“Why?” Uron’s eyes narrowed. “Do you believe yourself above those who have undertaken it in the past?”
“No, I simply don’t believe in putting my soulmate’s life in danger to satisfy an outdated ritual. One that was formed when the deep abyss was a safe place. One that should have been abolished as soon as the first Atlantean female lost her life.”
“And yet you voiced no complaint then, did you, Pontus?”
Pontus’s jaw ticked. “It was remiss of me not to.”
“And then you were absent, asleep, uncaring of our rituals until now. Now that something you value is at risk.”
Pontus was silent.
“You see how this looks, don’t you?” Uron said with a smug smile.
“Yes, I do. It looks selfish and self-serving and maybe it is.” Pontus looked to the other consul members. “But that doesn’t make it wrong to ask. And it doesn’t make the ritual right. Some of you have soulmates already. Your hearts are safe, but some of you have yet to find them. Would you risk losing them to an outdated ritual? A ritual that served no other purpose than to prove the strength of a soul connection?”
The consul broke out into conversation that rippled up and down the line.
Uron’s expression hardened, eyes flashing. He obviously didn’t like what he was hearing, and then a strange look came over his face and his mouth turned down as if in sympathy.
“Yes, yes, you have a valid point, one I have thought on for a while now and one which I have agonized over bringing to the consul myself. The ritual is no longer what it used to be, a test of true connection, and I agree that we should abolish it.”
Pontus exhaled in relief.
But Uron wasn’t done. “For our citizens.” He smirked. “The seven, however, should not be released from it.”
Shit, the seven…Pontus was one of the seven.
“What?” Pontus took a step forward. “Why not?”
“You know why, brother,” Uron said. “We are connected. Our power is one, and any mate we cement with brings her energy to the pool. That person’s worth must be tested.”
Murmurs of agreement filled the room.
Shit.
“Soulmates aren’t always worthy individuals,” Uron continued. “They aren’t always good for us. We’ve seen that in the past. The corruption of a benevolent soul is a devastating thing. The ritual is our way to ensure that a soul connection is not only strong but healthy, and more so for one of the seven. Any soulmate of the seven will, after all, have access to our sacred ancient power.”
A series of ayes followed his statement.
Pontus made a sound of exasperation. “Damn it, Uron, I know we’ve had our differences, but to take it out on an innocent.”
Uron looked down at me, his sapphire eyes darkening. “Her innocence will be proven by the test.”
Could the darkness inside me cause me to fail?
“Let’s vote on it,” Uron said. “All those in favor of abolishing the ritual for everyone but the seven, raise your hands.”
Twelve Atlanteans raised their hands and Uron raised his last, a smile of satisfaction dancing on his lips.
I was so screwed.
“The bastard.” Pontus paced the floor of his temporary chambers. “I should have expected something like this.”
“What will you do?” Thalassa asked.
“I don’t know.” Pontus dragged a hand down his face.
We’d come here to cement our bond, to make me immortal and save me from the Mageri, but it was more than that now. This was about Pontus and me, about our soul bond and the fact that I didn’t want to lose him, not when I was only just discovering him.
But there was one solution. “There is one thing we can do.”
Pontus and Thalassa both turned to me.
“I could do the test.”
Pontus blinked sharply. “No. No, that is out of the question.”
Thalassa didn’t shut down the idea, though. Instead, she studied me for a long beat. “I believe you can do it.”
“It’s too big a risk,” Pontus said. “It’s been decades since anyone went into the abyss; we have no clue how much worse things have gotten down there. Uron knows that.”
“Yes,” Thalassa said. “And he’s banking on you walking away. He wants you gone. He wants you to become mortal, because then the seven become the six and your power is distributed among them, which will put Uron at the top of the food chain. Uron’s always hated that the old power was distributed between seven rather than gifted to one. He’d happily whittle down the numbers until he has it all. Once that happens, there will be no consul. We’ll go from being ruled by council to a dictatorship.”
“Is that why you were so insistent Quinn take the test?” Pontus asked.
“Partly, yes,” Thalassa said.
“Why didn’t you tell me what Uron was up to?”
“I wasn’t sure. Not until he pulled that stunt back in the assembly room. But now I have no doubts. The whole purity and health of the bond spiel is bullshit. It’s fear-mongering.” She looked to me. “If you don’t do the test, then Uron gets what he wants. If you fail it, he gets what he wants also.”
“Wait, if I fail, Pontus loses his immortality?”
“If you die or return unsuccessful in the task set to you, then the bond is not cemented,” Thalassa explained.
So the chance of Uron getting what he wanted was high. “I’ll do it.”
Pontus gripped my shoulders. “No. You don’t have to do this. Losing me won’t give Uron enough power to take control of the six.”
“But it will give him a lead,” Thalassa said.
Pontus’s jaw ticked. “Nothing is worth losing my soulmate.”
“But Pontus, if I don’t do this, you might lose me anyway. The Mageri won’t stop until they kill me.”
His grip on me tightened. “We’ll find another way.”
I shook my head. “There is no other way, and you know it. I have to do this. For so many reasons.”
He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. “I can’t lose you, Quinn. We’ve only just begun, but you’re already a part of me.”
I tipped my chin up, breaking forehead contact to brush his lips with mine. “I can do this. I want to do this. For us.”
And in that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that I could pass whatever test they threw at me. Failure was not an option.
I kissed Pontus softly and pulled back to look at Thalassa. “When can we do this?”
“Whenever you want,” Thalassa said.
I took a deep breath. “Then let’s do it now.”
15
TATE
The boundary is covered. The Faoladh have posted patrols in the woods, on the road, any point where the Wardens might choose to enter the town. Jax provided walkies to each unit. We’ll know when the Wardens get here.
Bryce sits at the kitchen island, head in his hands. I think we must have gone through four pots of coffee between us. Right now, my veins are probably more coffee than blood.
Emmit is doing another perimeter check of the grounds, and Jax is on the main road into town, at the main boundary.