Page 130 of The Bond That Burns

And severing a blood bond wasn’t just a matter of cutting ties. It would demand a toll, something steep enough to match the power of the bond itself. The writings hadn’t spelled it out exactly, but they didn’t have to. There were phrases that lingered in my mind like ghosts: “the essence of life exchanged,” “the tether of existence undone.”

Why hadn’t I acted? Because it turned out breaking a bond like ours meant dancing on the edge of life and death itself. And while I might want to be free, that didn’t mean I wanted Blake Drakharrow to lose his life in the damned process.

Was I really willing to live with his death on my conscience? Now? After all we’d been through together? Blake might not be a good person, but there were people in his life who he loved and who depended on him. He could be an asshole, a bully, even a tyrant. But he’d shown he could be kind as well as cruel. He’d held me, comforted me, cared for me.

This...would be the ultimate betrayal.

There was another thing. What if I went through with the ritual and nothing changed?

The feelings I had for him—the pull, the ache—what if they weren’t just the bond’s doing? That thought terrified me more than anything.

Now Blake turned to face me, his eyes burning. “No. But you know damn well it’s not that simple. You don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?” I demanded.

“How he looks at you,” Blake said bitterly. “How he waits for me to slip up. To fuck up and lose you for good.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the words wouldn’t come. The naked pain in his voice stopped me cold. However ridiculous it might sound to me, he believed what he was saying.

He moved over to the table where I’d been sitting and took Kage’s chair. “Anyhow, I came to talk to you about something else. Not about...whatever that was.”

“That was nothing,” I repeated. I took a deep breath. “What do you need to talk to me about?”

CHAPTER 33 - BLAKE

I wiped away a few drops of blood from the corner of my mouth, knuckles throbbing from where they’d connected with Tanaka’s jaw. Part of me wished I’d just kept pummeling him. He was lucky Pendragon had intervened.

Not just intervened. She’d sent him away. I’d wanted to crow aloud when she told him to leave, but I’d managed to keep the grin off my face.

Now I sat across from her, trying to remember the real reason I’d sought her out. Every moment in her presence was a distraction. I drank in the sight of her.

She ran her hands over the books in front of her, absent-mindedly looking out the window at the falling snow. The light framed her hair, making the red strands glow like copper. I knew she was upset with me, but right now she looked almost peaceful. Out of place in a chaotic, brutal world like ours.

My throat clenched as I thought of the news I had to tell her. None of it good.

“Blake?” She turned her head to look at me expectantly, her soft lips slightly parted. “What did you want to tell me?”

“I...” My voice caught in my throat. There was what I needed to tell her—and then there was what I wished I could say. The first book I’d picked up in the archives... What I’d read there had left me feeling more alone, more panicked than ever.

But if I shared even a hint of what was happening to me with Pendragon, would she understand? Or would she see it as even more reason for us not to be together?

I couldn’t take that risk.

I glanced around. A few students had just sat down at a table across the aisle. A librarian walked past, pushing a cart of books to be reshelved.

This wouldn’t work. I stood up. “Come with me.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Where?”

“Somewhere else in the library where we won’t be overheard. Not far, don’t worry.”

I led the way through the stacks towards a small study room hidden behind a row of shelves. I’d discovered it once when I was trying to escape Regan. She hadn’t managed to find me and she’d been extremely pissed about it the next time I saw her.

The little room was lined with shelves that stretched higher than anyone could possibly reach without a ladder. The books were older here, dustier, and more obscure. Presumably few students needed access to them which was why they were tucked away. A single lantern hung from a chain in the center of the room, casting an orange, flickering light.

I stepped aside and motioned Pendragon in. She sighed but reluctantly went inside. I glanced behind her. No one was around. No one had seen us come in.

She leaned back against one of the walls as I started pacing back and front of her, suddenly anxious about what I had to say.

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