Path Of The Broken

7. Bound-2

Simon agreed he would help but then another stepped from the shadows and intervened before Simon could take any action. Her calm voice indicated she believed he would be better with her and their alignment would not be treason. The Skull Lord conceded to the other and backed up, showing not even a hint of emotion.

Kyle remembered he couldn’t help the overwhelming relief that hit, and his legs buckled. His downward slump to the ground was stopped by the supporting hands of another. Kyle realised the hands that supported him were not those of the Skull Lord, who still stood in front of him. The delicate hands belonged to the yet unseen woman who had intervened.

Kyle looked up into the eyes of the one who held him, and his breath caught. With her dark brown hair and intense blue eyes that bore a startling resemblance to Alex’s, he recognised her instantly.

“My lady, how…?”

“Shh, Kyle. I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. Let me help you undo what that other did to you. Relax, let me in.” A tear traced its way down his cheek. He knew what he was about to do and feared the consequences, but let down his barriers.

She was in his mind, delicate probes following the paths Alyssa had burnt into him. Yet this time it didn’t hurt and, as he tracked her progress, she helped sections of his mind heal while still inserting her own control mechanisms—although not the ones relating to s*x, he noticed.

Kyle felt that familiar calm wash over his mind, the kind he hadn’t experienced since he’d first met Alyssa, and nearly wept. Except he knew it was the lady who imposed that on him, like she was placing herself between him and madness. When she withdrew, he knew she was still there in his mind.

Taking one more shuddering breath, he acknowledged his reality, standing to face the woman who had bound him and kneeling before her.

“My lady, Mistress, I pledge my soul to your service.”

It had only occurred to him after it was too late to be a little concerned how Alex would react when he found out—not only that his mother was alive, but had taken his best friend as her mind-bound slave.