Chapter One Hundred & Twenty Nine
Chapter One Hundred & Twenty Nine
Nora's P.O.V
I glanced up at him again as I started picking at the food.
“So,” I said, “this is normal for you? Courtyard lunches in a place that looks like it shouldn’t exist?”
“For me?” he replied calmly. “Yes.”
I huffed a quiet laugh.
“Yeah, well,” I muttered, “I’m still catching up.”
But even as I said it—
It didn’t feel as impossible as it had an hour ago.
Just… different.
I leaned back slightly in the chair, studying him over the edge of my glass.
“So,” I said, tilting my head just a little, “tell me about yourself.”
His brow lifted—just enough to show he hadn’t expected that direction.
“You seem to know everything about me,” I continued. “And I know nothing about you.”
A beat.
“Are you married?” I added, casual—but not really. “Do you have kids?”
That earned a real pause.
Not avoidance.
Consideration.
“No,” he said finally. “Neither.”
I watched him for a second longer.
“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all I get?”
A faint shift at the corner of his mouth.
“You asked a direct question,” he replied. “I gave a direct answer.”
I exhaled a quiet laugh.
“Alright, fair. Then I’ll ask better ones.”
He didn’t stop me.
Just sat there, steady, like he wasn’t used to being the one being looked at this closely.
“How old are you?” I asked.
That one made him pause again.
“Old enough that time doesn’t hold the same meaning it does for you,” he said.
I rolled my eyes slightly. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one that applies here.”
“Convenient.”
He didn’t deny that either.
I leaned forward slightly, resting my elbows on the table.
“What are you really?” I asked. “You said you’re not human. You’re bound to this place… to me.”
His gaze held mine.
“I was human,” he said.
That caught my attention.
“Was?”
“Yes.”
Silence stretched for a second.
“And now?” I pressed.
“Now I am something shaped by this place,” he said. “By the Iriath. By the power that built it.”
I studied him more closely now.
“You don’t age,” I said.
“No.”
“You don’t leave.”
“No.”
“And you’ve just been here… waiting?” I asked.
“For a long time,” he said.
I leaned back again, letting that settle.
“And when I showed up?”
His gaze didn’t waver.
“Everything changed.”
That landed heavier than I expected.
I looked down at my plate for a second, then back up at him.
“And what am I to you?” I asked.
That one—
He didn’t answer right away.
Didn’t deflect either.
He just held my gaze.
I stared at him for a second, then shook my head, trying to piece it together.
“Okay… so you’re bound to me. You’ve never been married. No family.” I leaned back slightly, studying him harder now. “I don’t understand that. Don’t you want those things? A partner? A life that’s actually yours?”
His expression didn’t change much—but something in his eyes did.
“I won’t keep you from that,” I added. “If that’s what you want.”
He exhaled slowly.
“Nora… it’s not that simple.”
I frowned. “What do you mean it’s not that simple? You’ve been here—stuck—waiting for me. You’ve never even lived.” My eyes narrowed slightly as the realization pushed further. “Have you ever even been with someone? Had a girlfriend?”
He looked away.
That was all the answer I needed.
“Oh my—Rael.”
“Nora, don’t—”
“No,” I cut in, pushing up from the chair, the legs scraping against the ground as I stood. “You’re telling me you’ve just… existed? This whole time?”
“I am bound to you,” he said, quieter now. “I can’t be with another.”
I froze.
“What?”
“I can’t give that part of myself to anyone else,” he said. “Not without breaking what I am.”
I stared at him, trying to make it make sense.
“That doesn’t—” I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. You were alive when the last Iriath was here. Were you with her?”
He shook his head immediately.
“No. I was young then. There was another bound guardian.”
I blinked.
“Guardian,” I repeated slowly. “That’s what you are.”
“Yes.”
I went still for a second, processing that.
Then my gaze flicked back out toward the courtyard, then to him again.
“So everyone here—everyone bound to me—is it like that? Like you?”
“No,” he said instantly.
I looked back at him.
“You are their queen,” he continued. “They are loyal. Bound to this realm, to its structure… to your rule.”
A beat.
“I am not bound to this place,” he added. “Only to you.”
That landed.
Hard.
I let out a short, disbelieving laugh, dragging a hand through my hair.
“Wow,” I muttered. “Okay. That’s… that’s something.”
My eyes snapped back to his.
“So you can only be with me?”
He didn’t answer.
Didn’t need to.
I let out another breath, half laughing, half trying to process the weight of that.
“…What happens if you try to be with someone else?”
He didn’t answer right away.
That alone told me enough.
But I didn’t let it go.
“Rael,” I pressed, my voice quieter now, but sharper. “What happens?”
His jaw tightened slightly, like the question itself wasn’t one he entertained.
“Nothing good,” he said finally.
I crossed my arms, not satisfied. “Define ‘nothing good.’”
He looked at me then—really looked this time.
“It breaks the bond,” he said.
A beat.
“And when that happens,” he continued, voice steady but edged with something darker, “I don’t remain what I am.”
I felt my stomach drop slightly.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I lose what keeps me… here,” he said. “What keeps me whole.”
Silence stretched.
“You die?” I asked.
“Eventually,” he replied. “Or something worse.”
That hit harder than I expected.
I exhaled slowly, pacing a step away before turning back to him.
“That’s not a choice,” I said. “That’s a sentence.”
“It’s purpose,” he corrected.
I shook my head. “No. That’s not the same thing.”
His gaze didn’t waver.
“It is here.”
I let out a frustrated breath, dragging a hand through my hair again.
“So let me get this straight,” I said, looking at him. “You’ve been here for—what—centuries? Bound to someone who wasn’t even here anymore… waiting for me. And the second I show up, your entire existence gets tied to mine like that’s just normal?”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“That’s insane.”
“By your world’s standards,” he said.
“By any standards,” I shot back.
He didn’t argue.
Because he didn’t see it that way.
That somehow made it worse.
I paced again, slower this time, trying to wrap my head around it.
“And you’re just… okay with that?” I asked.
A pause.
“I accepted it a long time ago,” he said.
“That’s not the same as being okay with it.”
“No,” he agreed.
That stopped me.
I looked at him again, something shifting in my chest now—something less sharp, less reactive.
“You don’t even know me,” I said quietly.
“I know enough.”
“That’s not the same thing either.”
“No,” he said again.
Another pause.
Then I huffed out a small breath, shaking my head.