Cora froze with her hand hovering over a jar of lavender. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Elena responded carefully, “that maybe this fight wasn’t just about the potion. Maybe it was about you two and whatever’s going on between you.”
“There’s nothing going on,” Cora insisted quickly, too quickly.
Elena’s silence was louder than any retort. After a long moment, she said, “You’re a terrible liar.”
Cora spun around. “What do you want me to say, Elena? That I’m confused? That I don’t know how to feel about any of this? Because I don’t.”
“I want you to be honest. With me. With yourself. And maybe with Grayson, too.”
Cora slumped into a chair, burying her face in her hands. “It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t ask for this!” Cora’s voice cracked as the words spilled out. “I didn’t ask for the bond or for him to tie us together. I didn’t ask to be rescued or dragged into this mess. All I wanted was to live my life on my own terms.”
“And you think breaking the bond will give you that?”
“I don’t know,” Cora admitted. “But it’s the only thing I can control right now.”
Elena reached across the table, resting her hand over Cora’s. “Control is important, but so is understanding what you’re giving up. This bond isn’t just a magical leash, Cora. It’s… It’s deeper than that.”
“I don’t want it to be,” Cora said, her eyes stinging. “I don’t want to feel connected to him like this. It’s too much.”
“Why? Because it scares you?”
“Because it makes me feel things I’m not ready to feel. It makes me vulnerable.”
“And you hate that,” Elena supplied knowingly. “Because you’ve spent your whole life trying to prove you don’t need anyone.”
Cora flinched as the truth of Elena’s words hit too close to home. “You sound like my mother.”
“That’s not a bad thing. Your mom wasn’t wrong about everything, you know.”
“Don’t,” Cora almost shouted, cutting her off. “Don’t bring her into this.”
“You still haven’t spoken to them, have you?”
Cora shook her head. “Not since I left the coven.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s nothing to say. They made it clear where they stood. I wasn’t the daughter they wanted, and I wasn’t going to waste my life trying to be.”
“You don’t think they miss you?”
“I don’t care if they do. I made my choice, and they made theirs.”
Elena studied her for a moment before saying, “Sometimes people don’t know how to fix the mistakes they’ve made. Sometimes, they’re just waiting for a chance to try.”
Cora scrunched her nose and shook her head. “It’s too late for that.”
“Is it? Or are you just too afraid to find out?”
Cora didn’t respond. She couldn’t. So, she focused on the wood grain pattern on the table instead.
Elena let the silence linger for a moment before leaning forward, her fingers tracing an invisible pattern on the table. “You know, you remind me a lot of myself when I left my own coven.”
