Page 70 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

If I could tap into that bond, I could reinforce it. I could share the load.

It was also the sort of thing that came with consequences.

I swallowed. “Cal.”

His voice was tight. “What?”

“I can stabilize this, but I need to bind myself to the egg. Temporarily.”

Faith’s head snapped toward me. “No.”

Greyson’s eyes narrowed. “That is not a small decision.”

Eve’s expression shifted. “Salima, think.”

I did think. Fast. Brutal.

A baby’s life weighed more than my comfort.

“I am thinking,” I said. “If I anchor the egg to my healing, I can keep the spots from spreading.”

Cal’s gaze locked on mine. “What does it do to you?”

“I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “But I know what happens if I don’t.”

Cal stared at the egg, then back at me. His jaw worked once, and something raw flickered in his eyes.

“Do it,” he said.

Faith swore under her breath, but she didn’t stop me.

I adjusted my hands on the shell and whispered a binding phrase under my breath, one I’d used in gentler forms before. Not for eggs. Not for this. It was more like a healer’s vow than a spell.

I pushed my magic into the egg’s rhythm and tied it to mine.

The moment the bond locked, the world tilted.

Not physically. Internally.

A surge of sensation hit me like a wave. Heat, stone, wings I didn’t have, and an ache so deep it felt ancient.

Cal.

I felt him.

Not his thoughts in clean sentences. His presence. His bond. The raw protective thread he kept wrapped around the egg like a shield.

And then, beneath that, something else.

Desire.

Not casual admiration. Not friendly banter.

A persistent, startling pull.

It was absurd and intimate, like walking into a room you thought was empty and finding someone already there, watching you.

My breath caught, and my hands nearly slipped off the shell.