“Potatoes. Would you like more?”
“No, thank you.”
He looks back down.
I’ve been patient. He’s allowed time to think, to ponder.
But this is beyond that.
I put down my fork. “What is it? Is this about our magic? Like I said, give it time.”
His eyes remain glued to his plate. “Time won’t heal this,” he says, barely above a whisper.
“You don’t know that.”
When he looks up, there are tears in his eyes.
My heart immediately seizes. “Eryx. What is it?”
He shakes his head. “You’ve come so far. Become so much, I can’t…take that from you.”
Alarm bells blare in my head. My heart slams into overdrive, but I try to breathe slowly, calm my body before the storm it senses.
I smooth my hands over the napkin in my lap and say very slowly inside the large dining hall, “Why would you take that from me?”
“Chelsea…” He stops. Drops his elbows on the table. Covers his face with his hands. Blows out a breath.
“You’re scaring me.”
He shakes his head and drops his hands. “I’m not trying to. I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on?”
He exhales. “Our bond won’t heal through time. Helena ripped it, and it’s not coming back the way it was.”
My magic stirs inside me, churning my stomach. It’s there, loud, ready to be used, but at the same time I feel the damage. It’s jagged, and the best part of it—that I could sense Eryx—is faint now, like he’s standing on the other side of the world, unreachable.
Even though my body tells me one thing, I refuse to think this can’t be fixed. “I’m sure there’s a way. We just have to look.”
“I did. All afternoon. There’s nothing. There’s only one thing to do.”
He says this solemnly, coldly, like it’s already decided. Part of me doesn’t want to ask, because this is going to be bad. I can feel it.
But I do anyway. “What’s that?”
His eyes lift and lock on mine—that icy blue hue filled with worry. “Unbind.”
That sends a jolt through my body. All I can do is repeat the word, “Unbind?”
“Our magic is slapping back, and this isn’t like before, when we were learning how to work together. We know how to work together. But it’s bucking, and every time I try to open the dream world or do anything, it’s going to hurt you.”
“I can handle it.”
“It’s not about whether or not you can handle it. I won’t hurt you every time I use our magic.”
“We’ll figure out a way.”
“There is no way.”
