The spirits had found me.
"Azryth," I said quietly. "We have company."
"I know, I've been sensing them since we arrived. Three of them, minor entities, curious but not hostile."
"Yet."
"Yet," he agreed.
The first spirit materialized near the kitchen. Wispy, translucent, watching me with eyeless curiosity.
Then the second by the window.
Then the third near the door.
They were circling, not threatening, but definitely interested.
"They're drawn to your energy signature," Azryth explained calmly. "The binding has made you more visible to them in ways you weren't before, they're still trying to figure out what you are."
"That's not comforting."
"They're harmless, just observe them. Don't engage—"
The spirit near the kitchen lunged.
Not at me. At my open box of books, it dove into the box, and suddenly pages were flying everywhere, books levitating, spinning in the air.
"Hey!" I moved toward it. "Those are mine!"
The spirit by the window joined in, my curtains started flapping despite the closed window, the TV turned on by itself, cycling through channels at seizure-inducing speed.
"Riven, step back," Azryth commanded.
But I was annoyed now, these were my things, my books, my space.
I reached for the energy inside me, the infernal power I'd been learning to control, and pushed.
The spirits scattered, books dropped, the TV shut off.
For about three seconds.
Then they came back. All three of them, and they'd brought friends.
Six spirits now. Then eight. Then twelve.
They poured out of the walls, the floor, the ceiling, drawn by my power usage like sharks to blood in water.
"Oh shit," I whispered.
"Riven, get behind me. Now."
I moved behind Azryth as the spirits swarmed, they weren't wispy and curious anymore, they were aggressive, feeding off each other's energy, growing bolder.
One dove at me. Azryth caught it somehow, his hand closing around something that should have been insubstantial, he crushed it, and the spirit dispersed with a shriek.
But there were too many, more kept coming.
"Why are there so many?" I shouted over the growing chaos.
"Your energy signature! You're basically a supernatural lighthouse!" Azryth was fighting them off, but even he was getting overwhelmed. "This is why you don't go places alone!"
A spirit got past his defenses, lunging for my chest, I pushed energy at it instinctively, it exploded into wisps.
But my power usage just attracted more.
"We need to leave," Azryth said. "Now."
"My stuff—"
"Forget your stuff! Move!"
He grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the door, spirits swarmed around us, reaching, grasping, trying to touch, to feed, to understand what I was.
We made it to the hallway, the spirits followed.
Down the stairs, running now. The entire building was lighting up with supernatural activity, spirits pouring out of apartments, from the walls, attracted by the massive disturbance.
"Your car better be close!" I shouted.
"Ground floor!"
We burst out of the building into daylight, the spirits stopped at the threshold, unable or unwilling to follow into direct sunlight.
But I could see them inside, dozens of them now, filling the building.
"Well," I said, breathing hard. "That could have gone better."
Azryth rounded on me. "That was incredibly reckless, I told you not to engage them."
"They were throwing my books around!"
"So you decided to use power in an enclosed space filled with supernatural entities." His eyes were flickering with flame. "Do you have any idea what could have happened? If they'd overwhelmed you? If they'd managed to drain your energy?"
"I had it under control!"
"You had nothing under control! There were dozens of them by the end!" He grabbed my shoulders. "You could have been seriously hurt, or worse."
"But I wasn't, you were there."
"That's not the point!" His grip tightened. "The point is that you ignored my warnings, engaged threats you couldn't handle, and nearly got yourself killed. Again."
"I didn't ask you to protect me!"
"You didn't have to ask! You're bound to me! Your safety is my responsibility whether you like it or not!" He pulled me closer, his voice dropping to something dangerous. "And I will not watch you throw yourself into danger because you're too stubborn to accept that you need protection."
We were very close now, close enough that I could see the genuine fear underneath his anger.
He'd been scared, for me.
The binding hummed between us, responding to the intensity of emotion.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I didn't think it would escalate like that."
"You never think it will escalate." Some of the anger left his voice, replaced by exhaustion. "That's the problem, you don't understand how visible and vulnerable you are now, there are entities far worse than curious spirits who would love to get their hands on a mortal radiating infernal energy."
"I know. I get it now."
"Do you?" He released my shoulders but didn't step back. "Because this is the third time you've nearly died since the binding, and I'm running out of ways to pull you back from the edge."
"I'll be more careful."
"You're not going anywhere alone anymore." His voice was firm and final. "Anywhere you go, I go. Or you take security. No exceptions."
"That's not reasonable.."
"It's completely reasonable given that you just attracted a spiritual swarm to your former apartment building even though I was there." He gestured at the building, where I could still see spirits moving in the windows. "You're not going back there. Ever. Anything you want from that apartment, I'll send a team to retrieve it, after they've cleared the supernatural infestation you just created."
"I need to cancel my lease.."
"Already handled. I bought the building three weeks ago, your lease is terminated." At my expression, he added, "I was planning to tell you eventually."
"You bought my building."
"It was strategically advantageous. And now I can ensure proper supernatural containment." He pulled out his phone, already typing. "I'm having a containment team sent immediately, they'll clear the spirits, retrieve your belongings, and seal the space."
"You have a containment team."
"I have many teams for many purposes." He finished typing, looked at me. "You're moving into the penthouse permanently, not as a temporary arrangement, not as a probationary situation. Permanently."
"I already live in the penthouse."
"You live there while maintaining the fiction that it's temporary, that you have somewhere else to go back to." His eyes met mine. "That fiction ends now. The penthouse is your home, your only home. Accept it."
There was something in his voice, not just command, something else, something that sounded almost like plea.
"Okay," I said.
He blinked. "Okay? Just like that?"
"Just like that." I looked back at my building, at the spirits still visible in the windows, at the place I'd called home for five years that I'd just made uninhabitable. "You're right. I can't go back there, not safely, and pretending I had somewhere else to go was just... denial."
"Riven.."
"The penthouse is my home now, might as well accept it." I met his eyes. "Might as well accept all of it."
The binding surged between us, warm and approving.
Azryth studied my face for a long moment, then nodded.
"Good. Now get in the car before more spirits decide to investigate the disturbance."
The ride back was quiet. I watched the city pass by, processing the fact that I'd just permanently lost my last connection to my old life.
My apartment, my independence, my illusion of choice.
All of it gone.
And somehow, I wasn't as upset about it as I should have been.
"Your books will be retrieved," Azryth said quietly. "And anything else you want, the team will be thorough."
"Thank you."
"And we're increasing your training, daily sessions are no longer sufficient, we're moving to twice daily until you can go a full week without attracting supernatural attention."
"Twice daily training sessions where I knock you into walls. Lucky you."
"Lucky both of us." The corner of his mouth twitched. "Though I have to admit, you're getting better. That push back there, the one that dispersed the first spirit, was well-controlled."
"You noticed that in the middle of the chaos?"
"I notice everything about you." He said it simply, like it was fact. "Part of the binding. Part of... other things."
The binding hummed.