“Your fault, it was not,” she says gently.
“Yes it was!” I yell. “I got her involved in the whole mess, it was my father who was watching me, it was me who was too stupid, naïve, and blind to think we could get away with it!”
“Meela did what she wanted, never what she didn’t want. She wanted to help, knowing the risk. Give her that respect.”
“You didn’t even know her,” I say in a low, vicious tone.
“I followed you for years. I know them all. Better than you, perhaps.”
Tears threaten to break free from my eyes.
“That is why I know that Daegan would never abandon you. He will come, whether the trees fall or the wraiths sing. Of that, I am certain.”
The way she speaks the words with absolute certainty sends a knife through my gut. Because I still don’t believe it. I’ve given up hope for everything, and they’re fools to depend on me.
“Why offer the bond to me? What advantage does it give you? What is the point?”
“We will both become stronger with our magic. Yours and mine will combine, forming a force that any being should cower to behold. I cannot say for sure the extent, as each bond is different, but I can show you what we’re capable of… one small stone at a time, as to not overwhelm you.”
“And if we never get off this island?”
“It is written in the fates that we shall.”
“When? How?”
“When the winds deem it so.”
“So you don’t know.”
She quirks an eyebrow at me. “I do not know,” she finally admits.
“You just like to pretend to hold all the knowledge of the universe.”
She juts her chin out. “I know a great deal.”
“Okay.”
“So you will do it?”
“Fine.”
“Your spirit knows no bounds,” she notes sarcastically. “I’m partial to the you of old.”
“So am I,” I grumble.
“Hold your palm out.”
I do as she says, and then she approaches, landing in my palm. “Open your mouth and bring me closer.”
“What?”
She looks at me with genuine concern. “Did your ears become injured when the tides nearly claimed you as their own?”
“No.”
“Okaaay…” she says slowly, eyeing me with more concern. “I said open your mouth.” She speaks louder this time, enunciating the words.
I open my mouth to the small fairy who stands in my palm in front of me, her greenish-blue hair vibrant and glowing. All of her is glowing, really, but I particularly like the shade of her hair, I decide as I study her.
