“You’re safer without me,” I whispered to the empty room.
But the carving sat heavy in my hands. Warm and wanted. Like a truth I didn’t dare name.
Ribbon pressed against my leg in a slow, comforting rub—his version of a hug. And for the first time since waking, I let myself breathe.
Chapter 22
Hanna
The fear hit me like a wave—sharp, cold and wrong.
I bolted upright in bed, my heart pounding, but the panic wasn’t mine. It washis.
Savla’s.
The bond vibrated through my chest like a plucked wire, too tight, too frantic. Something was hurting him.
I threw on a sweater and shoved my feet into shoes. Ribbon was already waiting at my door with a wooden spoon in his mouth and a determined glint in his huge eyes.
“Ribbon?” I whispered. “What—?”
He chirped, dropped the spoon, and hopped toward the elevator with purpose.
“Oh dear Goddess Mother. Fine. Lead the way,” I grumbled.
He led me straight to Savla’s workshop. By the time I climbed the stairs, my pulse felt fused with his. I was still connected tohim somehow, through our bond.
I didn’t knock. I pushed the door open—and froze.
He sat on the floor, elbows on his knees, head bowed and his breathing ragged. His hair was tangled, glitter still caught in the strands but now there was ash smeared down his jaw. His hands trembled around something small and wooden in his lap.
A carving?
His eyes shot up when he heard me. They were haunted and afraid. Not of me—of something bigger.
“Hanna,” he rasped. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I felt you,” I whispered.
The words made him flinch as if I’d struck him.He looked away immediately.
“It wasn’t— It’s not the bond,” he whispered. This was the closest he’d ever gotten to admitting that he felt the same.
I stepped closer. “Savla—”
“It was just a nightmare.” His voice sharpened. “That’s all.”
“That’s not all,” I said gently.
“It is.” He forced the words out like he needed them to be true. “It means nothing.”
But his hands shook around the carving. Ribbon hopped inside, chirped, and dropped a yellow leaf at his knee.
He didn’t even look at it. He swallowed hard, his eyes flicked toward me and then away.
“I saw my father,” he said finally, his voice low. “The day he died in battle.”
I eased closer. “Savla…” I started, but I didn’t know what to say.
