Luminara Whisperwind's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

The match was sealed, but the rite was not. Luminara left the castle with a promise in her chest and a hollow under it. To bind Kael as her eternal mate, she needed a token of her own blood. The sword had proven her name. It could not finish what the binding circle had begun. She walked to the open meadow where her mother had told her the rite must be done. A tall stone statue stood there, carved into the shape of a winged woman, half human and half butterfly. It marked her bloodline. At its base sat a flat altar stone, and laid across it, a slender wand tipped with painted wings. The space was ready. The token was not. Kael came when she sent for him. He carried his staff and said nothing about the walk. "Tell me what's missing," he said. "A book," she said. "My family kept one. Runes and the binding words. Without it, the rite holds halfway and no further." She had searched her mother's chest twice. The grimoire was not there. She was about to tell him to go home when hooves sounded on the road. A rider in royal colors dismounted and bowed. He carried a weathered book bound in leather, its cover marked with runes that glowed faint blue and red. "From King Aldric," the rider said. "Found among the items taken when his relic was stolen. He returns what is yours." Luminara opened the cover. Her mother's name was inside. She set the grimoire on the altar, lifted the wand, and spoke the words. The wings on her back warmed. Kael laid his staff beside the wand. The bond closed. When the rider turned to leave, he paused. "The king asks one thing in return," he said. "His son's debt comes due in one season. He will need you both." Luminara nodded. The rite was done. The cost had only just been named.