The Binding (Chronicles of Azaria #1) (29 page)

Then I came across a chapter on the Goddess Jewel. I rubbed the page between my fingers, trying to get past the first paragraph, but I couldn
’t. It stirred too much bitterness. Besides, it probably wouldn’t tell me anything Ryan hadn’t already mentioned, and I knew that avenue was closed to me anyway.

I snapped the book shut and reached for the next one. As I grasped the spine, something sparkled across my eyes. I blinked. A trick of the candle-light, perhaps. Then my vision blurred, and I wiped a stray tear. Surely I hadn
’t been reading for that long?

The blurriness changed to a stream of gold. I froze, and the book in my hand dropped to the floor. The objects around me took on a honey-coloured halo, and my mouth went dry. No, it couldn
’t be…not here!

“Eliza?” Ryan peered up from his leather-bound folio. “Is everything alright?”

“Fine, just fine,” I said quickly, rubbing my eyes. I took a deep breath, ignoring the ache in my ribs. I had to stay calm. “Found anything yet?”

“Not really,” Ryan said. “Nothing I haven
’t read about before, anyway.” He glanced to the clock at the end of the passage. “You?”

“About the same,” I said, still rubbing.

“We’ve got an hour, we can keep going.”

I nodded, removing my hands from my face. To my dismay, the golden shimmers didn
’t go away. They continued to glisten off the shelves and wall paintings, leading back to the main hall. I bit my lip. This was bad, really bad. It meant more of the strange runes were nearby. Memories of my previous encounters came to mind, and I shuddered. Those things made me so ill. I didn’t want to read them again, and definitely not in such a public place.

Picking up the fallen book, I flicked back to the first page. If I ignored the golden haloes, maybe they would leave me alone. After a few attempts at reading, though, I had no such luck. The bright sparkles kept swirling across the text, making it impossible to see. I screwed my eyes shut. It was giving me a headache.

The pain spread deeper, and I gripped my temples. Still the flashing spots wouldn’t leave me alone, and I groaned silently. I’d not be left in peace until I read the cryptic symbols, and the longer I delayed, the more it would hurt.

I pushed my chair back and stood up.

“I’m going to get some water,” I said, trying not to make my distress too obvious. “Want anything?”

“I
’m good, thanks.” Ryan glanced to me, brow raised. “You sure you’re okay? You look a bit pale.”

“Reading too fast, probably,” I lied. “I
’ll be back soon.”

The golden speckles flew around like tiny fireflies. I spent a moment fighting down dizziness, before I followed them along the corridor, past Bergundy, and back to the main hall. There the spots swirled together, concentrating towards the ceiling. I looked straight up.

A beautiful icon of the Goddess in her two-winged form had been painted there. She sat on a river bank, letting water flow from her hands to the dried earth. My eyes drifted to her tiara, where a single jewel was missing, then to her outstretched palms. Between them an unusual design had been cut into the marble. Almost like…

Before I could finish the thought, the rune burst into brilliance. I stood there, mesmerized, listening to the gasps of the scholars as they too witnessed the spectacle. The white fire condensed into shape, and its meaning came with sudden clarity.

“
Secrets
.”

The rune vanished. The room went spinning, and I collapsed. I hit the varnished floor, clutching the side of my head. My eyes were burning. Someone rushed to my side, placing a supportive hand on my back.

“Miss! Are you alright?”

I managed a nod, my mouth too dry to speak.

“Get her some water.” Multiple footsteps scattered, and I crawled to a sitting position. I was so dizzy, the pain in my eyes unbearable. It was as if someone had thrown chilli powder into my face, and even though the tears came in droves, the irritation remained.

Still, while I couldn
’t see properly, my ears were fully functioning, picking up the excited chatter of the scholars.

“She read the Holy Rune!”

“How could she? No-one’s been able to read them for a thousand years!”

“We saw it come to life! It had to be!”

“We must inform the Dean at once!”

“How did she do it?”

“Eliza!”

Ryan
’s voice broke through the babble, and I forced my eyes open. My vision had returned, but everything appeared double, and it was painful to focus for long. He shoved past the awestruck scholars and gripped my shoulders.

“What happened
? Is…” His words stuck in his throat as his eyes met mine. Inside I shivered. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me.

“What
’s wrong?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

“Your eyes…” Ryan shook his head.

“What?” I grabbed his coat lapels. “What about my eyes? Ryan, tell me!”

“They
’re…” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “They’ve turned gold.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

‘
With renewed strength she welcomed the dawn, embracing its promise of brighter dreams to come...’

—
Tale of the Binding

I let go of Ryan. My whole body began to tremble, and for once it had nothing to do with the Binding. My chest felt so tight, I couldn’t breathe. Ryan wrapped his arm around me, but he might as well have been a figment of my imagination. My eyes…what had happened to my eyes?!

“It
’s alright,” Ryan called to the crowd. “She fainted. I’ll take care of her.” He bent closer to my ear. “Can you walk? There’s a reading alcove nearby. It’ll be more comfortable. And more private.”

His voice broke through my terror, and I clung to it; a thread of hope in an ocean of darkness.

“I…I’ll try.”

I slid an arm around his waist, and he hoisted me up. By some miracle
, I forced myself to walk, and we stepped towards a glass door. Inside were furnishings and lighting for reading. It was also empty—no doubt because of the interesting light show I’d provided. Some scholars followed tentatively, but Ryan’s assurances got them on their way again. The library staff began dispersing the other onlookers, and soon we were left alone.

As we came to the door, I caught my reflection. Ryan was right. My midnight-blue irises had become an iridescent gold.

Really not my colour at all.

Ryan guided me to the couch, and I lay down and closed my eyes. My headache was improving, but the dizziness was still bad, and I was so very tired.

“What happened?” Ryan sat beside me, his hand around mine. I sighed, and rolled onto my back.

“Runes,” I whispered.

“Runes?”

“I
’ve…I’ve seen them before,” I said. “In the Lanaran shrine, and in Dhjerba.”

“Eliza, I don
’t understand.”

I shifted position, so I was against his shoulder. I wouldn
’t have to speak above a whisper this way. Oddly the curse didn’t stir, allowing me to think.

“Remember…that night when the shrine was on fire,” I said. “Those men came after me…and Cielo. I went to hide inside…the ruins. There I saw golden speckles…so I followed them. Four runes appeared…and then I passed out. Didn
’t wake up…until we were in Lanaran.”

Ryan gasped.

“Then in Dhjerba,” I continued; it was getting easier to keep the words flowing, “after I left you and Cielo at the vet, I thought an Amaranthite was chasing me, so I hid in one of the churches. Two more runes appeared there, and gave me a horrible stomach ache.”

“So this is the third time you
’ve seen them?”

I nodded. Ryan murmured, and drew me closer. I kept still, in case the Binding decided to wake up. I was surprised it hadn
’t jumped in already, but it seemed as knocked out as I was. Not that I was complaining, as I was no way near well enough to fight it.

“Why didn
’t you say anything?”

I scoffed.

“What was I supposed to say? ‘By the way, Ryan, I’ve started seeing weird lights lately’?” I shook my head. “Like you would’ve believed me; like
anyone
would’ve believed me. I didn’t want to believe it myself, at first.” I stared at his lap. “Something horrible is happening, and I…I don’t know what to do.”

Ryan said nothing. He stroked my hair, meaning to be comforting. I closed my eyes. Guilt plagued me. I shouldn
’t be doing this, not after the way I’d treated him. The way the curse forced me to treat him. Staying clear of his affection, only to bury myself in it when the situation became too much to bear.

I was such a hypocrite.

The alcove door creaked. I backed away, though Ryan’s arm didn’t leave me. Bergundy’s bald head appeared, his tufty brows creased with worry.

“Elle, are you alright? I saw you collapse in the hall.”

“I’m fine, Bergundy,” I said. “I fainted. I think the sheer scale of it was too much.”

Bergundy strode over. He was trying to look at my eyes. I avoided his gaze, feigning interest in the leather cushions.

“I think there is more to this than a simple faint,” he said. “You read a Holy Rune.”

I raised an eyebrow. The runes had a name?

“Holy Rune?” Ryan repeated. “What’s that?”

Bergundy tilted his head.

“You don’t know?”

“Never heard of them,” I shrugged.

“But you read Lord Balthander’s paper in Lanaran,” Bergundy said. “He mentions them there.”

A blush rose on my cheeks. I had skipped half the folio, after all.

“Sorry, I don’t remember. Care to give a quick refresher?”

“Oh, but of course!” Bergundy beamed. I got the feeling he was rather pleased I
’d forgotten. He cleared his throat, making himself comfortable on a chair. “The Holy Runes are an ancient language. They date back to the Era of the Goddess and the Binding spell, although little is known about their origin.”

My eyes widened. I exchanged a glance with Ryan, who was equally as stunned. This couldn
’t be coincidence.

“It has been quite the mystery,” Bergundy continued, “that the runes have survived this long, yet no way of translating them has been discovered. Though the letters bear resemblance to modern Azarian, they share none of its syntax, structure or meanings. And outside the shrines, it does not exist, not even in the remotest parts of the kingdom.”

I sank back in my seat. This information was unsettling. A language that had remained a secret for centuries, and suddenly
I
had the ability to read it. What was going on?

“So how can Eliza read them
when generations of scholars have failed?” Ryan asked.

“That is the question running around the library right now,” Bergundy said. His cheeks reddened. “It may have been wrong of me, but I witnessed the whole thing. It was magnificent. The hall carving blossomed into light, and you spoke the word
‘
secrets’
. Was that truly what it said?”

“It
’s what came to mind,” I shrugged.

“And—forgive me, I couldn
’t help but overhear earlier—you say you’ve read similar runes before?”

I hesitated. If the Holy Runes had been impossible to decipher, and I held the key to their meaning, every scholar in the kingdom would want their hands on me. It probably wasn
’t wise to admit as much.

“Don
’t worry,” Bergundy said, picking up on my pause. “I will not speak of this to anyone, and what happened today will soon die down as rumour. Further, as far as I can tell, no-one has noticed your eyes.” He loosened his collar. “Scholars are fickle things. They will not deign to believe a young lady with no research credentials could decipher the Holy Runes by tricks of the light.”

“I suppose,” I said. Then I shrugged. Bergundy had been very helpful, and the first thing he
’d asked was whether I was alright, not about what I’d done. I felt I could trust him.

“So what happened before?” the scholar asked. “Was it much the same?”

“Yes,” I said. “I see this golden aura, which leads me to the runes. Then the symbols burn with light, and the meaning appears.” I rubbed my eyes. “I saw four of them in Lanaran, and two in Dhjerba. Plus the one here, of course.”

“Fascinating!” Bergundy drummed his fingers together. “I always knew a method existed to unlock the secret of the runes. Although I never realised it would be a magical one.”

“What else do you know about the Holy Runes?” Ryan broke in, a fresh eagerness to his voice. He had an idea brewing.

“Well, there are twenty-seven known runes recorded,” Bergundy said. I swallowed, recalling the Lanaran shrine compass. Somehow I wasn
’t surprised this number kept coming back to haunt me. “They were discovered in the Goddess Shrines, engraved upon various relics. For example, the hall carving here is from the Viens ruins.” He scratched his nose. “As well as this, some claim the runes possess mystic properties, which I myself did not believe, until I saw what happened today.”

Absently I ran a hand over my shoulder. I
’d seen those ‘mystic properties’ first hand, when the runes had healed my injuries. Even my ribs weren’t troubling me anymore. Now they’d gone as far as
changing my eye colour
.

Ryan played with his collar. He was mulling something over.

“Bergundy, you said the Holy Runes and the Binding date back to the same era,” he said. “How do you know this?”

Bergundy smiled.

“Through Lord Balthanders’s research,” he said. “He’s the leading scholar in this area. In fact, only last month he discovered the Binding spell and the runes share the same power source, which has been a remarkable breakthrough. It has brought us closer to learning why magic does not exist independently in Azaria, and…”

He continued rambling, but I stopped paying attention. Everything had clicked into place, and I almost snapped my fingers. My Binding! My twisted, malformed, unrequited Binding—
that
was why I could read the Holy Runes. Ryan’s jewel had distorted the curse’s magic, and since both the spell and the runes shared power…well, I didn’t need to worry about the mechanics. At least I had an explanation for my strange ability.

And, thinking about it, there did seem a difference in the curse after I
’d read the symbols. I mean, I’d comfortably escaped Ryan’s embrace in Lanaran, despite how weak I’d been, and once we left Dhjerba, the compulsions hadn’t bothered me until a few days into our journey to Terent. Even here in the alcove I didn’t feel anything, even though Ryan was practically on top of me.

Perhaps they
were
the key to my escape.

Yet this temporary immunity didn
’t come without a price. Reading the first set of runes had left me unconscious for three days, and I hadn’t particularly enjoyed that stomach ache in Dhjerba. Further, I had no idea about the long-term consequences, or what other side effects I might have to endure.

“Eliza?”

I turned to Ryan. His lips pursed into a thoughtful expression.

“If what Bergundy says is true,” he said, “and there
’s a link between the Binding and the Holy Runes, this might be the answer we’re looking for.”

“Well…” I trailed off, chewing my lip. While my hatred towards the curse hadn
’t changed, doubts plagued me. This wasn’t what I’d been expecting. Even if the runes did offer me protection, I had no guarantee they would actually break the spell. Also, if the Binding and the Holy Runes drew on the same power, meddling with one would surely affect the other. It wouldn’t only be about my Binding to Ryan. Other Bound couples might become involved, too.

Yet if it meant I could escape the constant infatuations, the forced situations, and the ravenous desires…

The chime of glass broke my thoughts, and I glanced up. The alcove door burst open, and a woman with a golden braid stormed inside.

“There you are!” she cried. “I
’ve been looking all over for you, Ryan.”

My heart stopped, and all thoughts about the Holy Runes plummeted like a stone.

Navinka’s meeting with her tutor was over.

* * * * *

I sprang aside, discarding Ryan’s arm, but it was too late. Navinka’s gaze went to Ryan, then me, then back to Ryan.

Uh oh.

Navinka closed her eyes briefly, and took a slow breath. When she opened them again, she stared hard at Ryan.

“What is she doing here, my love?” Her voice was silky smooth, but carried an edge sharper than an axe. “Don
’t tell me you wanted to teach her to read?”

Well, to be fair, that wasn
’t far from the truth.

When Ryan didn
’t answer right away, Navinka stepped forward. I kept my head down. However, instead of going to Ryan, she stopped in front of me. I refused to meet eyes with her. I couldn’t reveal what the rune had done.

“Please give us a moment in priva
te.” Navinka jerked her head at Bergundy. The scholar’s face flushed, and he bowed low. He crept out of the alcove, closing the door behind him. Probably very wise.

Navinka crouched, so our faces were level.

“My dear, do you realise what you’ve done?” She snatched my cloak and hoisted me up. I was too tired to resist. “Impudent girl, your deceit will be your undoing!”

She drew back her arm, when Ryan grabbed her wrist.

“Navinka, that’s enough!” he said. “I won’t stand for you to hurt her. We don’t treat our servants like that.”

Navinka released me, and I crumpled into the cushions. She shook off Ryan
’s hand, her eyes narrowed.

“Ryan, I fear our time apart has caused your judgement to falter,” she said. “I know she
’s not a servant. She wanted to come to Begara for a reason, and you provided her the opportunity.” She began to circle the couch, running a finger on its back.