Bound To The Goddess

A THORN OF BLADES

CHAPTER 10: A THORN OF BLADES

Lithia slept.

For the first time in months, she slept without a knife.

The blanket was still warm.

The room was still clean.

"He was the one," she whispered to the dark.

---

**3:00 AM.**

She woke up choking.

Cold.

Not in the room.

In her chest.

Like a hook behind her ribs. Pulling.

Lithia sat up. Her palms were glowing. Gold.

"Drayk?"

Pain. Far away. But not weak.

Anger. Violence. Blood.

She was out the window before she could think.

Bare feet. Rain. The bond dragged her through the city.

Toward the fight.

---

The shrine was a graveyard.

Six guards down. Not unconscious.

Dead.

And standing in the middle of them was Drayk.

Black shirt soaked. Black blood on his hands and down his side.

But he was standing.

Back straight. Red eyes glowing.

A blade in one hand. Veyron’s sigil on the other guard’s chest.

He looked up when she came in.

"Lithia." His voice was steel. Not strained. "Go home."

"You’re hurt," she said.

"I’m fine."

He said it like a king. Like it was law.

Then he saw her hands. Gold.

His jaw tightened. "What did you do?"

"I felt you," she whispered. "I had to come."

The gold was already moving. Without her permission.

It crawled across the space between them and sank into his side.

Drayk didn’t flinch. Didn’t make a sound.

But his eyes went black.

The light didn’t stop.

Chains. Gold. Thin as thread. Wrist to wrist.

The world went white.

---

**A memory that wasn’t theirs.**

A mountain temple.

A goddess: *"Bound by blood. Bound by vow. One soul, two bodies.

Until death do you part."*

A king with black wings, kneeling.

Accepting the chain.

---

Lithia gasped and stumbled back.

The chains vanished. But her wrist burned.

Drayk caught her before she fell. His grip was iron.

"What did you do?" he asked. Low. Dangerous.

"I— it just—"

"Bound." He said it like a curse.

"Goddess magic. Now I feel you. And you feel me."

He looked at the dead guards. Then at her.

"That’s why you came. That’s why you’ll always come."

Footsteps.

"THE KING IS HERE!" Veyron’s voice. Far but coming fast.

Drayk didn’t look scared. He looked pissed.

He wiped the blood off his blade.

"Good," he said.

Then he looked at Lithia.

And his whole expression changed.

"Run."

"No—"

"RUN, LITHIA."

He shoved her behind him.

And when Veyron’s men rounded the corner, Drayk was already moving.

It wasn’t a fight. It was a s*******r.

Fast. Clean. Merciless.

Black energy and red eyes.

He didn’t get hit once.

Lithia pressed herself to the wall. The bond was screaming in her chest.

His rage. His focus. His absolute certainty that he would win.

It was over in 30 seconds.

Drayk turned back to her. Breathing hard. Blood on him but not his.

He grabbed her hand. Ice and fire.

"We’re leaving. Now."

They ran.

Through rain. Through alleys. He didn’t let go.

And through the bond she felt it:

He wasn’t weak.

He wasn’t scared.

He was furious that they’d made her see this.

He pulled her into a doorway. Shielded her with his body.

Guards ran past.

In the dark, Drayk looked down at her.

Rain in his hair. Blood on his knuckles.

His thumb brushed her cheek. Once.

"Don’t ever come for me again," he said. Quiet.

"Unless you’re ready to be in my war."

Lithia met his eyes. "Then let me."

Drayk stared at her.

And for the first time, the Vampire King looked at her like she was dangerous too.

*And for the first time, Lithia understood.

The bond wasn’t a chain to hold him down.

It was a blade.

And now she was holding it too.*

**TO BE CONTINUED...**