Page 38 of Witchful Thinking

Diana reached for his hand, her heart breaking anew when he shifted subtly away from her touch.

"I've requested reassignment," he continued flatly."Someone else will need to finish the safety protocols for the tournament."

"We'll adjust," Diana insisted, fighting to keep her voice steady."Your magic will stabilize with time, and mine too.We can rebuild what we had before the fusion."

"Can we?"Alarick finally turned to face her, his eyes haunted."How much of what we felt was real, Diana?How much was just magical compatibility enhancing ordinary attraction?"

The question pierced her heart because it echoed her own unspoken fears.Had their feelings been genuine, or merely a reaction to extraordinary magical resonance?

"I'm leaving tomorrow," he said, softening at her stricken expression."Everflame thinks specialists at St.Candlebrook's might help with my core instability."

"And if we discover it was real?"Diana asked, desperate for some hope to cling to."If what we felt wasn't just magical influence?"

"Then we'll find each other again."His smile didn't reach his eyes."But what if it wasn't?"

He brushed his lips against her forehead—the same spot he had kissed that morning, though no golden light appeared now.Without another word, he walked away, silhouetted against the darkening sky.

Diana remained by the reflecting pool as night fell, cold seeping into her bones.The garden gnomes, usually so fascinated by their golden fusion, peered at her from behind ornamental shrubs, their wrinkled faces confused by the absence of magical light.

One brave gnome approached cautiously, offering a slightly wilted flower and a pat on her hand before scurrying back to its companions, all watching her with mournful eyes.

Even the gnomes mourned what she had lost.

The walk back to her quarters—now achingly empty without Alarick's presence—felt endless.Diana moved through the silent hallways, each step taking her further from the happiness she had briefly known.

For the first time in her life, Diana had experienced magic in its most transcendent form—not just spells and healing charms, but the profound connection of souls recognizing their perfect complement.Now it was gone, leaving her forever changed, forever aware of what was possible and what she might never have again.

As she entered her dark quarters, Diana caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror—a stranger with hollow eyes and tear-stained cheeks.She raised one hand, remembering how golden light had once danced between her fingers and Alarick's, binding them together in ways more profound than mere touch.

But her fingers remained just fingers now—ordinary, magically inert, incapable of creating the golden bridge that had joined her to the man she loved.

And in the morning, he would be gone.

Chapter 10

Diana stood in herinfirmary—her properly renovated, professionally completed infirmary—and felt nothing.Which was, perhaps, the problem.After weeks of feeling everything so intensely through her magical fusion with Alarick, ordinary existence seemed muted, like a painting where all colors had faded.

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