Page 7 of Storm In The Sky

Since they were busy and not listening to him, he leaned closer to Cora and Faith. “I need to ask you something.”

Faith looked delighted. “What is it? Is it a secret?”

“Not exactly, but I’d like you to keep it to yourselves for now. I don’t want Mom to know about this yet.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Cora murmured.

“That’s because it’s not, but I’ll be all right.”

Keylon had told his family that they’d found Winter. He hadn’t gone into details, so they had no idea how difficult things were. They wanted to see him, but they knew he wasn’t Alvin, and Keylon had managed to convince them to wait. Now, they might never see Alvin again.

“It’s Winter,” Keylon continued. “He wants nothing to do with me, which means I’ll need to break our bond and find another shield.”

Faith pressed a hand against her mouth while Cora stared at Keylon with wide eyes. “That can’t be right,” she said. “Why wouldn’t he want you?”

“Because he’s not Alvin anymore,” Keylon murmured. “I can’t force him to be with me or to be my shield, and I don’t want to. He’s been clear that he wants out of this mess as soon as possible. I was going to ask him to stay until Carlyle was dealt with, but maybe it’s not the best idea. I don’t want Winter to have to fight if he doesn’t want to.”

“He’s your shield. He should fight and protect you, no matter how he feels about you.”

“I’m fine,” Keylon reassured his sister even though he felt anything but fine. “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to do this tomorrow. I just wanted to ask you to start poking around to find me a suitable replacement. I know the bond won’t be as strong,but it’s not like the bond I have with Winter is useful at the moment, so I might as well find someone else.”

Keylon did his best to keep his voice light and act as if he didn’t really care, but his heart was breaking. He didn’t want to give up on Winter. He didn’t want to give up on the love he and Alvin had shared.

That love wasn’t enough. Keylon was the only one who still felt it. The saying that if you love something, you need to set it free was right. Keylon wasn’t going to force Winter to stay. He’d let him go, and Winter would do what he wanted.

“I hate this,” Cora whispered.

Faith took her hand and squeezed. Keylon hated that he was hurting his family, but he didn’t have a choice. His heart was broken, and he didn’t think he’d be able to put it back together. It had been hard after Alvin had vanished, but Keylon had eventually found peace. Winter walking into his life had shattered it again, and he felt lost and like nothing would ever be right again.

That was just a feeling. Keylon was taking the necessary steps to ensure that both he and Winter could eventually be at peace with what was happening. He might not like it, but there was no way out of it.

* * * *

Winter was on his way to the lake when Jarvis found him. Winter had been avoiding him because the man was the leader of the mages, and he was sure Jarvis had noticed the tension between Winter and Keylon. Winter had expected Jarvis to want to talk eventually, which was why he’d been avoiding him.

Winter had been avoiding pretty much everyone except Samuel. Sometimes, he avoided even him because Samuel kept looking at him with disappointment in his expression. Winterknew why he felt that way, but there was nothing he could do about it.

It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t remember Keylon or the feelings he’d had for him before. It wasn’t his fault that he and Keylon were mage and shield and that he didn’t want that. He wasn’t Alvin, and he never would be. He had a different life and different memories, and Keylon wasn’t part of them. Winter’s place wasn’t here.

But since Samuel wasn’t going anywhere, neither was Winter.

“I know you heard me,” Jarvis said from behind Winter.

Winter was still considering hiding somewhere. Maybe under the bench or behind one of the flowerpots?

He sighed. He couldn’t avoid this forever. The only way to do that would be to shift and fly away, but he wasn’t leaving Samuel behind.

He turned around and watched Jarvis walk toward him. He hoped that whatever the man had to say, it would be brief. It wasn’t like Winter had anywhere to be or anything to do, but he could think of a few things as uncomfortable as being scolded by Jarvis.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while,” Jarvis said when he reached Winter. “I’m glad I caught you, even though you were running away.”

Winter crossed his arms over his chest. “I wasn’t running away.”

Jarvis arched a brow. “Really? You could have fooled me. I mean, you weren’t running very fast, but I thought you were just being slow.”

“What do you want?” Winter asked, suddenly exhausted.

Jarvis sat on the closest bench and gestured for Winter to do the same. Winter sat as far away from him as possible, on the edge of the bench, so he’d be able to leave as soon as possible. Itmade him look like he was ready to bolt, but then he was, so he didn’t care.

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