Before I could protest, she drew out a small carved bowl—obsidian black, etched with runes that seemed to shimmer in the firelight. I recognized it immediately.
The Bond Bowl.
I’d only ever seen it used twice in the past, when she’d used it to confirm the bonds for Zara and Tasia with their mates. It was usually something that needed to be done in front of the entire coven. It wasn’t something you used lightly.
“Tabitha, I—” I started, but she waved me off.
She set the bowl on the table between us.
“Relax. We’re not binding anything... yet. We’re listening,” she said with a wink.
That should have calmed me.It didn’t.She handed me a small iron blade.
“A single drop of blood,” she said. “Yours.”
My fingers felt clumsy as I nicked my fingertip, letting a bead of red fall into the dark bowl. The surface rippled, not like water but like smoke.
Fuck, fuck,fuck.
Then Tabitha lifted her hand and whispered a summoning charm—a low, resonant murmur that tugged at the air.
“Now,” she said softly. “Think of him. Call his name in your mind.”
I swallowed hard. My heart thudded like it wanted out, but without hesitation, my mind summoned his name.Savla.
The bowl pulsed once.Hard.Then again.
The smoke stirred, folding in on itself until it shaped into a faint outline—the shimmer of a male’s silhouette. Tall, shoulders tense, head bowed as if in thought. I gasped, putting my fingers to my lips.
Tabitha’s expression didn’t change, but her eyes were sharper than I’d ever seen them. “Interesting.”
“What does that mean?” My voice came out breathless.
And it was accurate. Icouldn’tbreathe. My lips were parted, but I hadn’t sucked in any air.
She didn’t answer right away. The air in the room thickened and charged. Then the surface of the bowl flickered again—this time with light. A heartbeat of silver, faint but steady.
I felt it in my chest. In my magick.It had answeredme.
Tabitha’s voice was quiet when she finally spoke. “That, my dear, is resonance.”
“Resonance?”
“When two souls recognize each other,” she said, eyes flicking to mine, “even from a distance.”
I stared at the faint glow, unable to breathe. “So he’s—”
“Connected to you,” she finished. “In some way, yes. Whether it’s bond, fate, or something still forming… I can’t say quite yet. But whatever this is, it’s real.”
The light faded slowly, dissolving back into smoke. But the warmth it left behind didn’t leave me. It hummed in my veins, deep and low, resonating like an echo from his heartbeat.
Tabitha reached across the table, her hand resting briefly over mine.
“Be patient, Hanna. Bonds reveal themselves when both hearts are ready to see them.”
I nodded, but the part of me that had already known was busy celebrating that I was right.Because even now—I couldfeelhim.
Oh shit. What do I do?
