Updated Sep 16, 2025 • ~2 min read
The next morning, Mira woke with the bond searing hot against her skin, as though the night’s admission had stoked a fire she couldn’t smother. Every breath, every step forward, the tether pulled tighter. By midday she could hardly walk without stumbling, her strength unraveling.
She sank to her knees in the grass, clutching her wrist. “Enough,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “If you’re going to destroy me, then do it.”
The air thickened. A shadow fell across her. She didn’t need to look to know who stood there.
“Get up,” Darius said, his voice low, urgent.
She shook her head, tears spilling. “I can’t live like this. Every moment, it burns. I don’t know where I end and you begin.”
He crouched before her, his eyes fierce but pained. “Do you think I asked for this bond? It tears at me too, Mira. Every second I fight not to drag you closer.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “Then why not end it? Why not break it?”
His jaw tightened. “Because breaking it means breaking you.”
Her breath caught, anger colliding with fear. ““I don’t even know what I’m meant to do. Just give in?”
Silence stretched between them, the wind carrying the scent of pine and storm. His hand stalled inches from her cheek, fingers shaking as he forced himself to hold back. “You’re supposed to survive. With me, or despite me. But you don’t get to give up.”
Mira’s chest heaved, torn between hatred of the chain and the strange comfort of his words. She wanted to hate him. She wanted to need him. Both truths burned like wildfire, leaving her shaking.
She pushed his hand away, forcing herself to stand. “Then stay out of my way.”
For a moment, his mask cracked, pain raw in his golden eyes. But he didn’t stop her when she walked past, the bond pulsing hot, reminding them both that distance was never truly distance.
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