Chapter 101 – Bond

Iris's eyes snapped open.

"Hah…!"

Iris pushed herself up a few centimeters before dropping back against the pillow. She was short of air, but her head was working normally.

That was already a considerable improvement over the last thing she remembered.

Noxx running at her.

Eleonora being deflected.

The red barrel against her temple.

And then…

BAM!

Iris closed her eyes.

'Damn bastard.'

The room was hers.

She recognized the curtains, the enormous bed and the small desk on the other side. She also recognized the white dress she was wearing.

It wasn't the one from the banquet. Obviously not. That one had ended up covered in blood and probably with a good part of her head on top of it.

Iris tried to move one leg.

It responded.

She moved the other.

That one too.

She lifted a hand in front of her face.

Five fingers.

Complete skin.

No transparent patches.

That was good.

Even so, the arm was far too heavy.

"Princess."

Iris turned her head.

Selene was sitting on a small stool beside the bed. Her arms were crossed and her eyes slightly narrowed. She looked like she had been resting while she waited.

When she noticed Iris looking at her, she got to her feet.

"I'm glad to see you awake."

Iris did not waste time.

"How long?"

Selene understood the question.

"Almost fifteen hours."

Iris looked at her.

"What?"

"Your regeneration finished a few minutes ago."

Iris looked at her hand again.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Princess."

Iris let the arm drop onto the bed.

'Fifteen damn hours.'

That was ridiculous.

Her body had one of the best regenerative capacities among the vampires of the kingdom.

They could cut off an arm and she would get it back. They could destroy important organs and that rarely kept her out of a fight for very long.

But an ego weapon was different.

Much more so when the attack carried vampire blood processed by the weapon.

Sun hadn't simply fired a bullet.

It had used the blood it absorbed during the fight and discharged it directly inside her head.

That had destroyed flesh, blood and part of the energy Iris needed to rebuild herself.

If Noxx had kept going…

Iris stopped looking at her hand.

'She could have killed me.'

Genuinely.

Not a death that lasts a few minutes.

Not losing her head and getting up afterward.

If the body kept taking damage and reached the point where there was no longer enough blood to rebuild a physical form…

That was the end.

Iris frowned.

"How annoying."

Selene raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Annoying?"

"That bastard."

Selene smiled.

Iris looked at her.

"Don't laugh."

"My apologies."

"You're still smiling."

Selene corrected her expression.

Iris tried to sit up, put a hand on the mattress and pushed, but her arms started giving out before she was even upright.

"Princess."

"I'm fine."

She was not.

Iris managed to get herself up, but she had to prop her back against the headboard.

That annoyed her enormously.

Her body was complete, but it had only just finished rebuilding itself. It needed blood, food and rest.

Precisely the three things Iris did not want to admit she needed in front of Selene.

Selene watched her.

"Would you like me to order food?"

"No."

Iris tried to move her legs toward the edge of the bed.

One of them made it.

The other took longer.

Selene waited.

Iris pushed to stand up, but her arms gave out again and she ended up back against the headboard.

Selene went on waiting.

Iris looked at her.

Selene said nothing.

Iris raised a finger.

"Not one word."

"Of course."

"And yes."

Selene tilted her head.

"Yes?"

"Order food."

"Right away."

Iris looked toward the small cabinet beside the bed.

Eleonora was there, in sword form. The black sheath rested on the wood, perfectly arranged.

Iris watched it for a few seconds.

The sword said nothing.

That was suspicious.

Eleonora had been quiet for far too long.

Selene finished sending the order.

"They should bring it soon."

"Have them bring blood too."

"I already asked for it."

Iris settled back again.

She hated feeling like this.

The weakness reminded her far too much of how close Noxx had come to finishing the job.

'Next time I'm not letting her get close.'

Assuming there was a next time.

Iris still wanted another round.

Badly.

But first she needed to understand what the hell Noxx had done.

She had struck Eleonora directly.

She hadn't tried to block the edge.

She hadn't tried to stop it.

She had only changed its trajectory.

She had accepted having her arm torn apart in order to get inside her reach.

An idiotic move.

An idiotic move that had worked perfectly.

Iris looked at Selene.

"Did you see her afterward?"

"Princess Noxx?"

"Yes."

Selene nodded.

"For a while."

"And?"

"She seemed to be doing quite well."

Iris made a face.

"Of course."

She'd been missing half her head and Noxx was doing well.

Perfect.

Magnificent.

Selene sat back down.

Iris watched her.

"You saw Matt too."

Selene's expression changed immediately.

This time a clear smile did appear.

"Yes."

Iris knew her.

Too well.

"How was he?"

Selene seemed to consider what to answer.

"It was nice to see him again. He's still fairly similar."

"Similar?"

"The sarcasm is still there."

Iris let out a short laugh.

"That's never going away."

"Probably not."

"What else?"

Selene rested a hand on her knee.

"He's stronger."

Iris didn't answer.

She already knew that.

She had seen it during the duel.

Matt could sit there watching.

He could pretend he didn't care.

He could complain about everything.

But he had changed.

Even the way he watched a fight was different.

Selene added:

"He also seems calmer."

Iris raised an eyebrow.

"Matt?"

"Yes."

"Are we talking about the same person?"

Selene laughed.

"That's why I said seems."

"Ah."

That made more sense.

Selene looked toward the window.

"Although there was one thing that did catch my attention."

Iris waited.

"Matt stopped Noxx."

Iris stopped looking at the sword.

"What?"

"When Princess Noxx was about to keep attacking."

Selene brought her eyes back to Iris.

"Matt was the one who stopped her."

Iris remembered very little from after the shot.

Fragments.

Voices.

The unpleasant sensation of trying to rebuild a brain while parts of her body were still scattered.

But now that Selene mentioned it…

Yes.

She remembered Matt's voice.

Not all of it.

Not every word.

But she had heard it.

"He stopped her?"

"Yes."

Iris looked down at her legs.

Matt.

Of all people.

Matt had stepped in.

A small smile appeared on her face.

'So that idiot still…'

"No."

Eleonora's voice appeared inside her mind immediately.

Iris closed her eyes.

There it was.

It had taken a while.

'Don't even start.'

"Don't tell me you're already getting your hopes up."

Iris opened her eyes.

Selene was still sitting in front of her with no idea that another argument had just started inside Iris's head.

'I didn't get my hopes up about anything.'

"Sure."

'Eleonora.'

"Matt didn't save you."

Iris looked at the sword on the cabinet.

'Can you shut up for five minutes?'

"I could."

Iris waited.

"But I don't want to."

Iris rubbed her forehead.

Selene raised an eyebrow.

"Princess?"

"It's nothing."

"Matt stopped Noxx because that girl doesn't understand how duels work."

Iris ignored Eleonora.

"She doesn't know when to stop."

Iris went on ignoring her.

"She doesn't know what can and can't be done in public."

Iris gripped the sheet a little.

"So Matt kept his new little sister out of trouble."

Iris lost the smile.

Eleonora laughed inside her mind.

"It wasn't about you."

'I'm going to throw you out the window.'

"You can't even get out of bed."

Iris looked toward the window.

Then at Eleonora.

The distance was considerable.

'I can ask Selene to do it.'

Eleonora stopped laughing.

"You wouldn't dare."

Iris looked at Selene and then turned her head back toward Eleonora.

The sword stayed where it was on the cabinet.

It was strange.

For years, Iris had carried it, used it, trained with it, put up with its criticism, and since their connection had established itself more clearly, she had also had to put up with its voice inside her head.

All the time.

All of it.

Even when she was trying to sleep.

Even when she wanted to think in peace.

Iris had gotten so used to it that she almost never thought about how it worked.

Eleonora was there, joined to her.

A bond between souls.

Iris stopped listening to the complaints Eleonora was still producing.

'A soul bond…'

That phrase reminded her of something else, much older.

Matt.

Iris had been born inside Matt.

For a long time there was no clear difference between the two of them.

Matt's thoughts reached her.

His memories.

His emotions.

His body.

His mana.

His blood.

Iris had lived inside his soul.

Until Matt found a way to separate them.

A technique.

A ritual.

A way to take two bound souls and give them separate existences.

Iris stared at Eleonora.

'Wait.'

Eleonora stopped talking.

Iris started organizing the idea.

Matt had managed to do it.

It was true that the situation wasn't exactly the same.

Iris had been created inside Matt.

Eleonora was an ego weapon.

But both connections had one thing in common.

Soul.

A bond.

Two existences sharing a connection that let thoughts and energy pass from one side to the other.

'What if…?'

Eleonora spoke.

"You…"

Iris smiled.

Selene saw it.

"Princess."

Iris didn't answer. She looked at the sword with growing interest.

'Matt managed to separate me from him.'

Eleonora took her time answering.

"Yes, but you're forgetting one small detail."

'Which is?'

"You're not Matt."

Iris stopped smiling, but went on looking at the sword.

Eleonora continued:

"Matt spent years studying sorcery because he had nothing better to do."

Iris frowned.

'I know sorcery too.'

Selene watched Iris's expression change.

"Everything all right?"

"Yes."

"Also," Eleonora went on, "you seem to have forgotten that you're lazy."

Iris narrowed her eyes.

'What?'

"Lazy."

'I heard you.'

"Then I don't understand the question."

Iris stared at the sword.

Selene had also started looking at Eleonora. She couldn't hear the full argument, but she knew both of them well enough to know one was happening.

Iris spoke out loud.

"Are you telling me I couldn't do it?"

Eleonora answered inside her head.

"Exactly."

"You think I can't separate you?"

Selene lifted her head.

"Separate her?"

Iris ignored the question.

Eleonora took longer to answer this time.

"You couldn't."

Iris smiled.

"You're sure?"

"Completely."

"Matt did it with me."

"Matt is Matt."

"And I'm his sister."

"That doesn't mean you inherited his brain."

Iris lost the smile.

"I'm going to look into it."

The sword did not answer right away.

Iris felt a discomfort that was not her own.

Very small.

But it was there.

The connection worked in both directions.

Iris smiled wider.

'What was that?'

"Nothing."

'Are you worried?'

"No."

Iris pushed the sheets aside and swung her legs off the bed.

Selene stood up immediately and took hold of her arm.

"Princess, you should lie down."

"No."

"Your body has only just regenerated."

"I know."

"I ordered food."

"They can bring it to me later."

Selene did not let go.

Iris tried to walk. The first leg responded. The second barely did. She held on to Selene's arm harder.

That was humiliating.

But not enough to stop her.

Selene sighed.

"There's something else you should know."

Iris took another step.

"What?"

"The queen was here."

Iris looked up.

"Mother?"

"Yes."

Iris waited.

Selene helped her forward.

"She visited several hours after your regeneration started."

"And?"

"She gave you some of her blood."

Iris stopped.

That explained why her body had managed to recover completely after an attack that severe.

Her mother's blood could speed the process up considerably.

It also meant she had probably been worse off than Selene wanted to say.

Iris decided not to think about that too much.

"Fine."

Selene seemed to be waiting for some larger reaction.

It didn't come.

Iris kept walking.

"Princess."

"What?"

"Where do you intend to go?"

"To the library."