“Is this how you prove you’re more powerful than them?” I asked quietly. “By choosing what gets sacrificed?”
He didn’t look at me.
“Break the mating bond.Now.”
The command echoed in my head, digging its claws into me. The deal demanded I break the bond, but it didn’t specify how much.
I can’t fight it.He’s making me. I’m sorry.
Aelie.His voice broke.Whatever happens, I will find you.Do you understand? I will tear apart the realms until I’m holding you again.
Kairos—
Tell me you believe me.
I believe you.
Tell me you love me.
I love you.The words caved in my chest.I love you so much it terrifies me.
Then hold onto that.His fierce presence wrapped around me.No matter what he does. That part of us, he can’t touch. It’s ours.
I was sobbing now.I can’t lose you.
You won’t.Then, softer:You’re carved into me, deeper than any magic.
I’m sorry,I whispered.I’m so sorry.
Don’t be.Survive, and I’ll do the rest.
I pressed my fingers into the mating bond rune, and fell.
The world vanished into infinite golden light. It stretched in all directions—threads upon threads, woven together in patterns that hurt to look at. Some glowed bright. Others were dimmer.
Aelie?Kairos’s baritone, all around me.
I reached for the nearest thread and?—
A boy with silver hair scrambled up a tree, laughing. Below, a fae female called his name. He climbed higher, wanting to fly.
The memory released me and I gasped. A thread brushed my fingers and?—
He was older. Kneeling in blood, his wings shattered?—
I grabbed another.
A century of darkness. Commands he couldn’t disobey. The slow death of hope, year by year, until nothingremained but rage. And then snow. A human girl with dark hair, standing her ground.
I saw myself through his eyes. Felt his confusion, the irritation, the desperate need to understand why this fragile creature made his dead heart stutter.
Her laugh in the library. The way she argued with him. The smell of her hair. The softness of her skin. The first time she said his name.Mine,something whispered in him.Mine, mine, mine.
I was weeping. The threads pulsed, golden and crimson, beating with two hearts that had learned to sync. This was us, woven together into such a beautiful tapestry, it made my chest ache. And I had to break it.
Aelie,I can feel you in here.
I-I can see your whole life.
