“Y-you remember!” I gasped, fighting a wave of dizziness to keep them in my sights.
Cabe chuckled quietly and Noah’s face transformed into another breathtaking smile. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes again and I quickly shook my head to chase them away. I had cried enough already.
“I remember you threatening to go against your bond,” Cabe said, fixing me with a dark look.
“And I remember you saying you needed space,” Noah added, even more solemnly. “I’m sorry you were pressured into forming the bond.”
“I wasn’t!” My voice was louder than I had intended, and it bounced off the walls, assaulting my ears.
I winced, and Cabe smothered another laugh. “Calm down, pretty girl. You aren’t going to wound our delicate feelings. We’re going to win you over in no time.”
Noah made a guttural, indignant sound, folding his arms across his broad chest. “Might take a while.”
I could sense the pain and guilt that emanated from him as I entertained a brief image of him and Amber together… and then I wasn’t so sure that the stinging pain didn’t also belong to me. I swung my aching legs to the side of the bed and noticed that there were several bags in the middle of the room. I tried to stand, intending to hobble over to them, but Noah pushed me back down and went to rummage through them himself. He came back with a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved sweater made out of deliciously soft, downy material. There was a pair of underwear bunched up in the sweater, along with a pair of knee-length socks, and I smiled a little. Even though Noah had apparently hated me for the past several months, he had still noticed what I wore to bed.
“Tariq’s already been settled in. We gave him Miro’s room. We’ll leave and let you change,” he said awkwardly.
“Okay,” I mumbled. “Thanks. I’m… I’m glad you remember.” I was mumbling into my lap, feeling inexplicably shy as I buried my hands between the folds of the sweater in my lap. “I wasn’t pressured into forming the bond. I was ready for it.”
They were both smiling as they left the room and I allowed myself the luxury of feeling as though I was finally, finally, moving forward instead of backwards.
I woke up with a start, knowing somehow that I wasn’t alone anymore. It took me a moment to recognise the irregular pattern of something battering against my chest before I shot out of bed, my hand curling around the base of my neck as though I needed to block the passage off in case my heart decided to leap through my mouth.
“Silas!” I cried out hoarsely.
I could feel his heartbeat, but I couldn’t see him. A dark, humourless chuckle floated to me from the other side of the room and I turned to the shadows, pushing away my fear at the sound.
“Forming the bond with the other two has made you even stronger,” he said.
I tripped over the sheets in my haste to escape the bed and move toward him. I eventually found him sitting in a chair lodged beside the wardrobe, his legs parted and his hands draped over his thighs, his black eyes glittering at me. His face was chillingly blank: a stone mask that I was all too familiar with.
He wasn’t himself.
And he was here, instead of roaming the countryside hoping to provoke someone into a fight.
I was sure that didn’t bode well for me.
“Silas—”
“Don’t,” he cut across me, his tone barely above a whisper, but razor-sharp. “You think you can block Weston from your mind? Well you can’t. That barrier in your head protecting you from him all this time has been me. You fused our damn heads together when you made yourself my Atmá, but it won’t work anymore. Weston weakened me too much, and you aren’t clinging to my mind anymore.” He tapped against his temple and then dropped his arm again, lifting himself from the chair and stalking toward me. He hovered over me, the fury vibrating off him and sending cold fingers of caution to wrap around my neck. “Do you realise what that means?”
I bristled, squaring my shoulders and refusing to be intimidated, even though I had to hide my hands behind my back to mask the way they trembled. “It means I make my own decisions and I couldn’t let you suffer any more! I should have done it sooner… I should never have waited so long—”