“So you agree that you think my parents were the ones who did this to me...who did this to Lucien?”
The temperature suddenly plummeted again.
Dillon’s breath crystallised as snow began to fall. Not from the sky, but from me. Tiny flakes spiralled from my chest—blanketing the entire courtyard.
It didn’t hurt. I didn’t have a migraine or nausea like before but...Iwasin pain.
“That’s grief.” Dillon hugged himself, shivering from the cold. “Write it down. It’s soft but lethal.”
Shaking away the agony in my heart for what my parents had done, the snow lightened, turned to powder, then vanished.
“Your parents loved you,” Dillon said softly, stepping into me and rubbing away the single tear that rolled down my cheek. “Maybe they loved you too much and wanted you to be more than what everyone else is.”
“If my parents loved me.” I sniffed back my sadness. “They would never have experimented on me.” My heart pinched with guilt. “What if I’m the reason Lucien has been suffering his entire life? What if—”
“Are you honestly saying you feel responsible?” He cupped my shoulders and held me firm. “That you feel guilty for something you didn’t even know about?”
“Yes.” My temper flared, bringing another scattering of frost. “I do feel guilty. He’s spent his entire life in misery. And if itwasmy family who did this to him—”
“Then I suppose you were meant to find each other, seeing as it’s looking more and more likely that you’re keeping each other alive.” He cocked his head. “Or are you denying that fact?”
“No, I just—”
“What if they’d tampered with you and not him? Do you think you would’ve survived when your necklace came off? Because I’m telling you right now, you wouldn’t have. You were almost dead when I found you that day.”
He swallowed hard as if the memories haunted him. “I’m grateful he was able to protect you and I’m grateful you have each other. You’ve been on your own for far too long. So...whatever other worries you have. Whatever guilt you feel or questions you have...those are all tomorrow’s problems.”
Letting me go, he ordered, “Focus. There’s a shit-ton more emotions we haven’t tested and I’m not letting you out of this courtyard until you do.”
Feelings surged inside me.
Panic and worry, disbelief and shock.
I missed Lucien.
The bond’s incessant tugging made me irritable and anxious.
I wanted him.
I—
The bond tightened without warning, wrenching. I staggered forward, clutching my heart.
“Rook?” Dillon reached for me. “You okay?”
Heat flared through the tether. Snippets of Lucien’s thoughts bled into mine.
The fear of what lurked in the mountain. The rage of his hate. The single-minded determination to exterminate all those who’d betrayed him.
If he got hurt.
If something happened to him—
I almost doubled over from the pain.
I loved him.
I’d admitted it to myself before, but now...now the very earth shifted beneath my feet. The words carved themselves into my bones, branding their truth into my soul.
