Free Bindings by Carla Jablonski Page A

at her, suddenly furious. “You haven’t seen it until now because you’ve chosen not to. All I did was open your eyes.”
    He gripped her upper arms. She was frightened to see the passion and pain in his face. She was shocked by the realization that he was as devastated by this as she was.
    â€œSarisen, a city I loved, is now a husk that desert winds howl through,” he told her, his voice shaking. “Red sand has choked the life from the bejeweled caverns of Ulven.”
    Titania squirmed in his grip. She hated this directness, had lived her life avoiding it. Tamlin held her tightly and did not let go. “Riverbeds have gone dry, choking the fish so that they suffocate in agony. The bones of the hobble children bleach in the glare of the sun.”
    â€œEnough!” she cried out, tears streaming down her face. “What would you have me do?”
    â€œNot do, lady. Undo.” He released her, and she stumbled backward a few steps. She rubbed her arms where his hands had clasped her. Once he had done so only in love; now his aggressive touch was an accusation. An invasion.
    â€œTear down the walls you’ve raised,” he said. His voice was pleading. “Open your twilight land fully to the world again. More than these tiny gaps that allow a few to slip in and out. Let it be now as it was in the beginning, when Faerie touched the Earthlands with her mystery, and in return they gave her life.”
    She stared at him. How did he know what she had done so long ago? Worse, he had no idea that what he was asking her to do was impossible. “You’re mad.”
    â€œAm I? More than the land has changed since the Fair Folk withdrew from the world of mortal kind. You’ve changed—all of you. You’ve lost something. Lost it to fear.”
    She could not meet his eyes. She knew he was right, but she didn’t know how to fix it. He mistook her silence for disagreement.
    â€œWhen was the last time you laughed because you felt it, milady?” he demanded. “You speak constantly of pleasure, but when did you last know joy?”
    She could take no more. She had to confess.“Tamlin, stop. These things you say may well be true.” She wrapped her arms around herself as if she were afraid she might shatter. She yearned for the comfort and safety she had once felt in Tamlin’s strong embrace, but she knew that the time was long past.
    â€œBut I have already undone the bindings I wrought so long ago,” she told him. “I learned recently that the woman, that Earth woman who held you in thrall, had died. When I finally saw Faerie in this state, I tried to reopen the portals, no longer fearing that I would lose you to her. It changed nothing.”
    He shook his head incredulously. “It was jealousy that made you do such a thing? Create the bindings between our world and theirs? Risk the life of all Faerie?”
    â€œThat doesn’t matter now.” She did not want him to dwell on that past. She needed him to understand her fear, the present crisis.
    â€œHear me,” she said, taking a step toward him. “I told you—I undid what I had done. Do you understand? I told you that it changed nothing! I discovered other bindings. Choking our world tightly.”
    She gazed down at her feet and shook her head, answering his unasked question. “I do not know whose they are. But they are strong. Verystrong. I cannot heal the breach I made between man’s world and ours. Someone will not let me.”
    Now she searched his face, waiting for his response. He had to help her—help them all—help restore Faerie. But would he? Could he?
    Tamlin nodded as if he were thinking it all through. “Then we need to find a different hope,” he said finally.

Chapter Eight
    T IM LOOKED AROUND HIM. “I—I—did it,” he stammered. “But what exactly did I do?”
    He stared down at the amulet he still clutched