Bound To The Goddess

THE WEIGHT OF GOLD

CHAPTER 11: THE WEIGHT OF GOLD

The hideout was underground.

Stone walls. One cot. One table. One candle that barely lit the room.

And rain outside.

Drayk shut the door and locked it. Three times.

Lithia stood dripping on the floor. Still in her wet dress.

He hadn't let go of her hand the entire run here.

Now he did.

"Don't touch anything," he said. Cold. "Sit."

She did. On the cot.

The blanket he threw at her smelled like him. Cold and metal and something darker.

Silence.

Drayk paced. Blood on his knuckles. Not his.

His jaw was tight. His red eyes kept flicking to her, then away.

The bond was screaming.

His side of it was chaos.

Anger. Relief. Fear.

All aimed at her.

Lithia hugged the blanket tighter. "Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Liar."

He stopped pacing.

"Don't." His voice was low. Warning.

"Don't what?" She looked up. "Don't care? Don't see it?

Your side is bleeding through the bond, Drayk."

His name in her mouth made him flinch.

For a second his mask cracked.

He crossed the room in two steps. Knelt in front of her.

His hand came up, brushed wet hair from her face.

His thumb lingered on her cheek. Ice against her skin.

"You shouldn't have come," he whispered.

Not cold. Not king. Just... tired.

"If anything happened to you—"

He cut himself off.

Stood.

Walked away.

When he turned back, the mask was back on.

"Drink this." He shoved a cup of water at her.

"Eat." Bread on the table.

"Sleep. We leave at dawn."

Orders. Nothing else.

Lithia took the cup. "Is that all I am now? Orders?"

Drayk didn't look at her.

"You're the girl with golden blood," he said. Flat.

"The key to my kingdom. Nothing more."

The lie cut through the bond.

Because she felt it.

Underneath: *Mine. Don't die. Don't leave.*

But he wouldn't say it.

Lithia nodded. "Okay."

She drank. She ate. She lay down.

Drayk sat in the chair across the room.

All night.

Not sleeping.

Watching the door.

Watching her.

And through the bond, she felt it:

He was falling.

And he hated himself for it.

*He called her a pawn.

But kings don't stay awake all night to protect pawns.*

**TO BE CONTINUED...**