His composure cracked, revealing a sadness so deep it felt carved from something ancient.
“I know why you couldn’t translate before your coma.”
My breath hitched.
“I know why your energy resembles that of a two-thousand-year-old magus…”
Two-thousand-year-old—what?
“I know why you and Julian formed the True Bond.”
Caden’s head snapped toward Stephen. “They formed the True Bond?” he hissed.
The latter only shrugged, but the strain in his jaw implied he wasn’t pleased to have been kept out of the loop.
Well, join the fucking club.
I barely noticed. All I could feel was the dread sinking its teeth into my chest.
James’s next words fell like a sledgehammer.
“And I know why your translation is untraceable.”
The room erupted.
“What?!” Stephen and Caden bellowed in unison.
“What—how?” I stammered, my thoughts spinning, unraveling.
James’s jaw tightened, his face darkening with something close to shame.
“Julian told me.”
“Julian told you? What the hell does he know about it?”
“Everything, actually. He’s the reason you are who you are, Emma.”
“I don’t understand, James. What are you trying to tell me?” This couldn’t be true. He hadn’t been keeping this from me. It was not possible.
James averted his eyes again, the gravity of his confession palpable in the tense silence.
I waited, my heart pounding in my chest. The seconds dragged on as James struggled to find his words.
Finally, he looked up, meeting my eyes with an expression so raw it made my stomach twist.
“Emma… when you went into that coma, we had no idea what had happened to you. I didn’t know if—or when—you’d wake up. I was already unraveling over you and Julian, but when the first week passed... and then the second... and you still didn’twake up…” His voice faltered. “I thought I was going to lose you. And I lost it.”
He gave a bitter, breathless laugh. “You know about him and I coming to blows…”
James paused, drawing in a shaky breath like he wasn’t sure he deserved to keep talking.
“Julian was by your side every hour of the day. He barely moved. And one night, I snapped—I attacked him. Out of nowhere. I’m not proud of it. I was out of my mind. Jealous. Angry. But more than anything, I was terrified. I thought you were slipping away, and there was nothing I could do.”
He shifted in his seat, suddenly restless. His fingers fidgeted in his lap.
“I basically punched it out of him. That’s when he told me. He’d figured out a way to help you—to get you out of the coma. To bring you back to me.” James looked down again, voice barely above a whisper.
“But to do that… he had to tell me his story.”
