Page 6 of Spirit Rites
I squeeze my eyes shut and only open them when I hear the front door close. Farrah turns to Harper before I can. “You do that?”
Harper shrugs. “I didn’t know what to say to him. He was being all weird. Besides, I shouldn’t even be the one having to deal with him.” She gives me a pointed look. Farrah lets out a sigh and sits back. Then they both face me. “What’s the plan here, Kins?” Harper asks. “Because I will do a lot for you but pretending to mate with a man is probably a little far, even for me.”
Farrah stares at her with wide eyes. “Probably?”
Harper shrugs. “I mean heisgood-looking.” A twinge of something bubbles up inside of me; which is ridiculous. I have absolutely no claims on the man. Harper is simply doing what I asked her to do. “Do you want me to continue this charade, orare you going to pull yourself together and deal with this like an adult?”
“Harper!” Farrah says in shock.
“What? It's the truth.” Harper faces me. “You need to deal with this.”
I blow out a breath. “I know.” Everything suddenly feels like it comes crashing down on me. And since I’m a verbal processor, it all just spills out. “I have a spirit animal. And on the one hand, that’s absolutely amazing. Veyra is incredible. But on the other hand, it’s a complete shock—one I’m still trying to recover from. And then there’s the fact that she’s corporal, and she’s the mate of Jespar.” I shake my head. “If all that weren’t enough, now I’m bound in some way to the king of the jaguars!” I run a hand over my hair and pull on my ponytail. “It’s just...a lot.”
“Oh, Kinsley. I'm so sorry it’s so crazy.” Farrah comes over and sits next to me and wraps an arm around my shoulder.
Harper on the other hand, gives me no such sympathy. She sits back against her chair and eyes me. I know that look; she’s going to say something I’m not going to like. “What?” I ask, wanting to just get it over with. She just stares me down. “If you have something you want to say, Harper, just say it.”
She gives me a slow grin. “There she is. I knew the feisty Kinsley was in there somewhere.” I resist the urge to roll my eyes at her. She leans forward. “You’re abanished, Kins.”
“Not anymore,” Farrah interjects. “As of last night, there are no more banished. Rysden signed the law into existence.”
Harper turns to Farrah. “Would you like us to kiss his feet when he comes back?” she asks dryly.
I shake my head. There’s no reasoning with her when she’s like this. Farrah, thankfully, is learning fluency in all things Harper. She grins. “I would pay to see Rysden’s face if you did.”
Harper shakes her head and turns back to me. “You’re a banished, Kins. You’ve been through too much to let somethinglike this knock you down. Shoot. You survived the Spirit Trials too.”
“I didn’t finish,” I remind her.
“Yeah, because you had an injury,” Farrah points out.
“If you’d stayed in the water, we would have all died,” Harper says. “You were leaking a lot of blood, and blood draws predators.” I don’t argue with her. “So, you didn’t finish the last trial. You still survived the Spirit Trials. And Terron gave you his blessing when we got back to land.” My heart squeezes at the mention of Terron, and I can’t help glance at Farrah. Her face reflects my own. The pain of his death is too fresh. Terron was bonded to Eglon, a gryphon. They were one of the last bonded of their kind. I nod at Harper’s words, remembering his kind words when I’d been unable to go on. “The point is you’re made of tough stuff, Kinsley Ratchey. You’re not going to crumble under this. If fate decided that you’re the perfect match, soul mate, bonded...whatever for the jag king, then you are.”
I refuse to respond emotionally to her words. “But if I accept this, that would make me queen of the jaguars. I don’t even know the man, and I know nothing about the Jaguar Kingdom. I don’t even know anything about jaguars!”
“So learn,” Harper says without any mercy. “You’ve learned how to adapt and stay alive all these years in the banished community. You can do the same in another kingdom. Besides, it’s not like you're leaving behind family or anything like Farrah had to do.”
Farrah turns wide eyes on Harper. “Seriously?!”
Harper isn’t bothered in the least. “It’s true. You know it. I know it, and Kinsley knows it.”
“But you guys are my family,” I suddenly blurt out. “I finally found a place I belong, and now, you’re asking me to leave that?” My voice cracks, and I swallow hard.
Harper’s face shows the first bit of softening. “We’re not going to stop being a family just because we split up.”
I don’t look away from her. I love Farrah, but Harper’s been the sister I never had for a very long time. “Please don’t ask me to give it all up. I don’t think I can.” My words are a whisper.
Harper doesn’t look away. So, I don’t miss when she blows out a breath. “I’ll come with you.”
Hope bursts to life in my chest. “Really?” She nods. For the first time all morning, I feel like I can finally take a full breath. The panic that’s been riding me hard all morning finally loosens its grip on me.
“Found sisters, remember?” Harper says.
I reach out and take her hand and squeeze it. “Yes.” The word is a whisper. I remember the day she told me that we were found sisters—not sisters by blood but sisters because we found each other and chose each other.
“Can I be a found sister?” Farrah’s voice breaks the silence, and I turn to her. She wipes a tear away from her cheek.
“You’re one of us,” I say, reaching out and taking her hand with my free hand.
