procreated, filling up the world of Vakeeli, just as Selah had planned. Then, when the Tethered babies were old enough, she blessed their souls with the power to be reborn and used all that was left of her energy to send each baby into hiding. Two of the babies remained in Vakeeli and were looked after by the Regals and The Council, while the twins were sent to a different universe, one Selah had never ventured to, but figured was best in order to keep them safe.
However, these precautions did not stop Decius from finding them. The four Tethered babies remain, and each time they are killed by Decius, they are born again months later. According to the text, Selah did not want to destroy the babies because she wanted to find Decius and destroy him only, so they could live peacefully and carry her gift on. She could not create anymore Cold Tethers. She didn’t have the energy or power to do so. Because of this, each baby was reborn again and again until she could find a solution.
For centuries, Selah protected the cold Tethered from Decius each time they were reborn by allowing them to mate, and once mated, she’d harness the power of their Cold Tether herself, which in turn would weaken Decius and allow the Tethered to prosper as normal beings for as long as their lives went on.
However, Selah’s disappearance has counteracted that. Cold Tethers are still being hunted and drained before they can procreate, and it is said that Decius may have gotten strong enough to place his own attack on Selah, which has resulted in her disappearance.
The Cold Tether continues to be studied. It is a sacred bond, passed down from the highest Regal. Some believe it to be a curse, while others consider it a gift…
I stare at the last page of the book. I’m can’t even form a coherent thought. Decius was originally a Tether created by Selah…and now he’s Mournwrath?
“Shit,” I mutter. This is worse than I thought. I flip the page, and as I do, I hear footsteps drift through the library. Who the hell is here so late?
I glance down at a fountain pen on the table and pick it up, gripping it and moving behind a shelf to hide. The footsteps move closer, and I lift my hand, angling the pointed tip of the pen ahead of me. I may not have my gun, but I have this. I just hope it doesn’t trigger any alarms. But if it’s a Rippie, or someone else out to get me…
A person steps into view, and when I see who it is, I lower my hand and release a breath.
