Her magick.
My heart hammered, my palms heated and I had no shield against this.
“Hanna,” I whispered again, helpless. Her name tasted like surrender.
I hated it, but I craved it at the same time. Longed for it.The bond pulsed harder, and something inside me gave way—snapped open like a gate I’d welded shut.
Memories flashed through me—her laughter, soft and surprised. Her hand brushing mine in the glitter spill. Her breath against my shoulder when she slept beside me. And then as if she was answering my call, her whisper came to me next. It was a low sound in my ear.
“I’m here.”
My knees nearly buckled again, but I caught myself with a shaky hand on the railing.
“I amnotmy father,” I whispered through clenched teeth.
But right now, with the bond pulling so hard I felt dizzy, I wasn’t sure I believed it. I wasn’t sure I believed anything except this. If she reached for me, I would reach back. I wasalreadyreaching back.
I sank onto the rooftop bench, gripping my hair. My breaths were too shallow, my chest was too full and my fear was too loud.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered. “I can’t survive loving her.”
My voice broke on the last word. But the bond pulsed again—gentler now. Soothing me, as if it disagreed.
“I can’t lose her,” I rasped. “I can’t—I won’t—” but my voice died in my throat. Because it was all a lie. The truth was a blade that cut through the bullshit.
I’d already fallen.
The moment she smiled at me in the workshop. The moment she touched my hand in the glitter mess. The moment she slept beside me, trusting me with her dreams.
Andnow? Now it was too late. Her magick had spoken, and my soul had answered. The resonance faded to a soft hum, quiet and waiting, settling as if it hadn’t rocked my entire world on its axis. My breathing finally leveled out—but just barely.
I stared up at the stars, my throat thick with something that felt a little too close to tears for my comfort. Then I whispered what I shouldn’t—something I’d denied for so long. The thing I’d fought so hard against and feared this entire time
“Hanna… if you’re calling for me…” My voice trembled. “…I’m already yours.”
The wind carried the words away—but the bond heard. It warmed, steady and sure. Like a hand being held out to me in the dark. Like fate smiling at me. Likeher.
I spent the next two days avoiding everyone, but I was mostly avoiding Hanna and the coven. I was also trying to avoid thinking, breathing, and existing in any way that made the bond harder to ignore.
It didn’t help.
Every time the bond pulsed faintly in my chest, I wanted to punch a hole through a tree. Or run. Orboth.
I threw myself into work—carving, mixing pigments, hauling lumber up to the workshop so I could do even more—anything to keep my mind too exhausted to feel. But it just wasn’t working.
I made a mistake as soon as I walked into the training room. I thought I was alone, so I slammed a weighted practice mace into a wooden post so hard the entire rack rattled. I did it again. And again. And again—until my hands were shaking and my chest felt too tight.
“Little brother,” Krusk’s voice landed behind me like a dropped boulder. I stiffened.
Great.
I lowered the mace slowly before turning around. Krusk stood with his arms crossed, expression carved from stone. His dark eyes were pinned to me like I was prey that needed corralling.
Enka stood beside him—arms and mouth full of snacks, shirt stained with something neon, looking way too entertained. Both of them stared at me like I was an animal that had escaped its pen.
“I’m fine,” I said immediately.
Enka snorted so loudly he nearly choked on his dried fruit. I was certain that the hoard of snacks had been sent by Gabbi.
