Summoned and Bound (Summoned Series Romances Book 3) (12 page)

Tyrion and Tanor looked at each other, then back at Vamir. “Holy shit, that was actually smooth. Who are you and what have you done with our commander?” Tanor quipped.

“Shut up, the pair of you, or I’ll assign you to guard duty out there.” Vamir jerked his head in the direction of the shield wall, and both men winced.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” Gwyneth waved from her perch in Vamir’s arms. “I would shake your hands, but I think I’m going to stay right where I am for now. Maybe when we’re back on solid ground.”

“Only if they promise to behave themselves. I may trust these two dogs with my life, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to trust them around you. Despite a century’s worth of work, they’re barely housebroken.” Vamir caught himself growling as a surge of raw possessiveness came over him.

“And he’s back. There’s the grumpy bastard we’d follow into the nine hells,” Tyrion said before managing a decent bow between sweeps of his massive wings. “It’s an honor to meet you, Gwyneth Annaren.”

Tyrion glanced at his brother and arched a brow. “Do you think he knows that he just fulfilled another part of the prophecy?”

“What prophecy?” Gwyneth asked.

Tanor grinned. “The one he doesn’t believe in. Won’t even read it. It’s written that one day a Garda will be born without a twin. Then there’s a bunch of stuff about greatness, leadership, honor, and him claiming a soulbound not of our race. After that it goes on about—”

“It goes on forever and says nothing helpful. I don’t need to read it to know that, because that’s what all prophecies are like. A rambling riddle that could mean anything, or nothing,” Vamir interrupted.

“And despite the fact our beloved commander won’t read it, he keeps fulfilling it anyway.” Tyrion said. “He’s supposed to be the one to end the war and open the gateway home again. When the others hear you’ve found your soulbound…”

Vamir sighed. “And that is the other reason I hadn’t told anyone about us, yet, little one. Can you blame me?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but at that moment two more Garda joined them.

Vamir felt Gwyneth tense as she turned her head to look at Akhal and Aztar. They both looked wary as the hovered silently, their gazes locked on Gwyneth.

“I remember you,” Gwyn said and pointed to Akhal. “You’re Ak. You used to hum me a lullaby to help me sleep sometimes. And you’re Az. You would let me sit on your shoulder so I could reach the apples in my parent’s orchard.”

“It is you,” Aztar rumbled, his expression morphing into a rare smile. “Fates be praised.”

“You look so much like your mother, and not much like the little girl we guarded.” Akhal flew a little closer, his eyes glowing with warmth.

“You two look exactly the same. It’s good to see you both again.” She patted Vamir’s forearm. “I think it’s time we returned to our rooms. It’s difficult to talk up here.”

Aztar arched a brow at her statement and opened his mouth, then shut it again without speaking.

Vamir nodded. “Home it is. By now, there should be a meal waiting for us. You must be starving.”

“Famished,” she admitted.

Vamir nodded to the others and then began a slow descent back to the outpost with the others flying in formation behind him. The whole way down, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to go sideways.

****

The aroma of freshly baked bread tickled Gwyn’s nose before they’d even touched down. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, and by the time, Vamir had set her feet back on solid ground, she was painfully aware that it had been a long time since her last meal. She turned to watch as Vamir resumed his human form, fascinated by the magic that flowed around and through him during the change.

The others landed moments later, all of them shifting back to human once they were back on the ground. She was surprised to note that Tyrion and Tanor were blondes while Az and Ak were dark-haired.  She considered going to greet them properly, but Vamir threaded his fingers between hers and held fast to her hand, keeping her at his side.

Ak glanced down at their joined hands and frowned. “Why are you holding onto the commander? Are you feeling weakened? Do you need his support?”

“I’m fine, Ak. Or I will be once I have something to eat. I’m not using Vamir because I need his support. I’m holding his hand because he is my soulbound, and I enjoy having him close.”

Both Aztar and Akhal scowled, but it was Akhal who spoke. “Your soulbound? Vamir,
you
claimed the daughter of Gandor and Ilya Annaren, two of the most powerful members of our creator’s race?”

“We claimed each other. It was fated, my friend. Gwyneth is mine,” Vamir said, his words edged with warning.

“She is but a child! One with a birthright far above us all,” Aztar exclaimed, his eyes glowing like embers now.

Akhal gestured to Gwyn, but she knew he wasn’t truly seeing her. He was seeing the child that had vanished. “She is too young to know what is best for her. You took advantage of her. She was a slave because my brother and I failed in our duty all those years ago. We will not fail her again. We made a vow to find her and send her home, and we will.”

“None of us can go home. Not until the threat is over. And you will not come near my soulbound, either of you. That’s an order.”

Aztar nodded once, but there was a dark determination in his eyes that reminded Gwyn of the master. “You’re right. None of
us
can go home, but she can. Gwyneth is special. Her parents created all this.” Az gestured around them, his movements wild and angry. “Did you think that they wouldn’t find a way for us to return their only child to them once we found her? She can pass through the portal and return to Essa. She
will
return to Essa, where she belongs. Where she will be safe.”

Her protectors took a step toward her, and Vamir snarled at them before moving so that he stood between her and the men who had once guarded her dreams, releasing her hand as he did so. “Never,” he snarled.

Gwyn stood in silence as once again her life was being decided by others. It didn’t matter their reasons, or how good their intentions were. She had spent most of her life unable to make more than the smallest decisions. She would never allow anyone to take that freedom from her again.

“Stop it,” she said, but neither side listened to her.

Tanor and Tyrion had taken up position on either side of Vamir, guarding his flanks, and none of them were paying her any attention at all.

“You have to stop this.” She spoke again, louder this time.

They continued to ignore her.

“You need to do what’s best for her and let us send her home,” Aztar shouted.

Gwyn’s patience snapped. After years of subservience and degradation, she was finally free to stand up for herself.

“No! No one is doing anything for me or to me. Not ever again.” She stepped out from behind Vamir, the air around her crackling as she summoned the
essence
and used it to amplify every word she uttered. “I am not the little girl who vanished all those years ago. I am a grown woman, and I will not allow anyone to tell me what to do.”

“We made your parents a promise, and we intend to keep it. Don’t you want to see them again, Gwyneth?” Az asked, taking another step toward her.

“Why would I want to see them? I barely remember them! They
left
me with him. I have spent the last hundred years under the control of a Magi.” She tugged angrily at her torc. “You see this? I’ve worn it since the day I was taken. I’ve been starved, beaten, degraded, and made to take part in his ceremonies. I’ve delivered countless slaves to their new masters, been ordered to do terrible things, and have been punished for even the slightest hesitation in obeying. So no, I don’t want to see the ones who abandoned me to that life. I want to stay with the one who freed me. Vamir is my soulbound. Where he goes, I go. That means I will not return to Essa until we can all go home.”

“But we vowed—” Ak started to protest, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand that sent both brothers staggering back several feet.

“I don’t care what you promised my parents. They made their choice, and I’ve made mine.” She grabbed her collar with both hands as rage poured through her. All the hurt and suffering, all the long years of loneliness and misery finally broke through, and she could do nothing to stop the outpouring of emotion.

Tears scalded her eyes as she tore at the collar that had kept her a prisoner for so long. “I will never let anyone force me to do their bidding ever again. Never! Do you hear me?” Her last words came out as a roar that shook the room, and a surge of power flowed through her, leaving darkness and pain in its wake.

Vamir sensed what was happening too late to stop it, and his heart shattered in his chest as her defiant cry turned to an agonized wail. White light flared from beneath her hands, and there was a loud
crack
as the torc around her neck broke apart. He reached for her, expecting her to collapse as she had the last time.

Only she didn’t.

Instead of crumpling to the floor, she drew her hands back from her throat and glanced at the broken remains of her slave collar still in her grip. With a grimace of distaste, she crushed both pieces to powder and cast the last traces of her slavery into the soft breeze that blew in from the balcony.

“I am free,” she declared as she dusted her hands together and turned to smile at Vamir. “I finally managed to do it.”

“Hells, woman! Didn’t you swear you’d warn me the next time you planned to do something like that? You could have died.”

He wanted to shake her, to rage at her for taking such a terrible risk, but more than that he wanted to hold her and share in her moment of celebration. He snatched her up and hauled her into his arms, kissing her as he ran his hands over her body looking for the slightest sign of injury.

Her laughter eased his worries, as did the strength in her arms as she hugged him and kissed him back. “I didn’t plan this. It just happened,” she pointed out between heated kisses.

“You are going to be the death of me, little one,” he whispered.

“No. I’m going to be your life, and you’re going to be mine.”

Her words filled the last empty corners of his heart. She was his, and no matter what the future held, he wouldn’t have to face it alone. “Mine,” he growled and sealed her mouth with another kiss. It wasn’t the most elegant of statements, but it was all he could manage. She was his, and he would offer up his life before he’d let anything happen to her.

Tyrion cleared his throat. “That’s sweet and all, but do you think you’re soulbound could maybe remove the fucking spell that has the rest of us frozen in place? My nose is itchy, and I can’t so much as twitch my fingers right now.”

Gwyneth blinked in surprise, and both of them looked over to where the others stood, all of them holding remarkably still. “Little one, what have you done to my men?”

“I…um, I didn’t realize I’d done anything to them.” She made a dismissive sweep of her hand, freeing them to move again. “I’m sorry. It would seem it’s going to take me some time to learn what I can do now that I’m finally free to do it.”

Ak nodded slowly, his expression a mixture of curiosity and wariness. “How did you break the spells on that collar? Is that how you got free, Vamir? Can she actually undo the enchantments of the Magi? That’s….not possible. No elemental can do that.”

“I can.”

The strength in Gwyneth’s voice filled Vamir with pride. He kept her snug in the circle of his arms as he spoke to the others. “Gwyneth wasn’t raised on Essa. There were none of her people to teach her how to use her abilities. Because of that, her powers are as unique as she is. With her help, we can finally complete our mission and destroy the Magi.”

Understanding finally dawned on the faces of Akhal and Aztar, who nodded in unison but said nothing more.

“Trust you to get summoned by accident and wind up finding your soulbound and a weapon to use against the Magi at the same time,” Tanor said, giving Gwyneth an approving look. “Are there any more like you back at that citadel? If so, I’m officially volunteering for the rescue mission.”

Gwyneth shook her head. “No others like me, no. But there will be more slaves to free. My master—” she paused, then corrected herself. “The Magi who enslaved me kept a number of others. House slaves, the pleasure slaves, and those the apprentice uses for his breeding program. Do you think there will be room for them all to come here? At least until we can return them to their home worlds.”

“We will find room for them all,” Vamir assured her.

“What apprentice? Are we going to be going up against two of these bastards?” Tyrion asked, his hand moving to the hilt of his sword.

“The apprentice is mine. He spilled my blood, I intend to spill his. All of it,” Vamir stated before glancing down at Gwyneth. “Are you feeling strong enough to help us plan while we eat? I can call the rest of my council. If you’re ready, little one, then it’s time we began planning our assault.”

“Call your council, Vamir. I’ll tell you all I know about how to defeat my former master.”

***

Chapter Ten

It was late by the time the planning sessions were finally over, and the last of Vamir’s men had finally bid them goodnight. They were left alone in the large room where they’d gathered to talk and plan. The walls and floor were the same white and gray marble as the other rooms, but here, most of the stone was hidden by tapestries. They were of wildly different styles and designs, but all of them had one thing in common. They depicted scenes of war.

The remains of their evening meal was strewn across one large table, while the surface of another was completely covered by an elaborate set of maps they had drawn based on Gwyn’s descriptions of the citadel and the area that surrounded it.

Gwyn was tired but buoyed up by the knowledge that tomorrow the man who had stolen so much from her would finally meet his end. She had no doubt that would happen. They had formulated a sound plan. Her former master was protected by his forces, yes, but they were far outclassed by Vamir’s company of Guardians, all of them battle-hardened and spoiling for a fight.