Page 68 of Forever Touched

“They are, but that’s nothing new for you, right? How long have you been under thrall?”

She barked a laugh. “You know I can’t answer that. I amliterallytongue tied.”

“Fine. Then let me guess. Six years ago when you went to live with the Faircrofts?”

She was silent for a long beat. Then, “That’s a good guess.”

Hope and anger swelled in my chest, but I chose to focus on the hope. She was speaking to me. Not in definite terms, but I could work with this. “Okay, next question. Did the Faircrofts thrall you to stay with them?”

A pause. Then, “Not such a good guess.”

Frustrated, I racked my brain for more clues. “But you owe them a debt?”

I watched as her spine went poker straight.

“I’ll take that as a yes. What kind of debt?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Uttering a curse, I fought to remain calm. We were making progress, albeit slowly. At least she wastrying. Something finally came to me, and I said, “Your father died in the battle six years ago. Were you there too?”

She stayed silent for so long that I didn’t think she would answer. Then she slowly nodded.

“Oh, baby girl.” She would have been young.Tooyoung. The horrors she must have witnessed. Had she seenmethat night? So much happened that I couldn’t remember if I’d seen her. Everything had been chaos. “How old were you?”

“Fourteen.”

Sadness pierced me. “I’m so sorry, Adalyn.”

She suddenly whirled to face me. Tears glittered in her eyes as she forcefully said, “You can’t keepsayingstuff like that. Every time you apologize or make me feel better about myself or stand up for me, I getconfused. You’re supposed to be my enemy, Everett. I should hate you for everything I’ve lost, but I don’t, and Ihatethat I don’t. My dad never should have been there that night, and I shouldn’t have either. Everything changed after that, and I’ve been paying for it ever since. If only he hadn’t ki—” She paused to grip her throat as if it had seized up. “I . . . I can’t . . .”

She gasped for breath, and I realized that ithad.

“Adalyn!” I lunged and caught her as she started to collapse. “Don’t try to speak. The thrall is forcing you into silence. Just breathe,baby girl. Good. That’s really good. Breathe and focus on my voice.”

The words were soft, but they shook, my rage returning tenfold. Whoever had done this to her was going to die slowly.Painfully. They’d rue the day they chose to mess with my soulmate.

As her breathing slowly returned to normal, I said, “I can fix this, Adalyn. If my thrall is more powerful than theirs, then I can break its hold on you. Just look into my eyes, and I’ll have you freed in no time.”

But when I tilted her face up toward mine, she struggled to pull away and cried, “No,don’t.”

An ache built in my chest when I saw how hard she fought. She was desperate.Terrified.

“It’s only the thrall. Whoever did this probably told you to resist having it removed,” I tried to reassure her.

I reached for her again, but she shoved my hand away and shouted, “No!”

Surprised by her vehemence, I didn’t stop her from wrenching free of my arms and stumbling back.

“No,” she firmly repeated, her eyes wide with fear. “It’s more than that. Any attempt to break . . . Youcan’t, okay? Pepper needs me. I won’t leave her all alone like this.”

As I struggled to understand what she couldn’t say, she clenched and unclenched her fist. But only her right one, like she was unconsciously sending me a message.

A thought struck me, a terrible one that immediately filled my stomach with dread.

“A pactum. You’re bound by a pactum.”

A lone tear slipped down her cheek, and I knew I was right.

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