Page 94 of The Stone Survival
Fear flashed in his eyes, and I took his hand and squeezed. “It will work. Willowman is confident.”
“I have no doubt.” He seemed suddenly small in that moment, even though he took up the whole of the infirmary bed.
“Then what is it?”
His gaze tripped over my face. “You.”
My heart did that strange squeeze that it seemed to do around him now. It was the fake bond we shared. One that was accidentally forged when I consummated with Serath. Neither of us had chosen it. Neither of us understood or had a choice, and we’d spent the past few weeks looking for a way to undo it with the help of Willowman and Mirrowind.
During that time, we’d become friends. Closer in a way we probably should have avoided because it fed the bond, and yes, the thought of this working scared me too. Part of me wanted to keep him, even though I knew it would be unfair to all three of us.
It was the fake bond.
Once the extraction was complete, that bond would be broken, and we’d both be free of this feeling. We weren’t fated mates like Serath and me. Not drawn together and chosen to be one by the cosmos. This…what we felt wasn’t real.
Ivor entered the room. “The others are on their way. Everything all right here?” He put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him, accepting the hug. We’d leaned on each other the past couple of weeks, sharing stories about Melanie and bonding.
She’d given me life and protected me even from beyond the grave, and I’d never forget her sacrifice. She was a part of me forever, and all I could do was hope that some part of her had made it to a place where there was peace.
As for Ivor and the graynites, they were free now, no longer considered villains, able to do whatever they wanted. They were in talks with the government to figure out where they could help the most.
Willowman and Mirrowind entered the infirmary, and Mirrowind pulled the blinds open to let in the moonlight. It kissed my skin and sent a shiver through me. My body was reaching the point when I’d need feeding, but both Serath and I had agreed it was unfair to Ubron for us to be sexually intimate until we’d freed him. He felt too much of what Serath did now.
Abstaining was hard, and I was hungry for Serath’s touch and, if I was honest, for Ubron’s too.
“You need to step back,” Mirrowind said.
Two guardians carried a body bag into the room and placed it on the bed next to Ubron’s.
My stomach turned as they unzipped it to reveal the fake Yarrow’s dead body, still ice-cold from storage. For some reason, he’d retained his stolen face. Maybe because the real Yarrow from the cell was dead. A heart attack, they said.
Willowman drew a symbol on Yarrow’s forehead and another on Ubron’s.
Panic formed a fist in my chest. “Are you sure this won’t pull out Serath?”
“Positive,” Willowman said. “This is Serath’s natural body. The spell only attaches itself to the essence that does not belong.”
“It’s a bastardized version of what some religious sects would use to draw out spirits from bodies,” Mirrowind said. She smiled warmly at Willowman. “We added a few embellishments.”
Panic squeezed my heart. “Ubron, are you sure you want to do this? Take that body?”
His eyes darkened. “There is no other option if you wish me gone.”
Wish him gone… “I don’t wish you gone.”
He lightly touched my cheek and my heart hurt. “This is not real, Cameron. This feeling. We do not deserve to be captivated by an illusion.”
I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.
“Please do it now,” Ubron said to Willowman.
I stepped away so that Willowman and Mirrowind could work. Willowman took Ubron’s hand and linked hands with Mirrowind, who then placed her free hand on Yarrow’s forehead directly on the symbol.
They chanted in unison, twin voices of different timbres, rising and falling in a soothing rhythm that sounded almost like a coaxing lullaby.
The hair on my nape stood to attention and my chest warmed as the connection that I’d come to recognize as my bond to Ubron tingled and tugged, once, twice, and a third time, so hard it forced a soft cry from my lips.
Then it was gone.
