Page 119 of Threadbound

“Stopped doing what?” Jamie asked.

“Fighting it.”

“Fighting it?” This conversation wasn’t helping Jamie’s confusion.

Bran sighed, although he didn’t move his hand from Jamie’s and didn’t step away. “Aye. I’ve not wanted this bond for so long, I dinna know how to accept it.”

“You fought the threadbond?” Jamie felt hurt, although he tried to keep that from his voice or expression.

Bran winced a little anyway. “I am sorry,” the fae murmured. “I dinna know you. And I was afraid.”

“Of what?” Jamie asked.

“Losing who I thought I was. What I thought I wanted.” Bran looked up and offered him a small smile. “I was wrong.”

“You didn’t want that?” Jamie asked.

“I canna be what I am not,” Bran replied, his voice quiet, but not sad. “And I canna be what Fate will not allow.”

“But I made you sick,” Jamie said softly.

“No.” This time, Bran’s voice was firm. “You dinna make me sick. I made myself sick, refusing to accept what Fate had destined for me.”

“Refusing to be bound to me, you mean.” That hurt, too.

There was pain now in Bran’s green eyes. “I am sorry,” he breathed, his hand tightening around Jamie’s where he held it against his chest. “I shouldna have done so.”

“Because it made you sick.”

“Because I hurt us both.”

“You didn’t hurt me.” It wasn’t a lie, exactly. Bran had never physically hurt him. Jamie hadn’t been sick the way the fae had.

But Bran’s expression grew sad. “Please dinna lie to me,” he said, and there was disappointment and something more in his voice.

“I’m not,” Jamie replied. “I’m fine.”

Bran sighed. “I can feel it, Jamie,” he murmured. “Along the bond.”

“Then why—” Jamie cut himself off, biting his own lip.Why did you push me away?

I was afraid, came the answer, carried on impossible and invisible threads of gold from Bran’s heart to his own.

Jamie swallowed, staring down into green eyes that held both fear and wonder, the same as his own.

I’m not afraid now.

I am.

“Dinna be afraid,” Bran breathed.

Jamie swallowed. “I don’t understand what’s happening,” he whispered. “And I don’t know how to not be scared.”

Trust me.

Bran let go of his hand and reached out, running his fingers over Jamie’s cheek. “I was keeping the bond from being what it could be,” he said. “Blocking its magic. I stopped.”

“Why?”

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