Page 59 of A Storm in Every Heart
Less than an hour later, Jett and I set off on horseback in the direction of the train station.
I’m anxious as we ride side by side through the woods, even though we’re already traveling as fast as is reasonable given the uneven ground. It’s impossible to know how far ahead of us Dessa is, and Aurelia’s estimations of the time based on the shadows on the wall were enough to make me pull my hair out.
“Calm down, Kas,” Jett says, looking sideways at me.
“Fuck you.”
He laughs. “You really need to lighten up. You and Ashwater both are always wound so tight, it can’t be healthy.”
“I pray I live to see the day you find your soul-bond, and we’ll see how loose you are then.”
He startles, and his dark eyes widen so all the whites are visible. “Holy shit, is that what this is about? Is Dessa your bond?”
I stiffen.Fuck.I hadn’t even realized what I’d said.
I run a hand through my hair, sighing. “No, she’s not. That’s not what I meant. I just meant that you’ll be less calm when you find yours, that’s all.”
He raises a skeptical eyebrow at me. “Are you sure? Because, judging by whatever the fuck you’re doing right now—” he waves a hand toward me “—I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“I’m sure.”
“But—”
“I already found my bond,” I say flatly, just to put an end to the questioning.
Jett’s eyes widen. He doesn’t bother to ask me who or where she is, because it’s obvious. If I’ve already found my bond and she’s not with me, then she’s most likely dead. Or, at least, far out of reach.
“You never told me that.” Jett gapes at me. “Does Ashwater know?”
I shake my head. “It’s not something I like talking about—for obvious reasons.”
He refuses to take the hint and asks, “When was it?”
Deep breath in…
“Decades ago. Before Dyaspora.”
Deep breath out…
Jett rides in stunned silence for a minute, looking uncharacteristically somber. “Sorry, mate,” he says finally. “That’s awful.”
“Yes,” I say sharply. “It is.”
As if awakened by my mention of it, the bond in my chest flares to life, throbbing painfully.
Absentmindedly, I reach up and rub my chest where my tattoo sits beneath my shirt over my heart. I only ever made one serious attempt to track down my bond mate after escaping Dyaspora, and the tattoo is the result—though not the result I expected.
Many of my memories from before Dyaspora have faded entirely or become fuzzy over the years, but I still vividly recall waking up on a rocky beach with only the vaguest memories ofthe night before and the unmistakable feeling of a new bond pulsing in my chest.
After over a hundred years, the feeling of the incomplete bond isn’t something I often think about. I know it’s there in an abstract way and if I focus, I can feel it—like how if I think about it, I can feel my own heartbeat. Now, it burns slightly, as if reminding me that it’s there. I wince and try to ignore it.
“So I’m just saying Odessa is not my bond, if anything, whatever this is—” I wave my hand around like he did “—is because she’s a siren.”
Jett’s expression is skeptical. “I suppose.”
“Do you notice the siren magic?”
“From Dessa?”
