“I would like that.”
“Even if we’re not permanently bonded? If we figure out some loophole?”
I consider this. “Especially then. It would be a choice, not an obligation.”
“I’d like that too,” she says softly.
“Ready to try the synchronization again?” she asks. “For real this time?”
“Yes.” I set my mug down. “Though I am uncertain what we should do differently.”
“We?” She looks at me. “You were perfect. You did everything right. I was the one who couldn’t...” She trails off. “Who couldn’t trust you.”
“Could not, or would not?”
“Does it matter?”
“It might.” I consider this. “The first attempt failed because you saw me as a threat. Do you still?”
She studies me for a long moment. Takes in the way I’ve been catching things before she drops them, cooling the soup before it burned her, eating food I do not need because she asked.
“No,” she says finally. “I don’t think you’re a threat anymore.”
“Then what am I?”
“I’m still figuring that out.” She manages a small smile. “But you’re not Martin. And you’re not a monster. So that’s progress.”
Carl appears in the doorway, holding a sign: “KEITH HAS CONCLUDED. REQUESTS POST-PRESENTATION FEEDBACK.”
“We should go,” Rianne says.
“We should.”
She doesn’t move. Neither do I.
“What if it fails again?” she asks quietly. “What if I can’t do it? What if we run out of chances and everyone becomes shadow creatures because I’m too broken to trust anyone?”
“You are not broken.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know that you loved someone who betrayed you, and you are still trying. That is not broken. That is brave.”
She looks at me like I’ve said something impossible. Like bravery is not a word she has heard applied to herself.
“The Chronicle said ‘unprepared but willing,’” I remind her. “Willing is enough. We will try again. Tonight. And if it fails, we try once more at the solstice.”
“And if all three fail?”
“Then we fail together. But we will have tried honestly.”
She nods slowly. “Okay. Let’s give Keith his feedback and then... practice. Figure out how to do this right.”
“We already know the mechanics,” I point out. “Hands on the Chronicle. Synchronized breathing. Eye contact.”
“I know. But maybe we need to practice the trust part first. The magic part is easy. The human part is hard.”
“I am not human.”
