Page 8 of Mane Squeeze
The moment was tight but not cruel. Their banter had always had teeth, but there was something underneath it now—a spark, still flickering but real.
Silence settled, like mist on a still morning. Not awkward. Not really. Just waiting.
He studied her as she busied herself wiping down a clean counter. Always moving. Always covering. She wore her stillness like armor and her wit like a sword. But there was something frayed at the edges today.
“About the curse—” he started.
“Don’t,” she said, too quickly. “Not yet.”
He nodded. Respected that.
He knew a thing or two about silence.
But curiosity was a beast that never stopped pacing in his chest. And his lion? The bastard was sniffing the air, sensing tension. Change.
He glanced around the kitchen again. “You always keep runes carved into your cabinet doors?”
“Prevents spontaneous combustion.”
“Handy.”
She gave him a sidelong glance. “You know, you don’t have to hang around.”
“I can’t go too far,” he said, tone casual. “Call it a hunch. Something still feels off.”
“You mean besides the soul-blasting and surprise bonding?”
“Exactly.”
She sighed, pressing her fingers to the back of her neck like she could rub the stress away. “You’re not wrong.”
“I rarely am,” he replied, shooting her a wink.
Her annoyance rang, but she didn’t argue.
Instead, she moved to a corner table where a large open journal sat, glowing faintly along its seams. She flipped a page, studying a half-drawn circle covered in notations.
He stepped beside her. Close. Close enough to feel the heat from her skin. “That what you were using last night?”
She nodded. “It was supposed to be a summoning anchor. I wasn’t trying to call Thalorynthrough,just trying to make contact. Ask questions.”
“About?”
“The Moonlit Pact,” she said softly. “Something’s off. The Whispering Woods are shifting. Their boundaries. Their temper.”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. I’ve felt it too. Patrols have been harder. Spirits agitated. One of the ward stones cracked last week.”
Her eyes snapped to his. “Which one?”
“North trail. Near the wolfroot clearing.”
She exhaled, sharp and fast. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“And yet,” he said.
They stood together in silence again, bent over the same page, the same runes.
Bound.
