Page 85 of Bones

She smirked.

And I fought the urge to dry heave all over their happiness.

“I told her two days ago,” I shared instead. “She burst into tears, and then went back to silence.”

Nate opened his mouth, but I cut him off with a Mabel saying.

“If you’re gonna offer bullshit platitudes to try to spin this, can you at least put water in so I can do laundry?”

He closed his mouth again.

“You’re snarkier than I remember,” Juno said with a joyful laugh. “I like it. You’re now my favorite sibling.”

“An honor,” I deadpanned. “I need to get my mate home.”

“You can stay here,” Denny offered. “We have extra room.”

“No—”

“Maine is too far to transport back and forth,” Nate interrupted. “What if something happens, and you’ve expended your magicks just to get here? Or you aren’t able to get here at all? Absolve won’t sit around and wait for you to take a road trip.”

Leave it to him to bluntly lay out my own hidden fears.

“There’s a vacant apartment in the building I own in town. We’re going to stay there.”

“That’ll work.”

“Better than sharing a house and him getting another glimpse of your ass,” Lennon said.

“Don’t be a hater because you’re a beanpole, and I’m thick with three Cs.”

“Okay, that’s it.” Juno held out her hand. “Fork over your phone. I’m blocking that damn app myself.”

“No.”

“This is why Deke is now the favorite.”

“Was I not even in contention?” Lennon asked.

Another wave of sadness crashed over me, and I rushed from the house without another word, leaving them to squabble. Bypassing the steps completely, I jumped from the porch and didn’t stop until I reached where Aurora sat in the grass. Her back was to me, and her body was curled protectively around Victoria. I crouched behind her, and the little dog let out a fierce growl until she saw it was just me.

“Why can’t I do it?” Aurora cried, burying her face in Victoria’s fur.

I rubbed my hand down her back. “Do what, baby?”

“Turn it off. Everything is so strong. So powerful. It was never like this before, and ithurts. I don’t want to feel these emotions. This curse.”

Her words were like a cannonball to the gut. I rocked back and lost my balance, falling to my ass.

“My one.” It came out a tortured whisper as my heart shattered in my damn chest. Eviscerated me from the inside out. Guilt—far worse than the already heavy amount I felt toward my siblings—ate at me. It gutted me to do it. Fucking killed. I’d take a million battles over what I was suggesting, but I forced the offer out even though it felt like swallowing shards of glass mixed with rock salt. “I’ll talk to the others. See if there is a way to undo it. Unmate our souls.”

“No. No, it’s not… I don’t want to feelmycurse.”

“I don’t get what you’re saying,” I told her honestly. “What curse?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it. Glancing to the window, she lowered her head to snuggle Victoria. “Take me home, please.”

She was asking me to carve my chest open with a dull, rusty spoon and tear my heart free to leave it behind, but I would still do it.

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