Saltbound and Bloodsworn (by Allison Franklin) novel Chapter 72

Saltbound and Bloodsworn

Chapter 72 Chapter Seventy-Two

Sylvan led Isla down a dank tunnel etched into the cliffside. Her newly enhanced senses were making her dizzy. The sound of water droplets hitting the rocky ground echoed through her skull. Her vision picked up every detail of the carved stone. The chi from the underground entrance made her shiver, and the hairs along her arm stood on end.

Isla felt an odd sense of deja vu. Memories played out befor her. She watched a figure stumbling toward them. The resemblance between this figure and herself was striking. Her eyes glowed blue; she swayed as though drunk, using the side of the tunnel as a support. Isla kept her eyes trained on the figure, who seemed unaware of her scrutiny as she walked past. She turned only for the figure to slowly evaporate.

“What’s wrong?” Sylvan asked, holding his hand out for her.

“Did you see that?” she asked.

Sylvan’s eyes narrowed, and he glanced in the direction the figure had disappeared to. He shook his head. “I haven’t seen anything. Are you okay?

Isla took his hand. “I don’t know. I just feel off… Like I have since I’ve woken.”

He lifted her hand so that he could kiss the back of it. “We’ll get you the answers you deserve,” he promised.

She gave a small, tight smile before he continued further into the tunnel. The tunnel turned into a large, bowl-shaped cavern with stone steps leading up to a flat platform. As if sensing her approach, people started flooding out of a small opening in the cave wall. She recognized Cole and Nikolai. A few Eredhal soldiers funneled out, followed by Delilah and Eloise. Isla gasped and ran for her friend, who met her halfway with open arms.

“You’re here,” Isla whispered into Eloise’s shoulder, relieved to have someone on her side to be there to vent to and ask questions.

Eloise pulled back and wiped tears from her cheeks. “Yeah, your mate insisted,” Eloise said, brushing Isla’s hair away from her neck to expose the raw mark

there. She held out a thin silk robe.

As Isla pushed her arms through the sleeves and let the blanket fall to the ground, she glanced over her shoulder to find Sylvan deep in conversation with Nikolai. His silver eyes were still locked on her, as though looking away would allow her to run off again. She focused back on her friend but could still feel

the heat of his eyes on her back. Isla squeezed Eloise’s hands.

“I’ll need a recap from you this time, it seems,” Isla said with a chuckle.

Eloise raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes as she blew air out of her puckered lips. “No kidding, but I think there will be some mutual exchanges of

information required.” Eloise said in exasperation.

Isla laughed with her friend until another shadow emerged from the crevice in the cave wall. Her laughter died in her throat as the regal-looking woman

stepped out into the light. She held her chin high, and her hands were clasped together in front of her waist. Her long blonde hair was plaited, allowing Isla

an unobstructed view of the woman’s face. Sharp, pointed ears framed a thin face with bright aquamarine eyes and plump lips. The same strange tattoos

that now ran along Isla’s skin peeked out of the thin dress the woman wore. It was as though she were looking into a mirror at her future self. Was this like the figure she’d seen out in the tunnel? Would she fade into nothing like the last? Dread filled Isla’s stomach and rolled up through her throat. The woman didn’t move, didn’t initiate a conversation. She merely waited for Isla.

Isla felt Sylvan’s heat at her back, and his hand circled her arm in a show of comfort. She tucked her head and glanced back at his hand.

“Who is she?” she whispered.

“You know it is,” he responded. “This is your mother, the fae queen of the Saltbound.”

1/3

1:05 am PPP

Chapter 72 Chapter Seventy-Two

“Hello, Isla,” the woman said, bringing Isla’s attention back to her.

Sylvan’s hand tightened against her skin in a show of support and grounding.

“Hello,” Isla answered, uncertainty and shyness clawing up her insides.

The woman took a few hesitant steps forward, sensing tsla’s reluctance.

“You do not know me… But I know you,” the woman said, stopping few feet away, her bare feet sliding against the wet rock at her feet. “I’ve watched you grow up from afar. The first time you fell from your horse. When you sat by the beach and cried for reasons i wasn’t privy to know. When you climbed out of your window that night, and rode off with blood on your mind.” The woman looked down at her hands and inhaled slowly to collect herself before she

looked back up.

“You are my daughter,” she finally said, her voice low and broken as if she’d recited the line over and over but it didn’t meet her expectations when spoken aloud in that moment. She fanned her hands out to plead for understanding. “I had hoped to meet you under different circumstances. I had hoped to meet you earlier in your life so that I could guide you, better prepare you for what’s to come, but…”

“What is to come?” Isla asked, choosing to focus on the less emotional aspect of what she spoke.

The woman’s eyes went to the audience behind them, and her mouth parted in hesitation. Her anxiety seemed to belie the charismatic aura of self-assured royalty that radiated off of her. It didn’t take much inspection to realize this was as uncomfortable for her as it was for Isla.

“Perhaps we can speak in private?” the woman requested.

“Whatever you have to say will be relayed to my mate and friends whether done here or in private,” Isla argued.

The woman lowered her head and smiled. “I remember saying the same thing to my mother when she wanted to have a private discussion with me in front

of my mate.”

“My real father?” Isla couldn’t help but ask.

Her aquamarine eyes shot up as if surprised by the question. Her gaze softened, and a gentle smile graced her face as she nodded. “His name was Varun.”

Isla immediately knew the name. “My uncle, the alpha king of Tridea before Slade. He was killed for betraying our people, for putting the fae race in danger

of exposure and…”

“No,” the woman said with a decisive shake of her head. “What you have been told are falsities and lies. Varun was not your uncle; he did not betray our people. He was a good man, a good father.”

Isla nodded, willing to heed her explanation. After all, only a few hours earlier she’d woken in the woods of Tridea with the marks of a fae and her entire

existence turned on its head.

“Varun,” Isla repeated, trying to reconcile the singular likeness she’d seen of him in an obscure book on a dusty shelf in the library at Seavale. She tried to remember his features and visualize herself in the faded image.

“Yes, your father,” the woman said.

“And you? Who are you?” Isla asked, her eyes boring into the woman’s soul.

She raised her chin. “I am the queen of the TideBorn. Our blood flows with the energy of generations of powerful fae who…”

2/3

1:05 am PPPP

Chapter 72 Chapter Seventy-Two

You ame, isin interrupted: “I can feel your power. She could. She could perceive it flowing between them as it sensed one of its own and wished to study and enhance it through the metabolic water molecules in the air. “What I want to know is your name.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify